It is quite evident through the way Windows 7 works that a more powerful computer and greater resources are required. Those who have already upgraded their systems to meet the extra demand may not have any problem in speed and performance as long as they properly maintain the system. If not, even such powerful hardware will be of no use since several factors negatively affect the speed and performance of the system.
When it comes to system maintenance, many people talk about 'registry optimization' and increasing 'RAM' to speed up the system, but these are some of the ways to keep the system from losing performance, not the only ones.
The visual effects in Windows 7 are very attractive. If you want to enjoy with them, you have to compromise as your system will lose some speed. Likewise, there are some more things on which you have to compromise if you are just keen on having Windows 7 run on its full speed.
Since many of us want to solve the problem of a slow Windows 7, we are listing below the probable measures to speed up Windows 7; you may decide on which you can compromise for better speed.
Minimum System Requirements
Processor: 1 GHz or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64)
RAM: 1 GB, 32-bit, or 2 GB, 64-bit
Free Hard Disk Space: 16 GB (32-bit), or 20 GB (64-bit)
Graphic Device: DirectX 9 with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver (128MB of memory for the Aero interface)
Additional requirements may vary according to one's individual need. For instance, you may need additional graphics card (compatible with Direct X 10 or higher) to run and increase some games' performance. Likewise, some other features may require advanced or additional hardware.
Control Startup Process
If you find Windows 7 taking longer to boot, remove all the unnecessary startup programs. If you are able to use any startup program manager for Windows 7, take its recommendations and clear unnecessary programs. Or else, run 'msconfig', and manually remove the unwanted programs from the 'startup' tag. Don't delete those programs that are necessary for hardware or security support. Remember, sometimes malwares also embed themselves in the startup process.
Remove Bloatware
Uninstall all unnecessary programs since many unwanted programs also load themselves at the time of startup and take valuable RAM and engage CPU. Remove anything which you don't need.
Check and Remove Viruses and Spyware
Apart from other harmful effects, viruses and spywares badly affect the performance of a computer. Use some good virus and spyware detecting and cleaning program to keep your computer free from any such harmful programs.
Extra RAM Helps
Adding more RAM helps run Windows 7 faster, especially if you multitask.
Search Indexing to be Turned Off
Most of the users do not perform frequent searches on the system. Better disable this resource hogging feature in the Windows Search Properties Window.
Defrag the Hard Disk
By using 'Disk Defragmenter' keep defragging the hard drive from time to time.
Keep the Hard Disk Clean
You can find 'Disk Cleanup' in Accessories. Using this feature will keep the hard disk clean by removing junk files such as temporary files, offline Web pages, and installer files.
Set Power Settings to Maximum
Though it would consume little more electricity, it could boost performance in return. Go to 'power options' and choose 'High Performance'.
Turn Off Desktop Gadgets
Turn off desktop gadgets if you don't use them frequently. Go to 'view list of running gadgets' in the start menu search bar (after typing 'gadgets'), and remove the unwanted ones.
Turn Off Aero Effects
If you are not keen on having the visual effects, turn them off. Go to the Performance Information and Tools section in the Control Panel, choose 'Adjust for best performance', all the effects will be turned off.
Use Simple Desktop Background
To free up RAM, if you have limited RAM, use simple solid color background. It can boost speed slightly. Here again, if you are not keen to have beautiful desktop background, turn it off.
Registry Maintenance
Registry cleaning and optimizing can prevent your system from freezing, crashing and error messages. Windows 7 will run faster after adjusting and optimizing relevant registry parameters. Defragging registry also helps improve Windows speed. You should know that registry is constantly becoming corrupted and damaged. This slows down the Windows considerably. It is actually one of the biggest causes of the system's losing performance and speed. Taking care of registry maintenance is good for system's health.
Setup the Windows Ready Boost Service
This feature helps you to use your pendrive or flash drive as RAM. This improves the performance and speed of Windows 7 considerably, especially when launching bulky applications. To use this feature, you need to have a High Speed Pendrive or Flash/USB which is ready boost compatible. Plug in the pendrive, open 'computer', right click on the USB Drive/Pendrive, then select 'Ready Boost' tab and select the 'use this device' option.
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