Speed up Your Windows 7 PC - Quick Tip 3 of 4

In the previous article, we saw some really easy quick tips to get speed and performance gain.

In case you missed it, check them out by clicking here.

Lets look at some more over here.

1. Uninstall unrequired softwares

Let me share a secret with you, if you are a technocrat, then I can understand that you might have installed many softwares on your machine for trial purpose and for using it in some or the other way.. (even I do that you know!). But we all must understand, that it affects our computer very badly. Not only does it occupy our hard-disk space, but sometimes or we can say most of the times, the applications are such that have the options of running in background. By doing this, they even consume our CPU and Memory. Shocked? Yes they really do so. So the best thing is in case you aren't using a software and you are not gonna use it any further, be sure to remove it.

Go to Start-> Control Panel -> Programs -> Uninstall a program -- and start removing all those softwares and applications that you don't use..

Also, there might be cases, wherein you use some software rarely. Say a Audio Converter.
Then in such cases, make sure of two things:

While installing only, choose options to run only when required and not every-time the machine starts.
In case you missed that during installation or didn't find any such option, go to the startup programs as shown in the part 2 of this article series and remove them from the startup programs.

2. Make use of Ready Boost

Well, must say ReadyBoost is a fantastic and a very useful feature of Windows Vista and Windows 7. Just the condition for making use of it is using a compatible Flash Drive (Pen-drive) or a SD Card.

For those who don't know what it is, let me explain you briefly, that it is the way of using a compatible USB Drive (Flash Drive or a Pen drive) as RAM to improve performance rather say to provide a Performance thrust to your machine, specifically in disk read performance.

And the best way of knowing whether any USB stick supports ReadyBoost or not is simply connecting it to a Windows Vista or Windows 7 machine. Right in the beginning when the machine detects it, it is showed in the autoplay options whether the disk supports ReadyBoost or not.
Also, whenever you are buying a new USB drive, it may be mentioned on the packing something like "ReadyBoost Enabled" or "Enhanced with ReadyBoost".. Nice Yea?

So lets have a look at the steps to be followed to make use of Ready Boost on your Windows 7 Machine.

Plug-in your USB stick.
When it is detected by your machine, go to My Computer and right-click the disk and select Properties.

In the Properties Dialog, select the ReadyBoost Tab.
Specify the option "Use this Device."

Now based on two things, namely the size of the USB Disk connected, and the amount of USB Disk that is empty, the system calculates and tell you how much amount of your disk you can use is Ready Boost.
Specify the Size you wanna make use of and Enjoy!

3. Adjust Visual effects for better performance

Who doesn't like great colors, nice animations and superb color combinations??
But if your machine is running slow, its one of the ideal ways of getting rid of the Visual Effects to have a better performance.
This one is going to be a sureshot performance benefit to your system, the main reason being to get a higher visual effect and maintain it, there are multiple background processes running and they continuously consume CPU as well as RAM memory.
And when you stop using heavy visual effects, or tune your machine to use visual effects based on High Performance, those background processes limit their use of CPU and RAM, thus making it available for other processes and in turn making the machine fast.

Again, I will say one thing, that go ahead with this just in case your machine is very slow.. Just because who doesn't like pretty Windows 7. But in case we got to trade-off between appearance and performance, then its good that we choose performance rite?

The steps to be followed to apply Visual Effects for better performance are as follows:

Open Start, then click Control Panel.
In the Search Box, write Performance Information and Tools.

Now from the list of results, click Performance Information and Tools.
Next, click on Adjust Visual Effects. (This being an adminitrator level activity, you may be prompted for confirmation, you may even be asked to enter the admin password. Please provide Yes as confirmation)

A dialog will open which has three options:

Let Windows choose what's best for my Computer
Adjust for Best Appearance
Adjust for Best Performance.

Select Adjust for Best Performance.

It will take some time to apply those changes, also your screen may flicker during this time. Please do not get worried!

(It really feels ouch!! after doing that.. as all the beautiful looking Windows 7 suddenly becomes dull and all the cool looking visual effects are gone!)

Well, this is indeed a very big step in getting speed for your machine. Believe me, I have tried this even on my Windows Vista machine and had a speed like never before. The machine seems to get energized just like the Popeye after eating a tin of spinach.

But yes, it comes at the cost of Visual Effects!

4. Change Power Settings

We all like to save battery power of our laptop. But obviously its not at the cost of productivity. I mean, in case you got a Windows 7 Desktop, or you are working on a laptop when plugged in with power, why worry about the power..
Just think of getting the maximum performance out of it.

Windows 7 has 3 options for the power settings.
(1)Balanced
(2)Power Saver
(3)High Performance

And, as the names suggest, High Performance will give you the best performance out of the three.
Also, in case you are using your laptop on Battery, then you may move to Power Saver or Balanced Mode, but its your choice you know, as I prefer to work on High Performance mode, even when I am working on Battery.

To apply these settings, follow these steps:

Click Start->Control Panel->System and Security->Power Options

Select High Performance here.

5. Turn off Desktop Gadgets

Mostly every windows user likes the Windows Sidebar, some nice little gadgets and cool stuff!
But then again, when you are suffering from a low memory then you got to disable it.
Yeap, these small gadgets take up a lot of memory. And in case they are the ones like say weather reporting gadget, they even consume your internet bandwidth though a small amount but still!
Disabling Windows 7 widgets will definitely gain you a few seconds of startup time along with a faster PC during your working as these background processes no more consume your Memory or CPU.
To disable them,

Go to Start
In the Search Programs and Files box, write sidebar and press enter.

A View Gadgets window will appear on the screen.

Select all the Gadgets and click the remove button on the right to remove them from the sidebar.

And its done!

Hope you guys benefit from these tips!

Happy Speeding up!