MAKE YOUR WINDOWS 7 PC RUN FASTER:
by Jang Park / Dec. 23, 2013
1. Maximize CPU utilization in Power Management
Windows 7 (also Vista and Windows 8) allows you to set your processor's speed limit. Inside Power Management (found in Control Panel) there are three options for power modes. Battery Saving, Balanced and High Performance. Inside each mode, there are advanced settings where you can set the Minimum and Maximum processor state from 1% to 100%. Know which power mode your Windows PC is set to.
Setting a minimum processor state to 100% will give you the most horsepower out of your CPU but also means your PC is running as hard as it can which is like red-lining your car's engine RPM. As long as you keep your PC ventilated and cooled properly, this shouldn't be a major concern. You will probably notice your laptop's cooling system/fan(s) working harder.
Adjust the processor state accordingly to your needs. For example, my High Performance is set to Minimum 80% and Maximum 100%. My Balanced is set to Minimum 50% and Maximum 100% where I do see a slight performance degradation but I can hear my CPU fan getting quieter and laptop cooling down a bit as opposed to in High Performance. If you're on a desktop, then make sure your CPU heat sink & fan(s) are regularly cleaned and functioning properly.
Windows 7 (also Vista and Windows 8) allows you to set your processor's speed limit. Inside Power Management (found in Control Panel) there are three options for power modes. Battery Saving, Balanced and High Performance. Inside each mode, there are advanced settings where you can set the Minimum and Maximum processor state from 1% to 100%. Know which power mode your Windows PC is set to.
Setting a minimum processor state to 100% will give you the most horsepower out of your CPU but also means your PC is running as hard as it can which is like red-lining your car's engine RPM. As long as you keep your PC ventilated and cooled properly, this shouldn't be a major concern. You will probably notice your laptop's cooling system/fan(s) working harder.
Adjust the processor state accordingly to your needs. For example, my High Performance is set to Minimum 80% and Maximum 100%. My Balanced is set to Minimum 50% and Maximum 100% where I do see a slight performance degradation but I can hear my CPU fan getting quieter and laptop cooling down a bit as opposed to in High Performance. If you're on a desktop, then make sure your CPU heat sink & fan(s) are regularly cleaned and functioning properly.
2. Disable Unnecessary Startup programs
Press the Windows Button + R to launch the Run command window. Type in "msconfig" and hit OK to launch the Microsoft Configuration utility. Here you can choose which programs will start up when Windows loads. I like to disable little things like Adobe Acrobat, iTunes, and any other 3rd party programs not vital to MS Windows functioning properly. Anything by Microsoft I suggest you leave as is but like I said, 3rd party apps usually don't need to be launched during boot-up using system resources and time. If you don't have these apps running in the background then the less your computer is doing work thus leaving itself available for apps that you do want to be running. Less is more.
Press the Windows Button + R to launch the Run command window. Type in "msconfig" and hit OK to launch the Microsoft Configuration utility. Here you can choose which programs will start up when Windows loads. I like to disable little things like Adobe Acrobat, iTunes, and any other 3rd party programs not vital to MS Windows functioning properly. Anything by Microsoft I suggest you leave as is but like I said, 3rd party apps usually don't need to be launched during boot-up using system resources and time. If you don't have these apps running in the background then the less your computer is doing work thus leaving itself available for apps that you do want to be running. Less is more.
3. Clear your web browser's cache (temporary files, cookies, history, etc.)
Be it Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox or whichever; every web browser keeps a temporary folder as a cache buffer when you visit websites and download images to your PC. As you continue web browsing over and over, this temp folder of cached image files grows larger. This takes up space and most likely slows down your web experience within the browser. Clear this cache by going into Settings for each respective browser and deleting temporary files.
Here's an example from Google Chrome browser:
Be it Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox or whichever; every web browser keeps a temporary folder as a cache buffer when you visit websites and download images to your PC. As you continue web browsing over and over, this temp folder of cached image files grows larger. This takes up space and most likely slows down your web experience within the browser. Clear this cache by going into Settings for each respective browser and deleting temporary files.
Here's an example from Google Chrome browser:
4. Upgrade to a Solid State Drive (SSD) instead of a Hard Disk Drive (HDD) as your Operating System.
Solid State Drives are so fast compared to a Hard Disk Drive that once you go SSD, you'll never want to return to HDD. The Read and Write speeds tested on SSD vs HDD is phenomenal. Operating system boot up times will go from minutes to seconds. It really is a pleasure to see your PC ready for YOU after hitting the power button instead of you waiting for the PC wondering if the boot up process is finished or not. Don't you just hate waiting for the red blinking HDD indicator light to stop during Windows boot up? I know I do.
Hard Disk Drives are still the recommended devices of storage for the long term. I keep most or all of my important files on a HDD as a secondary drive and use the SSD (primary drive) as the Operating System drive where Windows (or whichever OS you may prefer) is installed. Durability and reliability for SSDs continue to get better but in my experiences the HDD has been more reliable for long term data keeping.
However, the performance gain from having Windows installed on a SSD is tremendous. Once you experience it, it will become your new standard. I have posted below screenshots of disk benchmark tests on both my SSD and HDD. My motherboard is a Gigabyte SATA-II generation type so the SSD test results are actually slower than it can run on SATA-III generation motherboards with a Samsung SSD 830 Series drive which is SATA-III and backwards compatible.
Using CrystalDiskMark benchmark software (available at: http://crystalmark.info/software/CrystalDiskMark/index-e.html), these are the disk benchmark results for my Samsung SSD 830 Series and my Samsung 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM 2MB cache HDD. Both drives are connected to SATA-II cables and connectors (fastest ports available) on my motherboard. Once you compare the two benchmark results, the SSD is obviously a game changer in terms of all aspects of Read and Write speeds for storage drives.
Newegg.com is an excellent online store for computer parts. Here's their SSD link: http://www.newegg.com/SSDs/Category/ID-119
Get over there are start researching and learning! Amazon.com is also a good purchase point for competitive pricing and customer service.
Solid State Drives are so fast compared to a Hard Disk Drive that once you go SSD, you'll never want to return to HDD. The Read and Write speeds tested on SSD vs HDD is phenomenal. Operating system boot up times will go from minutes to seconds. It really is a pleasure to see your PC ready for YOU after hitting the power button instead of you waiting for the PC wondering if the boot up process is finished or not. Don't you just hate waiting for the red blinking HDD indicator light to stop during Windows boot up? I know I do.
Hard Disk Drives are still the recommended devices of storage for the long term. I keep most or all of my important files on a HDD as a secondary drive and use the SSD (primary drive) as the Operating System drive where Windows (or whichever OS you may prefer) is installed. Durability and reliability for SSDs continue to get better but in my experiences the HDD has been more reliable for long term data keeping.
However, the performance gain from having Windows installed on a SSD is tremendous. Once you experience it, it will become your new standard. I have posted below screenshots of disk benchmark tests on both my SSD and HDD. My motherboard is a Gigabyte SATA-II generation type so the SSD test results are actually slower than it can run on SATA-III generation motherboards with a Samsung SSD 830 Series drive which is SATA-III and backwards compatible.
Using CrystalDiskMark benchmark software (available at: http://crystalmark.info/software/CrystalDiskMark/index-e.html), these are the disk benchmark results for my Samsung SSD 830 Series and my Samsung 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM 2MB cache HDD. Both drives are connected to SATA-II cables and connectors (fastest ports available) on my motherboard. Once you compare the two benchmark results, the SSD is obviously a game changer in terms of all aspects of Read and Write speeds for storage drives.
Newegg.com is an excellent online store for computer parts. Here's their SSD link: http://www.newegg.com/SSDs/Category/ID-119
Get over there are start researching and learning! Amazon.com is also a good purchase point for competitive pricing and customer service.
5. More to come...
*WINDOWS HEADER IMAGE COURTESY OF WWW.ZASTAVKI.COM