Super Tweaking Hardware with Batch Files

So you disabled all those unnecessary services and uninstalled all the crapware. What is next?

You should consider tweaking what hardware devices you have enabled in Device Manager. There are some devices that people rarely use, such as a dial-up modem, that you can disable without affecting the typical usage of your laptop.

But what about DVD drives, SD slots, firewire, integrated webcams, and the like? These are devices that I only rarely ever use and having them enabled all the time just wastes battery power and makes boot up longer. However, its a hassle to go into Device Manager to enable and disable the devices every time I use them. This is where batch files come in.

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You can create a batch file that allows you to easily enable/disable one or more devices with just a double-click. For example, the code for the batch file to enable/disable my DVD drive:

This batch file allows me to double-click a shortcut on my desktop to enable or disable the DVD drive. "Enable DVD Drive.txt" and "Disable DVD Drive.txt" are placeholder files that indicate what the batch file should do. "Disable DVD Drive.lnk" and "Enable DVD Drive.lnk" are the names of the shortcuts on the desktop. The name changes depending on what action the batch program is going to do.

"GenCdRom" is the Hardware Device ID of the device I want to disable. You find this in the properties window of a device in Device Manager. It is not necessary to use the full Device ID. Screenshots are shown below to guide you.

On the laptop, I also have a batch file that enables/disables the SD, firewire, and the webcam with just a double-click. I have included a zip file with the batch files and short cuts I use. You need to follow these instructions to get it working:
[1] Unzip the file. Duh.
[2] Copy the two short cuts you see to your desktop.
[3] Copy the directory called "DevCon" to "C:\Program Files". It must be the "C:\Program Files" directory or you'll have to modify the shortcuts. The shortcuts are just set to hide or minimize the batch file while it executes.
[4] Open up the "DevCon" directory.
[5] Open up the files called "Enable-Disable DVD Drive.bat" and "Enable-Disable SD, Firewire, Webcam.bat" by right-clicking on them and selecting edit from the menu.
[6] Replace the Hardware IDs with those from your hardware devices in Device Manager. Note that you may have to enclose the ID in quotes "".
[7] Don't put the Hardware ID for your CPU, hard drive, monitor, etc. into the batch files and run them. I'm not responsible for stupidity.
[8] Test it out. Don't worry if your hardware device is enabled and the shortcuts say "Enable". Just double-click it twice to sync the shortcuts to the status of your hardware devices.

This tweak will allow you to disable hardware devices not commonly used without losing the ability to quickly enable them. It is a must if you are anal about get every last ounce of performance from your system.

 

Check the option the not parse smilies in the text.

 

Too late. I can't do it. But, it will come out right if you copy it into a Notepad. The similie is a : followed by a D.

 

You can still edit the post.

 

Nice! Trying this out now. Approxiamtely how much battery life can one gain by going this?

 

Doing this manually is just as easy, if not more. To post above, depends on how many and which ones you disable and don't use.

 

Its all about the ease of use while maximizing the resources on your system. If you were to disable the DVD drive manually, it would take you at least 4 clicks starting from a shortcut to the Device Manager on your desktop. With a batch file, it just takes two clicks. You save even more clicks if you want to turn a whole group of hardware devices on or off at one time. Also, some hardware devices require you to disable more than one item. My SD drive requires you to enable/disable 5 items. I'm not about to perform 10-15 clicks just to turn on/off my SD drive every time. A double-click will just do.

 

I haven't measured that yet.

 

Hey Bart. Can you make a list of safe drivers to disable? A lot of these idk what they are.

 

If you look at the first screenshot in my original post, you can see what I have disabled. They are the ones with a small black arrow pointing downwards. I also have the System Speaker disabled, but you can't see that in the screenshot. Why the hell do laptops have system speakers for? Its not like we need to hear an monotone beep.

Basically, I recommend that you get the batch file to disable:
[1] the listings under DVD/CD-Rom
[2] in the IDE Controllers listing, disable the items for SD cards. Don't disable the ones called "IDE Standard" or "Standard Dual Channel".
[3] disable anything under IEEE 1394 (firewire)
[4] disable anything under Imaging Devices
[5] disable anything under Modems
[6] disable your ethernet card under Network Controllers
[7] disable anything under SD Host Adapters
[8] under Storage Controllers, disable the Microsoft iSCSI. This device allows you to remotely control network servers but I have never seen anybody use it.
[9] Under System Devices, disable the System Speaker


If you don't know if you can disable it, just post a screenshot and I'll take a look.

 

disabling dvd/cd rom=cant use that.
whats Modems...can you explain what that does?
sd host adapters= sd card?

ty

 

This might be helpfull to others

I manually disabled the firewire and 56k modem a while ago because i never use it

Theres no need to disable all those devices though..

 

Modems is your dial-up modem. If you don't use dial-up, you can disable it.
Yes, SD Host Adapter is the main sd card device.

How often do you use your DVD/CD-Rom?

 

sometimes...lol. i guess i can disable it and then enable it when i need to use it. ;o

 

But you can re-enable them in seconds should you need to. Depends if you value battery life and boot up time more or if you don't want to worry about what is disabled.

 

Disabling and enabling is fast for my DVD/CD-Rom. I can just double-click the shortcut and almost immediately start inserting something into it.

 

i mean in a sense there is no need to have them enabled as well...especially if you dont use it lol.
anyways +rep
although i just do it manually. ;p

 

Okay, I tried to see what the effect of disabling all that hardware (DVD, firewire, webcam, SD, modem, system speaker, iSCSI, ethernet) has on my laptop. I have an Acer Aspire 7250. With all those things disabled, my power meter tells me I have 2hrs. 45 minutes at 99% charge with my wifi and speakers on. I also have a couple of folders open and IE open with 7 tabs.

After enabling DVD, firewire, webcam, SD and modem with my batch files, my laptop tells me I have 2hrs. 35 minutes left of power.

Therefore, I think disabling the DVD, firewire, webcam, SD and modem is worth about 10 minutes of power. I didn't enable the system speaker, ethernet or the iSCSI because I NEVER have a use for those. Total power savings for all my hardware device tweaks should be around 11-12 minutes.

 

lol. questionable testing but cool nonetheless.
after disabling a couple, instead of 7 green bars on bootup i get 6.
approx. 45 seconds to desktop

 

I'll leave the real testing for someone else.

As for the DVD drive issue, you can make it even easier to use than what I did in my original post by adding:

start C:\"Program Files"\DevCon\DVDStart.lnk

right after the block of code that is labelled with :EnableDVD and before GOTO EndofProgram. With your DVD drive enabled, make a regular shortcut to it by right-click on your DVD drive. Put this regular shortcut into the C:\Program Files\DevCon directory.

That line will open up your DVD drive tray for you when you enable the device. It will save you from having to go My Computer to do it. Its very slick!

An Important Note: For any file paths in batch files, if there is a space between words, make sure you enclose the words with quotes. Otherwise, you'll get an error. For example, "Program Files".

Also: What green bars are you referring to?

 

The green bars that pass when you boot up your pc. Unless you went to msconfig and turned "NO GUI BOOT" off then you won't have this...

 

Oh, can you make one for bluetooth? Would help a lot.

 

Yep, you can. Just follow the steps in the OP. Or if you are a technophobe, post a screenshot of the Device ID from Device Manager for your bluetooth hardware devices. I'll see what I can do. I don't have bluetooth myself.

 

Can someone make the BT one? Im too lazy working it out

 

The tweak is exactly the same as the batch file listed in the original post except you sub in your blue tooth device ID. Everybody is going to have different device IDs so you have to go into Device Manager and right-click on your blue tooth device to find the ID. If one person provides their blue tooth device ID, I'll make up a batch file just so you can see.

 

I finished making the BT one... Actually, I combined the BT with Ethernet, since I use wireless a lot.

 

many thants for this it was just what was needed to disable my hid game controller that was causing a problem with some games