Windows Vista, since its release, has had bad reviews from the press and blogs for its heaviness compared to Windows XP and because, at first glance, it seemed not to add anything relevant. Over time, especially after Service Pack 1, Windows Vista has reached a worthy stability and improved its processes becoming a reliable system and laying the foundations for Windows 7 and 8.
Windows 7 took the best things about Vista by putting them on XP and including some useful new features.
Windows 7 was used for this article, but the instructions also apply to Windows 8 and Windows 10 .
In Windows 7 there are a lot of more hidden options than Windows XP had that are worth investigating to make the computer perform faster and faster .
So today I make you work a little on the computer with another page of 10 + 1 tips to speed up the Windows 7 operating system and for Windows 10 and 8.1, which can also be followed by the less experienced, without the need to install external programs but by simply "fiddling" in hidden options that you never stop discovering.
1) Deactivate automatic defrag
Having a well defragmented disk improves performance, but the defragmentation process is one of the longest, most tedious and slow.
On Windows 10, 8.1 and 7 the automatic and periodic defragmentation of the disk is set which slows down the computer maybe in the least opportune moments.
It is therefore advisable to deactivate the disk defragmentation schedule by going to the defragmentation utility (to be found on the start menu), press Configure Schedule and remove the selection where it says " Run a schedule .... ".
But I want to say that defragmentation is still important and must be done at least once a month so better not to forget it and, better yet, use a better program to defragment the disks.
2) Optimize SATA hard drives
Most PCs with Windows 7 and Vista are mounted with SATA hard drives installed.
You can improve the performance of your hard disk so as to speed up disk loads.
Then go to Device Manager (click Start, right click on computer, select Properties and choose Device Manager from the left panel) Expand disk drive, right click on the ATA or SATA hard disk, choose Properties and go to the criteria tab.
Write Cache should already be turned on.
You can also enable the " Disable download buffer cache write ... " option to increase the hard disk performance, but only in two cases: on portable PCs equipped with batteries and on fixed PCs that use a UPS that prevents it shutdown in case the light goes out.
This is because it is possible to lose data when writing if there is a power failure.
3) Activate the Reliability Monitoring
We often write about programs to monitor the system and check performance when Vista, Windows 8 and Windows 7 have all the necessary tools, only that they are a bit hidden.
The Reliability Monitor shows a graph useful for checking the stability of the system over time and being able to see how each action has consequences on the computer.
To start this monitoring you have to open the Control Panel and choose System settings -> Advanced tools -> Open Performance Monitor .
4) Check the Event Viewer
The Event Viewer allows you to identify errors and delays in the system.
About how to read the event log I spoke in another article.
5) Identify problems with a global computer health report
In the Control Panel, choose System Performance -> Advanced Tools and click Generate a System Health Report .
6) Eliminate programs from automatic start
In this case, to make the PC turn on faster and also to avoid unnecessary active processes on the computer, it is better to use an external program such as Autoruns or Glary Utilities or Tuneup or other programs to optimize the Windows PC.
7) Disable printer sharing if you are not using the same printer on the network.
Windows Explorer may slow down while looking for shared printers.
If it's not something you need, it's best to regain speed by turning off printer sharing.
Choose Control Panel> Network and Sharing Center> Advanced sharing settings and disable file and printer sharing.
8) Clean up the Start menu or Start menu
If, when you press the Windows button in the lower left, you notice too many objects and you want to optimize this program start menu, you can hide some elements.
Go to the Control Panel, choose Personalization and click on Taskbar and Start menu on the left.
At the Start Menu tab, press on Customize and choose the items to be displayed by deactivating, for example, Favorites if you are not using Internet Explorer, recent items, help, home group and so on.
9) Indexing options
Hard disk indexing is a controversial topic: there are those who prefer to disable it to gain memory and system resources, there are those who want it active to find files faster.
It is therefore up to everyone's habits to decide whether to disable this indexing of files or not, depending on how much you use the search.
To disable indexing of a disk, open the computer resources, right click on the hard disk icon and deselect the indexing option in the General tab.
You can also turn off indexing altogether : go to Control Panel> Administrative Tools> Services, search for Windows Search, double click and put as startup type, disabled.
If you keep the service running as I should perhaps recommend, go to the indexing options by looking for them from the Start menu search box.
You can modify the paths and folders to be included in the index of the hard disk, limiting them to the most important and most used.
By clicking on Advanced you can also exclude certain types of files from indexing to gain speed.
For example, remove executable .exe files that will hardly ever be searched.
10) Disable user account control
Let us return again to this subject which had raised some protests the last time.
This time we say this: If you are an expert, this UAC only slows down operations.
Less experienced or safe users would do well to maintain this security check, knowing however that any prohibition depends on it.
To disable UAC, open the Control Panel, choose 'User Accounts and change the user account control settings to a minimum.
For more information, refer to the post on how to limit or disable UAC in Vista and Windows 7.
11) Remote differential compression
This service is useful if you move many files across a computer network, otherwise it is useless.
Open Control Panel> Programs and Features> Enable or disable Windows features, uncheck the box next to ' remote differential compression ' and give the ok.
12) Configure the CPU Throttling and check the DPC latency which slows down Windows .
I also remember:
- the tricks to speed up the network connection;
- How to increase the filesystem cache memory
- Disable unnecessary options from the right click menus.
- Automatic optimization of services in Vista and Windows 7
- General tips for optimizing Windows 7 .
- How to make Windows 8 as fast as possible
In general, look at the summary of things to do to speed up your computer
