TMS Presents : Tips for speeding up your PC
In this topic :
* Tips about how to 'speed up' your PC, on howto make it run 'faster'.
* Tip on how to make a single program run faster.
* Tip for better game performance.
Please add your own tips in reply, they WILL be added !
I will update this topic a lot, if you have tips on speeding up a PC, then please share them in this a reply so I can add them
Changelog
- 11/05/2010 Removed : Keep your CPU cool.
- 10/05/2010 Added Tip for better game performance
- 09/05/2010 Added Uninstall Unused Programs.
- 06/05/2010 Added "Tip for speeding up a single program.", "Stop/Disable any services that you don't need.", and "Keep your CPU cool."
- 20/12/2010 Added "Make sure your PC is free from malicious software."
In this topic :
* Tips about how to 'speed up' your PC, on howto make it run 'faster'.
* Tip on how to make a single program run faster.
* Tip for better game performance.
Please add your own tips in reply, they WILL be added !
- Free up disk space
When your PC is running low on disk space, it's running low on speed too.
Trust me, I know.
I suggest to keep ~1/5th of your disk space free.
Besides deleting moving files to an external hard drive, you can also use 'Disk Cleanup', a built in Windows feature.
This feature is located at Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Disk Cleanup.
- Defragment your disk(s)
Disk fragmentation slows the overall performance of your system. When files are fragmented, the computer must search the hard disk when the file is opened to piece it back together. The response time can be significantly longer.
Disk Defragmenter is a Windows utility that consolidates fragmented files and folders on your computer's hard disk so that each occupies a single space on the disk. With your files stored neatly end-to-end, without fragmentation, reading and writing to the disk speeds up.
I suggest to run this every week, W7 does this automatically every week, so if you have 7 this step is already done for you
- Limit the amount of programs that start-up automatically with windows.
I know this from personal experience, it's better to have almost no programs start-up together with windows automatically, then have your MSN, Xfire, Steam, Firefox, iTunes, and some other crap started up automatically, it really slows your PC down a bit (your PC will be very slow while starting up)
To edit the list of programs that auto-start-up, go to
'Run' -> Enter 'msconfig' -> Go to the 'Startup' tab -> Choose what programs to enable/disable.
- Stop/Disable any services that you don't need. Tip by Slayer
Some services are running while you are probably never going to use them.
You can disable them in order to win some speed.
For example 'Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service'.
If you aren't planning on sharing media through WMP, you can disable this.
To disable items, go to
Run -> Type in 'services.msc'
or you can also do this in the msconfig window
Run -> Type in 'msconfig' -> click the 'services' tab
From there you can disable a service by clicking the square in the menu ('Stop Service' appears when you hover over the square)
- Uninstall Unused Programs
When a program is installed, it creates connections between the program and the operating system.
Even if you don’t use these programs, they can slow down your system.
So it's better to uninstall those programs which you don't use.
To uninstall programs, go to;
Control Panel\Programs\Programs and Features
- Make sure your PC is free from malicious software.
Another great way to speed up your PC, or at least keep the speed is making sure your PC is malware/spyware/virus -free.
Possibly the best way to do this is to do a full scan in Safe mode.
I personally suggest you to use Malwarebytes' anti-malware, which can be downloaded here for free.
- Tip for speeding up a single program. Tip by GPow69
When doing something resource-demanding, open your task manager (CTRL SHIFT ESC) and go to the processes tab and kill any processes that you don't NEED (iTuneshelper.exe, iPodService, etc.) Every little bit of extra memory that can be devoted to your task the better.
It's easy when you arrange the processes on memory usage, then you can instantly see what program is 'eating' the most resources.
To kill a process, just click the delete button and confirm.
- Tip for better game performance Tip by GPow69
For better game performance (More noticeable on low-end PCs) use a free application called Game Booster
Basically, after you click "Switch to Gaming Mode", Game Booster will find all the applications that aren't necessary and give you a checklist of items you want the app to close for you.
After Game Booster closes the un-needed apps, it will start shutting down services that don't really do anything but could be eating up performance, such as search services, updater services, etc.
(This process is very fast and only takes a few seconds)
After it's done, Game Booster will minimize itself to the system tray until you're done playing.
When you are done gaming, open up Game Booster again from the system tray and click "Switch back to normal mode" and it will start all those "unnecessary processes" (search etc) again so your computer will work perfectly normal.
Download : http://www.majorgeeks.com/Game_Booster_d5952.html
I will update this topic a lot, if you have tips on speeding up a PC, then please share them in this a reply so I can add them
Changelog
- 11/05/2010 Removed : Keep your CPU cool.
- 10/05/2010 Added Tip for better game performance
- 09/05/2010 Added Uninstall Unused Programs.
- 06/05/2010 Added "Tip for speeding up a single program.", "Stop/Disable any services that you don't need.", and "Keep your CPU cool."
- 20/12/2010 Added "Make sure your PC is free from malicious software."