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| Performance |
If your pc is slow to respond when you run programs and everything seems to take ages to do anything
then it's time to use some solutions to improve Windows performance.
Disk Space
Open My Computer and select the drive where Windows lives, usually Local Disk (C:). If you have less than 200Mb of free space
then try to delete enough unnecessary files or uninstall software you don't need (programs you can reinstall from disk if you need to).
I find Windows functions fine with around 500Mb of free space but is much more responsive with over 1Gb free.
Programs
Computers usually slow down because of the number of programs running in the background.
If you have more than 10 icons in the 'notification area' on the taskbar (bottom-right next to the clock), or 'hidden icons' under Vista,
then your system is probably starting to show signs of slowdown, or at least is not as fast as it could be. When software is installed you
sometimes have the option of switching the program off when you're not using it. Check through your program icons to see if you have
the option to stop each one from running. Select Options or Settings for the program and then look for the option to disable start-up or
untick the option to start with Windows. This will stop the program from running the next time you switch your pc on.
If a program doesn't give you the option to stop it from running then you can use Autoruns to stop programs
manually from starting up when you switch your pc on.
Windows Settings
Windows has its own performance settings where you can reduce the visual quality of the desktop to get a small performance boost.
Click Start/Control Panel/(Performance and Maintenance)/System.
In the System Properties window select the Advanced tab. Under Peformance click Settings.
In the Performance Options window under Visual Effects select Adjust for best performance.
Or you can untick all of the options as they make little difference to the way your pc functions and are all cosmetic improvements.
While you're in Performance Options you can check under the Advanced tab for your Virtual Memory. Most modern computers
function best with over 1Gb (1000Mb) of virtual memory. Click Change. Under Total paging file size for all drives see how much memory
is listed as Recommended. If the Currently allocated amount of memory is much less then you may have performance problems. Select
Custom size and enter the Recommended amount of memory into the Initial Size and Maximum size boxes and click the Set button.
Windows Services
You can also increase performance by reducing the number of Windows programs you have running in the background.
This is not without its problems though so you should always Backup your important data and make a Restore Point beforehand.
Run these batch files (.bat) to turn off non-critical services. More information is provided under the section on Batch Files.
Unsafe Services Off.bat
Minimum Windows Services.bat
Windows XP Updates Off.bat
Windows Vista and 7 Updates Off.bat
Computer Management Off.bat
MSBSA Off.bat
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