How-To Tweak the Windows OS for Maximum Performance
Tuesday October 20, 2009 by Nick Niesen.
Learning how to effectively tweak a computer running the Windows OS could almost be viewed as an art-form. When it’s done correctly, your old or even “out-dated” computer could end up running better then the day you originally bought it. If things are done incorrectly though, well, that’s an entirely different story. Things can stop working, Windows can become corrupt or even worse, files could be lost. You need to know what you are doing and to learn this can take several years of trial and error. The good news is that after you know a handful of tricks, (in a matter of an hour) you should be able to take a computer that is running at a snails pace get it moving at an acceptable speed.
Now, we are entirely ignoring hardware components, but this (insufficient memory and/or not having a dedicated graphics card) could (and usually is) at least part of the root of your computers problem. If your system has become almost entirely sluggish and un-responsive we suggest first checking into your computers RAM. Installing a sufficient amount 2-4GB+ could render your computer usable again however additional tuning may be required.
Disclaimer: Now, before we continue, we must state again, that tuning a computer is an art-form! Any mistakes that you possibly make during the process of tweaking are entirely at your-own-fault, at your-own-expense, and at your-own-risk. Below is a brief explanation of steps we take to tune computer systems. After years of experience we have learned how not to make mistakes the hard way.
Stop Programs From Starting Up
How many programs are starting up when your computer boots up? If you are unsure, then we would bet you have background applications running, that are entirely un-needed.
How To Remove Startup Items: Download
TuneUp Utilities
Trial, Run the Software and access the TuneUp StartUp Manager (The software will make recommendations based on it’s own knowledge whether you should leave or de-activate a startup entry) If you are certain an entry is not needed, you may remove it.
Un-Install Un-Needed Software
Have old applications and games installed on your computer that you no longer use? Un-install them! Having too many apps installed can significantly slow down your computers startup time, hard-drive seeks and shut down times! Not sure what to un-install? Remove the obvious, anything else, check into and after you have verified that it is ok to remove, un-install it.
How-To Uninstall Un-Needed Software: Go to the Start Menu > Control Panel > Add and Remove Programs (or Programs and Features)
Clean Up Your Registry
Your computers data/file system can become bloated with information and old settings that no longer need to be stored. Run the TuneUp Utilities Registry Cleaner to remove these fragments from your system.
How-To Clean Your Registry: Download
TuneUp Utilities Trial, Run the Software and access the TuneUp Registry Cleaner.
Optimize Your Systems Performance
The last critical step is to optimize your systems performance. This can mean removing large background pictures, reducing the number of graphic intense Windows settings, and optimizing your browser to make use of all the extra bandwidth you’ve acquired since you sent your 56k Modem to the scrap-heap.
How-To Optimize Your Systems Peformance: Download
TuneUp Utilities Trial, Run the Software, access the TuneUp System Optimizer, and follow the steps advised by the software.
Defragment Your Registry
If you’ve every defragged your hard-drive, this is the same concept. Things can become bulky and out of order. Defragmenting your registry removes structural errors and organizes it into a more accessible manner.
How To Defrag Your Registry: Download
TuneUp Utilities Trial, Run the Software, access and run the TuneUp Registry Defrag Utility
Your Windows Operating System has been successfully tuned!
After completing this series of steps, reboot your system, if you have done everything correctly, your system should be running a lot smoother. If not, you may need to inspect the integrity and performance of your computers hardware.
