Posts Tagged ‘Tweaks’
Top Ten Activities to Improve a New Windows 7 System
Posted by kglee | Filed under Software Fixes
Whether you’ve just bought a new PC, upgraded to Windows 7, or reinstalled your OS, a just-installed system is a great opportunity to make some helpful changes and fixes. Here are the things we recommend anyone tackle on a minty fresh Windows.
We’ve previously rounded up the bulk of our Windows 7 advice, from first installation to fine detail tweaking, in our complete guide to Windows 7, as well as packaged our favorite little utilities and customization apps in a list of 10 booster apps. This guide, in contrast, doesn’t include many downloads, and focuses on what one can do to fix up their system from the get-go, no separate app required.
10. Change Up Your Theme
Unlike its predecessors, Windows 7 offers a lot of non-hacker-ish ways in which you can change the entire look of your desktop, not just the wallpaper. We took an early tour of Windows 7’s many free and legit themes, and noted that Microsoft checks in occasionally to provide more themes at its site. If you’d like to keep your wallpaper fresh, but don’t want to hunt down the widescreen-friendly pics yourself, set up
9. Take Advantage of the Better Printer Setups
When Vista came out, it broke a lot of printer compatibility. Now that most manufacturers have had time to update drivers (and users had time to replace old printers), we can get the most from Windows 7’s better printing tools. You can, for example, make your computer change its default printer based on network connections, which can be a real boon to laptop warriors. You can also keep your XP systems connected on your network happily, as Windows 7 and XP can share printers, as explained by the How-To Geek’s own site. (Original post: XP/7 sharing)
Default Windows 7 Tweaks
Posted by kglee | Filed under Software Fixes
Here are some tweaks and general help guides that may be of some use.
How to modify UAC
Start › user accounts › change user account control settings › adjust slider
How to disable Page File (Warning: Do Not Do this unless you have A LOT of memory)
Start › system › Advanced system settings › Performance › Settings › Advance › Virtual memory › Change › No paging file › Set › OK
How to disable Hibernation
Start › cmd › type: powercfg -h off › Enter
How to disable System Restore
Start › System › System protection › Configure
How to turn off Search Indexing
a) Start › services › windows search › disable
b) Start › computer › right click c drive › properties › untick: Allow files on this drive to have contents indexed in addition to file properties
c) Start › Indexing options › modify › show all locations › double click users in summary of selected locations › uncheck users directory › double click start menu in the summary of selected locations › uncheck start menu directory › ok
How to turn off Remote Differential Compression
Start › Control panel › programs › turn windows features on or off › uncheck Remote Differential Compression › ok
This makes file transfers (copy, move) faster by turnig off “Remote Differential Compression” (RDC). Copying a 1.91 GB folder from the main HDD to a folder on an external USB drive resulting in …
With RDC turned on: 3:23 – three minutes and 23 seconds (with a stopwatch).
With RDC turned off: 2:25 – two minutes and 25 seconds.
How to turn off unneeded Windows features
Start › programs & features › turn Windows features on or off › uncheck
How to remove the recycle bin
Right click desktop › Personalize › change desktop icons › untick recycle bin
How to disable defragmentation & Superfetch
Start › Computer Management or Services › Disk Defragmentation › disable / Superfetch › disable
How to change title text of Internet Explorer
Start › regedit › HKEY_CURRENT_USER › Software › Microsoft › Internet Explorer › Main
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Speed up Windows 7
Posted by kglee | Filed under Software Fixes
Microsoft Windows 7
is already a much more responsive operating system than its predecessors, but there are tweaks and changes you can make to speed up Windows 7 even more. By reading this list and implementing some of the suggestions, you can increase performance in a very short period of time. If you have any further suggestions on how to improve the speed of a Windows 7 PC, please let us know in the comments section so that we can keep updating this list.
1. Boost your RAM
Windows 7 is very efficient at using your memory and adding another stick of RAM can give a big performance boost at very little cost. 4GB is plenty for most 64-bit users, and 3GB is a sensible limit for 32-bit users (mainly due to the memory limitations which you can read about here).
If you do more intensive work such as CAD or video editing then added even more than 4GB RAM may be a sensible idea. However it should be noted that simply adding lots of extra memory will not continue to improve overall performance, the bottleneck depends on other components (such as your CPU and hard drive).
2. Switch to SSD
Using a Solid State Drive is going to provide a performance boost in almost all Windows 7 applications, especially when it comes to boot times. SSD’s have no moving parts and therefore are silent and more energy efficient, with the benefit of much faster access times.
The current generation of mechanical hard drives will be obsolete in the coming years, but for the time being SSDs are quite expensive. If you have the money and a high end system to improve upon, this would be an excellent choice.
Windows 7 Tweaks
Posted by kglee | Filed under Software Fixes
How to modify UAC
Start › user accounts › change user account control settings › adjust slider
How to disable Page File (Warning: Do Not Do this unless you have A LOT of memory)
Start › system › Advanced system settings › Performance › Settings › Advance › Virtual memory › Change › No paging file › Set › OK
How to disable Hibernation
Start › cmd › type: powercfg -h off › Enter
How to disable System Restore
Start › System › System protection › Configure
How to turn off Search Indexing
a) Start › services › windows search › disable
b) Start › computer › right click c drive › properties › untick: Allow files on this drive to have contents indexed in addition to file properties
c) Start › Indexing options › modify › show all locations › double click users in summary of selected locations › uncheck users directory › double click start menu in the summary of selected locations › uncheck start menu directory › ok
How to turn off Remote Differential Compression
Start › Control panel › programs › turn windows features on or off › uncheck Remote Differential Compression › ok
This makes file transfers (copy, move) faster by turnig off “Remote Differential Compression” (RDC). Copying a 1.91 GB folder from the main HDD to a folder on an external USB drive resulting in …
With RDC turned on: 3:23 – three minutes and 23 seconds (with a stopwatch).
With RDC turned off: 2:25 – two minutes and 25 seconds. (more…)