Windows is a very complex, large operating system, of which most people ignore much of its functionality. The most curious and those who want to learn the use of the computer read guides and often look for tricks or tips to make the PC go better and push Windows to its full potential.
In some cases, in authoritative blogs like Navigaweb, you can find useful guides, in other cases instead you can fall into bad advice, in bombastic procedures that, in the best of cases, have no effect and only give the illusion of improvement which, in reality, is not there.
In this article we see the most wrong advice regarding the improvement of PC performance, tips not to follow, which could apply to the old versions of Windows, certainly useless if not harmful today .
So let's say that to improve a Windows PC you don't need:
1) Clearing cached files regularly speeds things up
Ccleaner is one of the most popular programs for PC, a tool that is used to delete unnecessary files from the computer, temporary ones and also the cache of used programs.
In some cases, Ccleaner can really speed up an old computer when large amounts of unnecessary data are erased, this does not mean that you need to use Ccleaner every day.
Clearing the browser cache or cleaning temporary files every day or even once a week will not improve your computer performance, on the contrary it slows down web browsing which cannot benefit from cached files.
2) Activate ReadyBoost to speed up modern PCs
As explained in the past, ReadyBoost is a function to improve Windows 7 using a USB stick.
On modern computers, however, after using this function for a long time on my computer, I can say that on a PC with more than 2GB of RAM, ReadyBoost is really useless and irrelevant.
On older PCs it may perhaps still lend a hand.
3) Defragment the disk manually
In Windows 98, users were forced to manually run the Disk Defragmenter utility to not see the PC slow down too much.
In the latest versions of Windows there is no more need because the defragmentation of the file system on the hard disk is automatic, so you no longer have to use it.
Note that if you use a computer with a solid state drive, it must never be defragmented.
See also: Things to never do on a computer with SSD drives
4) Deactivate the paging file to increase performance
When Windows runs out of RAM, it passes the data onto a paging file written on the hard disk that acts as virtual memory.
Some "geeks" and geeks of Windows have spread the advice that since the paging file is slow, then it was better to disable it and force Windows to use only RAM.
According to them, the trick had to work because it was based on the assumption that Windows was not able to manage memory well.
In reality, the paging file is vital for a computer with low RAM and tests have shown that disabling the paging file does not offer any performance improvement.
The only case that the paging file should be removed is on a computer with lots of RAM and little disk space.
5) Enable CPU cores in MSConfig
A rather credible trick found on some sites explains that since Windows cannot use all the processor cores, it can speed up the system loading time, increasing the amount of cores used during startup in MSConfig.
The option in MSConfig lies in the advanced boot options.
In reality, however, Windows always uses the maximum amount of cores that the CPU processor has.
Technically, only one core is used at the start of the boot process, but the additional cores are quickly activated later.
The option that allows you to set a maximum number of cores, therefore, simply serves to limit the amount of cores used in startup.
6) Clean Prefetch data to increase boot speed
The Prefetch function works as a sort of program cache that Windows saves in the C: / Windows / Prefetch folder.
This helps applications to open faster.
Some Windows geeks misunderstood this function believing that Windows loads files when the computer starts up, slowing down the system boot.
In reality, the prefetch files are loaded only when the associated program starts, containing the data of the last 128 programs recently launched.
If you regularly cleaned the Prefetch folder, the programs would take longer to open.
7) Disable or delay the startup of Windows services
This is perhaps one of the most popular tips on technology blogs, so much so that even on Navigaweb there is an article on how to speed up your Windows PC by disabling background services.
At the time when Windows was heavier (Like Windows Vista) and computers had less memory, disabling unnecessary services made sense.
Today, on a Windows 8 or Windows 7 PC, with 4 GB of RAM or more, a disabled service has no influence on the overall performance of the computer.
Even the " Automatic (delayed boot) " option doesn't really speed up boot time.
This is because the services still needed by the system must start so delaying them will slow Windows loading.
The "Delayed Start" feature is especially useful for system administrators who need to create a dependency between one service and another.
8) Disabling QoS to increase network bandwidth and activating the folder windows option in a separate process are two of the other famous useless tricks for Windows already explained in the past.
In other articles, for real geeks, we can find things that work:
- Speed up Windows 7, 8 and Vista with 10 hidden options
- Super fast Windows 7 with system changes and disabling unnecessary services, functions and options
- Make Windows 8 as fast as possible
