Making Windows 7 Run Faster!!

Making Windows 7 Run Faster!!

Note:
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By following a few simple guidelines, you can maintain your computer, help increase your PC speed, and help keep it running smoothly.

1. Remove spyware, and help protect your computer from viruses

Spyware collects personal information without letting you know and without asking for permission,and can hamper your computer's performance.And its needless to say,that you all might be knowing how important it is to keep the computer "infection-free". This can be easily accomplished by installing a good security software.

For a "no-cost totally effective" security software,i recommend  avast! free antivirus .

2. Free up disk space

The Disk Cleanup tool helps you to free up space on your hard disk to improve the performance of your computer. The tool identifies files that you can safely delete and then enables you to choose whether you want to delete some or all of the identified files.

Use Disk Cleanup to:

• Remove temporary Internet files.
• Delete downloaded program files, such as Microsoft ActiveX controls and Java applets.
• Empty the Recycle Bin.
• Remove Windows temporary files, such as error reports.
• Delete optional Windows components that you don't use.
• Delete installed programs that you no longer use.
• Remove unused restore points and shadow copies from System Restore.

Tip: Typically, temporary Internet files take the most amount of space because the browser caches each page you visit for faster access later.

To use Disk Cleanup:

1. Click Start, click All Programs, click Accessories, click System Tools, and then click Disk Cleanup. If several drives are available, you might be prompted to specify which drive you want to clean.
2. When Disk Cleanup has calculated how much space you can free up, in theDisk Cleanup for dialog box, scroll through the content of the Files to delete list.
   
   1. Clear the check boxes for files that you don't want to delete, and then clickOK.
      • For more options, such as cleaning up System Restore and Shadow copy files, under Description, click Clean up system files, and then click the More Options tab.
   2. When prompted to confirm that you want to delete the specified files, clickYes.
   After a few minutes, the process completes and the Disk Cleanup dialog box closes, leaving your computer cleaner, performing better, and potentially increasing your PC speed.

   
   

   
   

   3. Speed up access to data

   Disk fragmentation slows the overall performance of your system. When files are fragmented, the computer must search the hard disk as a file is opened (to piece it back together). The response time can be significantly longer.
   Disk Defragmenter (sometimes shortened to Defrag by users) is a Windows utility that consolidates fragmented files and folders on your computer's hard disk so that each occupies a single space on the disk. With your files stored neatly end to end, without fragmentation, reading and writing to the disk speeds up.
   When to run Disk Defragmenter
   In addition to running Disk Defragmenter at regular intervals (weekly is optimal), there are other times you should run it, too, such as when:
   • You add a large number of files.
   • Your free disk space totals 15 percent or less.
   • You install new programs or a new version of the Windows operating system.
     
     To use Disk Defragmenter:

             Click Start, click All Programs, click Accessories, click System Tools, and then   

     click Disk Defragmenter.

     
     

     1. Tip: You should analyze a volume before defragmenting it to get an estimate of how long the defragmentation process will take.
     2. To defragment the selected drive or drives, click the Defragment diskbutton. In the Current status area, under the Progress column, you can monitor the process as it happens. After the defragmentation is complete, Disk Defragmenter displays the results.
     3. To display detailed information about the defragmented disk or partition, click View Report.
     4. To close the View Report dialog box, click Close.
     5. You can also schedule the Disk Defragmenter to run automatically. (Your computer might even be set up this way by default.) Under Schedule, it reads Scheduled defragmentation is turned on and then displays the time of day and frequency of defragmentation. If you want to turn off automatic defragmentation or to change the time or frequency, clickConfigure schedule (or Turn on Schedule, if it is not currently configured to run automatically). Change the settings, and then click OK.
     6. To close the Disk Defragmenter utility, on the title bar of the window, click the Close button.
        
        

        5.User Account Control

        
        

        User Account Control or UAC is a feature in Windows 7 that asks for permission to do system software tasks and also run programs. Unfortunately, this security feature can become annoying at times. Much less so then it was with Vista’s default configuration, but it can be difficult to deal with as well as confuse users with dialog popups that are requesting a "password" to perform actions, but never actually ask for that password (if already logged in as an administrator). I cannot predict the future of your system or what kind of security vulnerabilities will be used to attack systems, and as such, you need to decide for yourself if you desire to keep UAC active, but if you wish to disable it, here is how I do it:

        
        

        With the default Category Control Panel:

        
        

        1. Head to Start
        2. Select Control Panel
        3. Select System and Security
        4. Select Change User Account Control settings under Action Center header
        5. Select the Continue button (if UAC is active)
        6. Select the slider on the left and drag it down to "Never notify"
        7. Select the Ok button to close the panel
        8. Select the Yes button (since UAC is still active) to continue modification of the settings
        9. Close the remaining open windows

        
        

        Changing UAC back is as easy as steps 1 through 5 and putting the slider where you desire. Higher is "more secure".

        
        

        With all of that said, I recommend the default levels for most anyone, but if you make system changes (denoted by a UAC shield on the button) often, you may choose to make it go away.

        
        

        You will have to reboot for the setting to take effect.

        You can safely disable these services

        
        

        6.Disable System Restore and Windows Search (Indexing) Features

        Get rid of System Restore and file versioning. Where do you find it?

        (a)With the default Category Control Panel:

        1. Head to Start
        2. Select Control Panel
        3. Select System and Security
        4. Select System
        5. Select System Protection (on the left side)
        6. Select the Continue button (if UAC is active)
        7. Select System Protection Tab (should be there already)
        8. Select a hard drive listed under "Protection" that has "On" in the column
        9. Select the Configure button
        10. Select the "Turn off system protection" radio button
        11. Drag the "Max Usage" slider all the way to the left to 1%
        12. Select the Delete button if you wish to get rid of the current backups (not a wise idea if you are wanting to keep System Restore active)
        13. Select the Ok button to apply the settings (you may get several warning dialogs that you have too little space allocated or that you are deleting old restore points.

        (b)To disable Windows Search feature

        With the default Category Control Panel:

        1. Head to Start
        2. Select Control Panel
        3. Select Programs
        4. Select under Programs and Features "Turn Windows Features on or off"
        5. Scroll down to Windows Search and uncheck it
        6. Select the Ok button to close the panel.

        7. Disable Remote Assistance and Remote Desktop

        Take Note: Remote Desktop is not available on Windows 7 Starter, Home Basic or Home Premium, so the option will not be there.

        Where do you find it?

        With the default Category Control Panel:

        1. Head to Start
        2. Select Control Panel
        3. Select System and Security
        4. Select System
        5. Select Remote settings (on the left side)
        6. Select the Continue button (if UAC is active)
        7. Uncheck "Allow Remote Assistance connections to this computer " option
        8. Ensure "Don’t allow connections to this computer" option is checked
        9. Select the Ok button to apply the settings

        
        

        8.Remove unneeded features in Add/Remove Programs

        
        

        With the default Category Control Panel:

        
        

        1. Head to Start
        2. Select Control Panel
        3. Select System and Security
        4. Select Administrative Tools
        5. Select Services
        6. Select a service to adjust by double-clicking
        7. In the General tab, Startup type section, select Automatic (Delayed Start), Automatic, Manual or Disabled.

        
        

        If you like, you can also do: Start –> All Programs –> Accessories –> Run –> type in services.msc –> Select OK.

        
        

        After configuring all services that you desire to change, reboot to see the effects of your tweaking.

        
        

        Note: Do not use msconfig to stop services. It basically is "disabling" a service. Use the above procedure
        and set to "manual" instead for testing purposes.

        
        

        If you have not already, reboot now.
        If you have rebooted, do it again.

        
        

        
        

        
        

        9.Disable Windows 7 Aero themes

        
        
        

        10.Update ALL your drivers

        
        
        

        11. Detect and repair disk errors

        In addition to running Disk Cleanup and Disk Defragmenter to optimize the performance of your computer, you can check the integrity of the files stored on your hard disk by running the Error Checking utility.
        As you use your hard drive, it can develop bad sectors. Bad sectors slow down hard disk performance and sometimes make data writing (such as file saving) difficult or even impossible. The Error Checking utility scans the hard drive for bad sectors and scans for file system errors to see whether certain files or folders are misplaced.
        Run the error check utility:
        If you use your computer daily, you should run this utility once a week to help prevent data loss.
        1. Close all open files.
        2. Click Start, and then click Computer.
        3. In the Computer window, right-click the hard disk you want to search for bad sectors, and then click Properties.
        4. In the Properties dialog box, click the Tools tab.
        5. Click the Check Now button.
        6. In the "Error-checking" dialog box, select the Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors check box, and then click Start.
           
           
           
           
           
           

            

           
           

           
           
           
           
           
           
           
           
           
           
           
           
        
        

     
     
     Need help setting up a PC for gaming? Have a read here! Also get discounts at all hardware prices here!
     : http://www.squidoo.com/build-my-pc