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Greetings Fellow Infinitians,
Have you felt that your PC is not doing enough? Then This thread is for you.
In this thread you can find Tips/Tweaks on how to keep your PC on it's top notch performance.
(NOTE: These do not increase your pot-rates however these tips/tweaks might give your PC that extra kick to maximize it's performance)
FOR WINDOWS XP
1. Disable The Windows Indexing Service
-Click Start -> Settings -> Control Panel
-Double-click the "Add or Remove Programs" icon
-Along the left side, click "Add/Remove Windows Components"
-Un-check the "Indexing Services" box
-Click Next and follow the instructions
-You may need to reboot your computer for the changes to take effect
If you previously had the Indexing Services box checked, you can also remove the indexing that already exists to free up a little hard drive space:
-In Windows Explorer, click on "My Computer"
-Right click the entry for your hard drive and select "Properties"
-At the bottom of the Properties screen, un-check the "Allow Indexing Service to index this disk for fast file searching"
-Click OK
-Depending on how many files are on your computer, this can take a while as Windows un-indexes all of your files...
2. Optimize Windows Display Settings
-Right click on My Computer and select "Properties"
-Select the "Advanced" tab at the top right
-Under "Performance" click the "Settings" button
-Un-check to options you want to disable
Alternately, you can select the "Adjust for best performance" option at the top of the screen to speed up your computer.
3. Optimize Your Virtual Memory Pagefile Size
-Right click My Computer and select "Properties" - at the bottom of the screen, note the amount of physical RAM on your computer
-Select the "Advanced" tab at the top right
-Under "Performance", click the "Settings" button
-Choose the "Advanced" tab of the top
-At the bottom, under "Virtual Memory", click the "Change" button
-Click on your main hard drive at the top
-In the middle of the screen, select the "Custom size" button and enter a number that is 1.5 to 2 times the amount of physical RAM in both the "Initial size" and "Maximum Size" boxes
-Click OK
4. Disable Automatic Network Search In Windows Explorer
-Open "My Computer"
-Go to the "Tools" menu at the top of the screen
-Click "Folder Options..."
-Under the "View" tab, un-check the box that says "Automatically s-earch for network folders and printers"
-Click OK
-You may need to reboot your computer for the change to take effect
5. Enable DMA On All Drives
-Right click "My Computer"
-Select the "Hardware" tab at the top right
-Click the "Device Manager" button at the top
-Double-click the "IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers" entry
-Double click "Primary IDE Channel"
-Under the "Advanced Settings" tab, select "DMA if available" under -Transfer Mode
-Repeat for each Device listed
-Click OK
-Double click "Secondary IDE Channel" and repeat the steps above
FOR WINDOWS Vista
1. Use ReadyBoost to speed up your system
If you have a high-speed USB thumb-drive you can improve performance by using it to boost your computer's internal RAM. If your computer has a built-in memory card reader, you can also use this tip to increase performance with a spare memory card from your digital camera or other device.
When you plug a USB thumb-drive or memory card into your PC, a pop-up window appears asking you what you would like to do with the device.
Near the bottom of the list is the option to "Speed Up My System with Windows ReadyBoost". Just follow the onscreen prompts and you're set!
You can also access this option by right-clicking the device in Windows Explorer and selecting Properties. There will be a tab at the top of the Properties window called "ReadyBoost".
If you will be using this tip on a laptop computer, I would recommend using a memory card instead of a thumb-drive, since having a thumb-drive always sticking out of the side of your laptop is not very convenient!
2. Turn off Aero effects
One of the visual motifs that sets Windows Vista apart from previous version is the use of Aero Effects, which includes such things as transparent window frames, 3D window flipping and taskbar previews of open windows. While these look nice, they use a significant amount of system resources and if you can live without them you can dramatically increase the speed of your computer.
You can disable Aero effects from the same "Personalize" screen used in the previous tip. This time, select the option called "Window Color and Appearance".
At the bottom of the screen, select "Open classic appearance properties for more color options".
On the following screen, select from "Windows Vista Basic", "Windows Standard" or "Windows Classic" to turn off Aero effects. Select Apply when you're finished to preview the results. If you're satisfied, click OK - if not, click Cancel to restore your original settings.
3. Turn off the Sidebar
Another new feature in Windows Vista that consumes a lot of resources is the Sidebar that appears along the right-hand side of the desktop. If you're like me and you tend to maximize all of the windows on you desktop, you'll probably only even see the Sidebar when you first boot up your computer - the rest of the time it sits in the background ****ing up memory!
To disable the Sidebar, just right-click anywhere within that portion of the screen.
From the pop-up menu, select "Properties", then un-check the box at the top that reads "Start Sidebar when Windows starts" and click OK. Then right-click again and select "Close Sidebar" to close the current Sidebar.
Next time you start Windows, the Sidebar will no longer appear.
4. Create a fixed-size pagefile
Like in previous versions, Windows Vista uses a pagefile to improve performance. The pagefile is basically a file on your hard drive that Windows uses to supplement the physical RAM in your PC. This is a good thing, but by default the pagefile is dynamically resized by Windows, and this can be a waste of system resources.
The pagefile should be approximately 1.5 times the size of your physical RAM, and you can make sure that Windows creates the pagefile as a fixed size instead of constantly resizing it.
To find out how much RAM your computer has, just right-click on "My Computer" and select "Properties". Under the heading "System" you'll see an entry for "Memory(RAM)".
Make a note of this, then click on "Advanced System Settings" to the left. On the next screen, select "Settings" under the "Performance" section at the top. On the next screen, click the "Advanced" tab, then select "Change..." under the "Virtual Memory" area.
On the next screen, un-check "Automatically manage paging file size for all drives". Select the drive where the paging file is, and click the "Custom size" option below. Under "Initial size" and "Maximum Size", enter a value that is 1.5 times your PC's total amount of RAM, in megabytes. So if you have 2 GB of RAM, that's 2000 megabytes, and 1.5 times that would be 3000.
By entering the same value in both boxes Windows will create a file that is a fixed size and will no longer waste resources by constantly resizing it.
5. Turn off unused services
Windows Vista comes with a ton of processes, or "services", that are automatically set to start up every time you start Windows. Many of these services are never used by the average user, and can be safely disabled. By following the directions in this tip, you can keep those services from running on start up but still allow them to be run if they are ever needed.
Click the Start button and type "services.msc" in the Search area. You need to have Administrator privileges to run this program, so if you aren't logged in as the Administrator, when the Services program appears at the top, right-click it and select "Run as administrator".
In the Services window, scroll through the alphabetical list of services and double click the one you want to change. In the middle of the screen is a drop-down list labeled "Startup type:" Choose the "Manual" option - this will prevent the service from starting automatically, while still allowing Windows to enable it if it is ever needed. If you set this ti "Disabled" it will never run, even if Windows needs it, so use the "Manual" option instead!
The following services can safely be set to "Manual": Application Experience, Tablet PC Input Service, WebClient, Portable Device Enumerator
You can decide if you want to change any other services by reading the Description for each - if it's something you're sure you don't need, then set it to "Manual".
6. Disable some of Vista's visual effects
Many of the visual effects in Windows Vista can be individually disabled, so if you don't want to turn Aero Effects off completely, you can control which effects are used and which are not.
Right-click on "My Computer" to bring up the System screen. On the left-hand side, click "Advanced system settings". At the top of the page, select :Settings..." from the "Performance" section to bring up the Visual Effects tab. You can select the button labeled "Adjust for best performance" to disable all the features, or select "Custom:" to choose just the ones you want to turn on and off.
You can't hurt anything from here, so just try the different options and click "Apply" to see what the impact is. Once you're satisfied with the changes, click OK. You can always come back later and re-enable anything that you turned off!
Have you felt that your PC is not doing enough? Then This thread is for you.
In this thread you can find Tips/Tweaks on how to keep your PC on it's top notch performance.
(NOTE: These do not increase your pot-rates however these tips/tweaks might give your PC that extra kick to maximize it's performance)
FOR WINDOWS XP
1. Disable The Windows Indexing Service
-Click Start -> Settings -> Control Panel
-Double-click the "Add or Remove Programs" icon
-Along the left side, click "Add/Remove Windows Components"
-Un-check the "Indexing Services" box
-Click Next and follow the instructions
-You may need to reboot your computer for the changes to take effect
If you previously had the Indexing Services box checked, you can also remove the indexing that already exists to free up a little hard drive space:
-In Windows Explorer, click on "My Computer"
-Right click the entry for your hard drive and select "Properties"
-At the bottom of the Properties screen, un-check the "Allow Indexing Service to index this disk for fast file searching"
-Click OK
-Depending on how many files are on your computer, this can take a while as Windows un-indexes all of your files...
2. Optimize Windows Display Settings
-Right click on My Computer and select "Properties"
-Select the "Advanced" tab at the top right
-Under "Performance" click the "Settings" button
-Un-check to options you want to disable
Alternately, you can select the "Adjust for best performance" option at the top of the screen to speed up your computer.
3. Optimize Your Virtual Memory Pagefile Size
-Right click My Computer and select "Properties" - at the bottom of the screen, note the amount of physical RAM on your computer
-Select the "Advanced" tab at the top right
-Under "Performance", click the "Settings" button
-Choose the "Advanced" tab of the top
-At the bottom, under "Virtual Memory", click the "Change" button
-Click on your main hard drive at the top
-In the middle of the screen, select the "Custom size" button and enter a number that is 1.5 to 2 times the amount of physical RAM in both the "Initial size" and "Maximum Size" boxes
-Click OK
4. Disable Automatic Network Search In Windows Explorer
-Open "My Computer"
-Go to the "Tools" menu at the top of the screen
-Click "Folder Options..."
-Under the "View" tab, un-check the box that says "Automatically s-earch for network folders and printers"
-Click OK
-You may need to reboot your computer for the change to take effect
5. Enable DMA On All Drives
-Right click "My Computer"
-Select the "Hardware" tab at the top right
-Click the "Device Manager" button at the top
-Double-click the "IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers" entry
-Double click "Primary IDE Channel"
-Under the "Advanced Settings" tab, select "DMA if available" under -Transfer Mode
-Repeat for each Device listed
-Click OK
-Double click "Secondary IDE Channel" and repeat the steps above
FOR WINDOWS Vista
1. Use ReadyBoost to speed up your system
If you have a high-speed USB thumb-drive you can improve performance by using it to boost your computer's internal RAM. If your computer has a built-in memory card reader, you can also use this tip to increase performance with a spare memory card from your digital camera or other device.
When you plug a USB thumb-drive or memory card into your PC, a pop-up window appears asking you what you would like to do with the device.
Near the bottom of the list is the option to "Speed Up My System with Windows ReadyBoost". Just follow the onscreen prompts and you're set!
You can also access this option by right-clicking the device in Windows Explorer and selecting Properties. There will be a tab at the top of the Properties window called "ReadyBoost".
If you will be using this tip on a laptop computer, I would recommend using a memory card instead of a thumb-drive, since having a thumb-drive always sticking out of the side of your laptop is not very convenient!
2. Turn off Aero effects
One of the visual motifs that sets Windows Vista apart from previous version is the use of Aero Effects, which includes such things as transparent window frames, 3D window flipping and taskbar previews of open windows. While these look nice, they use a significant amount of system resources and if you can live without them you can dramatically increase the speed of your computer.
You can disable Aero effects from the same "Personalize" screen used in the previous tip. This time, select the option called "Window Color and Appearance".
At the bottom of the screen, select "Open classic appearance properties for more color options".
On the following screen, select from "Windows Vista Basic", "Windows Standard" or "Windows Classic" to turn off Aero effects. Select Apply when you're finished to preview the results. If you're satisfied, click OK - if not, click Cancel to restore your original settings.
3. Turn off the Sidebar
Another new feature in Windows Vista that consumes a lot of resources is the Sidebar that appears along the right-hand side of the desktop. If you're like me and you tend to maximize all of the windows on you desktop, you'll probably only even see the Sidebar when you first boot up your computer - the rest of the time it sits in the background ****ing up memory!
To disable the Sidebar, just right-click anywhere within that portion of the screen.
From the pop-up menu, select "Properties", then un-check the box at the top that reads "Start Sidebar when Windows starts" and click OK. Then right-click again and select "Close Sidebar" to close the current Sidebar.
Next time you start Windows, the Sidebar will no longer appear.
4. Create a fixed-size pagefile
Like in previous versions, Windows Vista uses a pagefile to improve performance. The pagefile is basically a file on your hard drive that Windows uses to supplement the physical RAM in your PC. This is a good thing, but by default the pagefile is dynamically resized by Windows, and this can be a waste of system resources.
The pagefile should be approximately 1.5 times the size of your physical RAM, and you can make sure that Windows creates the pagefile as a fixed size instead of constantly resizing it.
To find out how much RAM your computer has, just right-click on "My Computer" and select "Properties". Under the heading "System" you'll see an entry for "Memory(RAM)".
Make a note of this, then click on "Advanced System Settings" to the left. On the next screen, select "Settings" under the "Performance" section at the top. On the next screen, click the "Advanced" tab, then select "Change..." under the "Virtual Memory" area.
On the next screen, un-check "Automatically manage paging file size for all drives". Select the drive where the paging file is, and click the "Custom size" option below. Under "Initial size" and "Maximum Size", enter a value that is 1.5 times your PC's total amount of RAM, in megabytes. So if you have 2 GB of RAM, that's 2000 megabytes, and 1.5 times that would be 3000.
By entering the same value in both boxes Windows will create a file that is a fixed size and will no longer waste resources by constantly resizing it.
5. Turn off unused services
Windows Vista comes with a ton of processes, or "services", that are automatically set to start up every time you start Windows. Many of these services are never used by the average user, and can be safely disabled. By following the directions in this tip, you can keep those services from running on start up but still allow them to be run if they are ever needed.
Click the Start button and type "services.msc" in the Search area. You need to have Administrator privileges to run this program, so if you aren't logged in as the Administrator, when the Services program appears at the top, right-click it and select "Run as administrator".
In the Services window, scroll through the alphabetical list of services and double click the one you want to change. In the middle of the screen is a drop-down list labeled "Startup type:" Choose the "Manual" option - this will prevent the service from starting automatically, while still allowing Windows to enable it if it is ever needed. If you set this ti "Disabled" it will never run, even if Windows needs it, so use the "Manual" option instead!
The following services can safely be set to "Manual": Application Experience, Tablet PC Input Service, WebClient, Portable Device Enumerator
You can decide if you want to change any other services by reading the Description for each - if it's something you're sure you don't need, then set it to "Manual".
6. Disable some of Vista's visual effects
Many of the visual effects in Windows Vista can be individually disabled, so if you don't want to turn Aero Effects off completely, you can control which effects are used and which are not.
Right-click on "My Computer" to bring up the System screen. On the left-hand side, click "Advanced system settings". At the top of the page, select :Settings..." from the "Performance" section to bring up the Visual Effects tab. You can select the button labeled "Adjust for best performance" to disable all the features, or select "Custom:" to choose just the ones you want to turn on and off.
You can't hurt anything from here, so just try the different options and click "Apply" to see what the impact is. Once you're satisfied with the changes, click OK. You can always come back later and re-enable anything that you turned off!
Credits to edweirdo and his team