Although
Windows 7 has been designed to offer better performance than its predecessor
Windows Vista, with the passage of time, it tends to slow down.
If your PC or notebook
with Windows 7 is slow, check out 15 tips that can help you accelerate and
improve Windows 7 performance.
1. Turn off visual
effects
Windows 7 has
beautiful visual effects, however, to produce them, the system consumes many resources. Disable the visual effects, will make Windows 7 slightly less
attractive, but in counterpart, there is considerable improvement in the
operating system performance.
The easiest way to
disable the visual effects is to choose the basic theme of Windows 7 or
the Windows Classic theme. To make the theme switch , click the
right button on the desktop> Customize and choose one of the themes
mentioned above.
You can also choose
which visual effects of Windows 7 you want to disable, do the following:
§ In the "System" window click the option "Advanced System Settings" .
§ "System Properties" click on the tab "Advanced> Settings".
§ "Performance Options" select the options you want to disable and click OK .
2. Uninstall programs
you do not use
The more programs
installed, heavier is the operating system. So let just installed programs
that you actually use. If you install a program and then find out that do
not need it, uninstall it immediately.
To uninstall programs,
you can use the native Windows tool or use third-party programs such as Revo Uninstaller ,
which uninstalls and removes the traces left by the program.
To uninstall programs
in Windows 7, do the following:
§ Click on the menu Start> Control
Panel> Uninstall a program .
§ In the opened window, click the right button
on the program you want to uninstall and click "Uninstall" .
3.
Place non-essential services in manual mode
Some services
automatically initialized consume system resources with features that are not
essential for most users. These services can be put into manual mode to
improve operating system performance.
So you know which
Windows services can be disabled safely, read the article: Windows 7
services that can be disabled .
4. Disable unnecessary
programs from the system start
Several programs that
you install on your computer start up automatically when Windows starts. They
delay the startup and consume system resources.
Disabling automatic
startup of programs that do not need to be loaded during Windows startup, you
can reduce boot time and free up system resources.
To disable Windows
startup programs, do the following:
§ Click Start, type in the search box "msconfig" and
press "Enter"
§ In the "System Settings" window,
click on the tab "Program Startup '
§ Uncheck the box next to the programs that are
not important to boot.
§ Once disabled programs, click Apply,
OK, and restart Windows.
If you are in doubt
which disable programs, use Soluto program to identify which program are really
necessary and which ones you can safely disable.
5. Disk Cleanup
Reducing
the number of unnecessary files on your hard drive, you free up disk space and
speeds up the execution of the computer.
The Windows Disk
Cleanup removes temporary files, empties the trash and removes a variety of
system files and other items that you no longer need.
To run Disk Cleanup,
do the following:
§ Click Start> All Programs>
Accessories> System Tools> Disk Cleanup
§ In the Drives list, click the hard drive you
want to clean and click OK .
§ Select the check boxes for the types of files
to delete and click OK .
§ In the message that appears, click "Delete
Files" .
Another way to do the
Disk Cleanup in Windows is to use third-party programs such as CCleaner , ACleaner ,Glary Utilities ,
among others .
6. Organize your hard
drive
No one likes to take
out the trash, but this needs to be done. If you accumulate a lot of
files, music, photos, videos and other files that you downloaded from the
internet, it will clog up and slow down the process of reading and writing to
the hard drive.
To help you in this
task, you can use software that finds duplicate files and analyze disk space. Check
out the article: 10 free programs
for you to do some cleaning in Windows .
7. Run Disk
Defragmenter
The data fragmentation
makes the hard drive has an additional work that can leave the slow computer. Disk
defragmentation reorganizes these fragmented data so your hard disk can work
more efficiently.
In Windows 7, Disk
Defragmenter runs automatically on a schedule, but you can also defragment
disks and drives manually. To make disk defragmentation in Windows 7, do
the following:
§ Click Start> All Programs>
Accessories> System Tools> Disk Defragmenter
§ In the current status, select the disk
you want to defragment and click "Analyze Disk" (To
determine if the disk needs to be defragmented)
§ If the fragmentation percentage is above 5%,
defragment the disk analyzed.
§ Click "Defragment Disk" and
wait for the end of the defragmentation.
You can also use
third-party programs to defragment the disk, including MyDefrag , PuranDefrag and Smart Defrag .
8. Clean the Windows
registry
One of the most
important parts of Windows is the registry. But the more you use your
computer, the more waste is accumulated on it. The Registry Cleaner
removes invalid entries left by the system and uninstalled programs. This
prevents errors caused by invalid registry entries and improves operating
system performance.
To clean the registry,
there are many programs available, including Wise Registry Cleaner , Free Registry Cleaner and Glary Utilities
9. Use a reliable
antivirus
Use an antivirus is
essential to keep your computer free from viruses that install files on your
computer, disable operating system functions and leave the slower computer.
Make sure you have a
good antivirus installed on your computer and run a full system scan at least
once a week. This will ensure that your system does not have the
performance affected by viruses.
There are several free
antivirus solutions, including the Microsoft
Security Essentials , Avira Antivir and Avast Home Edition.
10. Remove spyware and
other malicious code.
Some types of
malicious code, such as spyware, malware, Trojan horses, hijackers and other
slow the computer recording your surfing habits and sending the information to
third parties over the internet.
Download a free
anti-spyware ( SuperAntiSpyware , Malwarebytes
Anti-Malware or Ad0Aware ) and weekly
run the system scan to remove spyware and other malicious programs that steal
your data and leave your computer slower.
11. Update the
hardware drivers and Windows regularly
Make sure that the
drivers for the video card, motherboard and any other hardware component of
your computer are up to date. Driver updates, brings several fixes and can
solve performance and incompatibility problems.
Although Windows 7
offers optional driver updates via Windows Update often the available versions
are not the most recent. Access the site of the
manufacturers to search for newer drivers.
Also, always keep
Windows up to date, Windows updates are able to avoid and fix problems, enhance
computer security and improve their performance.
To update Windows do
the following:
§ Access the " Control Panel>
System and Security> Windows Update."
§ In the left pane, click "Check
for updates" .
§ Select the updates to download and click "Install
Updates".
You can also set
Windows to download and install important updates automatically. For this,
do the following:
§ In the Windows Update window, click the option "Change
Settings" .
§ In the panel "Important Updates ",
select the option "Install updates automatically" and
click OK .
12. Enable write caching
on the device
The write cache uses
the high-speed RAM to temporarily store information sent to the hard drive
until it can store them. This enables a high-performance data transfer.
To enable write
caching, do the following:
§ Press Windows + Pause / Break
§ In the opened window, click the option "Device
Manager"
§ In the Device Manager expand the item "Disk
Drives"
§ Click the right button on your hard drive and
select "Properties"
§ On the "Policies" check both options
and click OK .
Note: There is a downside to enable these two
options, if there is a power outage, data can be lost or corrupted. Therefore,
only use this option if you have a secondary source of energy, eg PCs with UPS
and notebooks with battery.
13. Replace the Off
option for Hibernate
You can save a few
valuable seconds using hibernation. Besides being faster, it saves the
current session and restore all programs, files and windows open when you turn
on the computer again.
To hibernate your
computer, go to the Start menu, click the arrow in front
of Off and choose the option" Hibernate" . If you
prefer, you can also create a
shortcut on the desktop to streamline hibernation .
14. Perform
Troubleshooting
The Performance
Problems solution of Windows 7 checks for problems that can slow your
computer's performance and try to correct them automatically to improve the
speed and overall performance of the operating system.
To run it, go to Control
Panel> System and Security> Find and fix problems> Check for performance
issues and follow step by step.
15. Add more RAM
memory
If even after
performing the above tips, your computer is still slow, it may be time to
invest in an upgrade of RAM. The prices are very reasonable and upgrade
the RAM is a cost-effective way to increase the speed and efficiency of your
computer.
Determine the type of
RAM your computer needs, see if there are any empty slot and upgrade in your
RAM.For information about the hardware of your computer, you can use programs
like Speecy , PC Wizard ,WinAudit , LookInMyPC and FreshDiagnose .[full_width]
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