19 Unofficial Ways to Speed Up Windows 7

Looking to tweak Windows 7 and squeeze out a little more speed? You're in luck, as the unofficial Windows 7 Forums provides nineteen ways to make that tasty new OS run faster. The helpful list includes a few obvious tips like boosting your RAM to 3 or 4 GB, switch to solid state drives, and keep the system drivers updated.

One of the tips found on the list is to install the correct version of Windows 7. Consumers with a high-end PC with over 3 GB of RAM crammed inside should be using the 64-bit version "in most cases," as the 32-bit version won't take advantage of memory just over the 3 GB limit. There's also a thorough explanation found here that offers a more detailed reason as to why you should use the 32-bit or 64-bit version.

The list also provides other obvious ways to speed up the OS, however we've known about these since the days of Windows 95/98/98SE/XP: defrag the hard drive(s), disable those pesky, unwanted startup applications (Real Player and QuickTime as usual suspects), and disable unwanted services. You should also uninstall unnecessary software, clean up old files, and run periodic anti-spyware scans... no-brainer stuff there.

Unfortunately, this list of tips doesn't really provide anything utterly bewildering like "change this registry key" or "do this to speed up that." The list does suggest that you disable gadgets, choose a high performance plan, disable search indexing, and make use of keyboard shortcuts. The list also says that you should change Windows 7 visual effects, perhaps even disable all the effects to get the maximum boost.

  • Zoonie
    Oh, you forgot to put "Most useless article of the week:" before your title.
    Reply
  • opmopadop
    Erm, this one is useful for non-SSD ntfs drives if you have lots of ram free (uses a few hundred mb when copying) :
    fsutil behavior set memoryusage 2

    If your memory gets swallowed up change it back to 1
    Reply
  • sunflier
    1 unofficial way to speed up Windows Vista - Strap Vista DVD to a bottle rocket.
    Reply
  • choujij
    @Zoonie Ouch... A little harsh, no?
    Reply
  • mavroxur
    Oh wow, so, you're telling me that upgrading to SSD's, adding more RAM, and using a 64 bit OS on machines with > 3gb RAM will help?


    Thanks for the astute observations, Captain Obvious.


    This article could apply to ANY operating system...or any system PERIOD.
    Reply
  • maigo
    Do the same thing you did on Vista/XP/2000/NT/98/95/3.1/dos
    hur dur
    Reply
  • spentshells
    ZoonieOh, you forgot to put "Most useless article of the week:" before your title.excellent
    Reply
  • foody
    This article almost implies that doing all of these things wouldn't speed up a computer in general, just Windows 7.

    I already know that a SS drive is faster than mine.
    Reply
  • nawat
    Personally I don't really consider things like upgrading a way to "speed up." It's a given anyway; why in the world would you spend money if it won't speed up your PC.

    I was expecting more like tips, tweaks and stuff.
    Reply
  • Zoonie
    Choujij@Zoonie Ouch... A little harsh, no?
    Yeah perhaps you're right. Sorry man, I'm not a mean guy, but Kevin keeps pushing out Cpt. Obvious articles on a site I used to love for its useful information.
    Reply