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ISPreviews Windows 7 Performance Tips

Mark.J

Administrator
Staff member
ISPreview Team
This is a follow-up to my Vista Tips article, albeit adjusted to work with Win7 and with a few things excluded because Windows 7 does not require all of the same tweaks that Vista did.

1. Disable the Windows Search Indexing service.

This is very aggressive on your file system and unless you need to use 'Search' a lot then it is better off being disabled.

Start Menu -> Right-Click Computer -> Manage -> Services and Applications -> Services - > Right-Click Windows Search (Select Properties) -> Startup type: Disabled -> OK

2. Reduce Superfetch.

This loads commonly run apps into memory every time you boot your PC but generally speaking it will just thrash your hard disk and you can either disable it completely or reduce it to BOOT Prefetching only (a good middle ground choice).

Start Menu -> All Programs -> Accessories -> Command Prompt -> Type "regedit" in the new window (without speechmarks, click 'Yes' if a security window shows)

Navigate to this location in your system registry:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\MemoryManagement\PrefetchParameters

Click the 'EnableSuperfetch' option and change as follows.
Change the setting from ‘3’ (for everything) to ‘2’ (for boot prefetching only) or '0' to disable completely.

3. Kill unused services.

Windows 7 runs a lot of services at default that most people will never need, disabling them will help to improve the overall performance of your system and use less RAM. Typically I can’t be 100% sure what you’re all doing with your PC’s so I’ve only listed the really useless stuff below (will add more only when I’m certain they’re safe to suggest):

* Tablet PC Input service (don't do this if you have a touchscreen PC)

Start Menu -> Right-Click Computer -> Manage -> Services and Applications -> Services - > Right-Click Tablet PC Input service (Select Properties) -> Startup type: Disabled -> OK

It might also be worth clicking 'STOP' on the service while you're there.

4. Disable Windows Defender.

This is Microsoft's AntiSpyware service. However these days most people will run a strong anti-virus package of their own that does exactly the same thing and usually does it better. If you fit this criteria and your AV software is also able to tackle spyware, as the vast majority can, then get rid of Defender and save some resources.

Start Menu -> Right-Click Computer -> Manage -> Services and Applications -> Services - > Right-Click Windows Defender (Select Properties) -> Startup type: Disabled -> OK

It might also be worth clicking 'STOP' on the service while you're there.

5. Fixing DirectX 9 Game Compatibility.

Windows7 uses a DirectX 11 wrapper to run DirectX 9 games, except the default installation does not include all of the latest DX9 files and Windows Update does a poor job of fixing this. Instead you should download the most recent end-user runtime files by getting the latest DX Websetup file and running it.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...38-DB71-4C1B-BC6A-9B6652CD92A3&displaylang=en

Failing that, download the newest runtimes and run the setup file from here.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...text=DirectX End-User Runtimes&DisplayLang=en

6. Disable Aero.

These sexy looking transparent windows and preview effects can suck up to an additional +100MB's of physical system memory, eats extra battery life (bad for laptops/netbooks) and also uses up a smidgen more CPU time. Personally I prefer to keep it enabled but if you want to switch it off then here's how.

Start Menu -> Control Panel -> Appearance and Personalization -> Personalization -> Select 'Windows 7 Basic' from the bottom of the scroll window under 'Basic and High Contrast Themes'

7. Disable Remote Assistance.

Unless you're a remote worker for a company (i.e. use a VPN) or need a lot of technical support then it's always good practice to turn Remote Assistance off.

Start Menu -> Control Panel -> System and Security -> System -> Select 'Advanced system settings' from the left side menu -> Select the 'Remote' tab and uncheck 'Allow remote assistance connections..'
 
Last edited:
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cheers for the info, this should come in useful for when lm able to afford it.. plan on saving up and having it within a month or so hopefully (will use it as a chance to change my heatsink as well as lve got a higher rated AMD heatsink to change to which is huge in comparison to the one l am using at the moment)
 
By the way I updated the article to remove from no.3 * TCP/IP NetBios helper because Win7 seems to use it in its new Homegroup networking system.
 
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