How to make your computer faster in Windows 7. How to make your computer faster


At this point, you're probably satisfied with how your Windows 7 computer works, but most likely you want to get out of your PC a lot more. The operating system uses resources that do not necessarily need to work for stable use of the PC. Let's look at some of them that you can disable. Below I will tell you how to make Windows 7 faster.

1. Disable file indexing

One of the most resource-intensive features of Windows 7 is file indexing, which creates a dictionary for your files, allowing you to search faster. The problem is that this dictionary significantly reduces the read and write speed of the hard drive, and therefore slows down the use of applications during indexing. That's why Microsoft has included an option to disable this feature.


To disable this feature, do the following: “Start -> Control Panel -> System and Security -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management -> Services.” In this window, scroll down to "Windows Search". Right-click on the element and select Properties. In the window, select "Disable" under "Startup Type":



Click "OK" button when completed.

2. Disable Aero

If your PC becomes clunky when playing a movie or struggles to display graphics when you minimize or open a window, it may be time to sacrifice the beautiful effects that Windows 7 Aero gives you and just live with simple, soft colors. The interface will work the same as in Windows 7 Starter. Removing Aero will give your PC a little more breathing room, especially if the display adapter is using some of the PC's physical memory to perform tasks.


You can remove Aero by right-clicking on your desktop, clicking on “Personalization” and selecting the classic theme:


3. Use the msconfig command

Another good way how to make Windows 7 faster. MSConfig is an important tool that will help you improve your boot time. There are several services and applications to run that take up a ton of resources during Windows startup. This command is for those whose PC boots very slowly. We disable those programs that are used extremely rarely or are not used at all.



To enter the system configuration, press the key combination Win+R, then go to the Startup tab.

4. Turn off visual effects

For many people, Windows works fine without any visual effects. Visual effects are those things that cause your computer to freeze when you minimize, maximize, open, and close a window. Windows 7 introduces a whole series of new visual effects that can also cause your computer to freeze when you hover over the open window icon. If you don't want these things to use resources on your computer, you can easily disable them.


All you have to do is click “Start -> Control Panel -> System and Security -> System -> Advanced system settings -> Performance”. Now just deselect anything you think doesn't matter and click "OK" after you're done.



Disabling some of these elements will still support most features in Windows.

5. Use ReadyBoost

Of all the features in Windows 7, ReadyBoost seems to be the one that most people don't pay attention to. The problem is that it is also one of the most important features to greatly increase your system memory using a USB flash drive. If you have a ReadyBoost-compatible USB drive, you can configure your operating system to act as a RAM module, which will significantly increase the amount of physical memory available on the drive.



To configure ReadyBoost on your USB drive, right-click the flash drive and select Properties. After that, click on the “ReadyBoost” tab. If there is no such tab, then your flash drive is not compatible with this function. On the tab, select "Use this device." The slider below the area you select allows you to fine-tune how much memory you'd like to allocate to ReadyBoost.



Depending on the speed of your USB port, you may be able to significantly increase the speed at which Windows interacts due to the sudden surge in available memory. You can run more programs at the same time. This also frees up virtual hard drive memory since you don't have to store as much data.

6. Disable features you don't use

There's another way to get rid of things you don't necessarily need in Windows: by disabling Windows features. Just go to Control Panel, then go to Programs -> Programs and Features. Click Turn Windows features on or off



Follow the instructions at the top of the new window and deselect the features you don't need. Once you click "OK", your problems will simply disappear "poof!"

If you are faced with the task of speeding up the loading of Windows, and you need to do this without using third party programs, then you definitely need to read this article. Because it contains simple, and most importantly effective ways to speed up loading operating system Windows 7, the impact of which you can feel without a stopwatch.

When starting up any computer, the first thing it does is launch the BIOS (from the English Basic Input/Output System), and therefore you need to start speeding up Windows startup with it. In BIOS(e) we are interested in two things: the boot priority queue, and the Fast boot function.
The latter can significantly speed up system startup by eliminating the search and check of the BIOS(s) of connected devices. However, this function has its drawbacks - by disabling it, the user disables the use of devices connected via non-standard connectors (USB, S-Video, hosts for mobile devices). They will start working after Windows has fully started.

To speed up booting by configuring the BIOS, you must:


Important! The picture shows the "Boot Queue" for a Dell Inspiron laptop. It may vary slightly on other devices. As a rule, the differences concern only the visual component, while the names of bookmarks and commands are almost always identical (standardized) for all devices.

It should also be noted that Fast boot sometimes works too well. As a result, users do not physically have time to press the required button in time to re-enter the BIOS. This problem can be solved by pressing the button that opens the BIOS settings before turning on the computer.

Second step

The next step to speed up booting involves connecting all processor cores (if there are more than one) to start the operating system. For this:


The manipulations performed will begin to work the next time the operating system is rebooted.

Step three

The next step is to disable unnecessary programs and services that affect the system startup.

Disabling services


Here it is necessary to disable unnecessary services, since they load the system even if they are not used by the user. Especially when starting Windows. You can read in detail about what can be disabled and what is better left alone on the Internet, however, you can guess about some services yourself. For example, you don’t need Print Manager if you don’t have a printer.

The “service” is turned off by right-clicking on it and clicking “Properties”. After that, a window will open, where in the “Startup type” column, select “Disabled”.

Step four

Next, we configure what Windows programs should automatically start when the system starts. Since so many programs like to be registered in autorun, the user not only does not use them, he does not even suspect that they are working.

Setting up Windows 7 startup


The changes you make will take effect the next time you start the operating system.

Step five

The last point to speed up system startup is organizing the space on the hard drive occupied by files, in other words, defragmenting the hard drive. This procedure is reminiscent of organizing the arrangement of books in a library. What is required for a more convenient, quick search for books (in our case, files) and their use.

The disk defragmentation service in Windows 7 is launched by a separate command - defrag.exe. It must be entered into the search bar of the Start menu or in the Run window (Win + R).

By running this command, you will open the “Defragmentation” window, where you should select the disk on which the operating system is installed and start defragmenting it.

The defragmentation process can take a long time, sometimes several hours.

Also in this window, it is better to immediately enable the function of periodically running defragmentation by clicking “Set up schedule”.

And choosing the optimal launch parameters for you. After this, you can start defragmenting your hard drive.

Advice. You should not boot your computer during defragmentation; it is best to leave it until the process is finished.

The easiest way to speed up your computer is to purchase a new, more modern one. However, such drastic measures are not required very often. Computer Literacy offers 8 tips to speed up your PC.

Speed ​​up loading

If loading the operating system has turned into a long wait, and you can calmly go make some tea, or even make a couple of phone calls, then it wouldn’t hurt to figure out what’s wrong and correct the situation.

The first thing you need to do is disable unnecessary programs that you don’t need at startup. For example, Skype, if you do not plan to use it right away, as well as a number of other applications whose existence you may not even know exist.

To perform this action in Windows 10, open the Task Manager - either by pressing Ctrl+Shift+Esc or through the context menu from the Taskbar. In the Manager itself, go to the “Startup” tab and here select unnecessary applications, disabling them using the “Disable” button. As a last resort, you can disable all programs available here, since vital components still do not get here.

Next, you can try disabling the Quick Start option. This option is supposed to speed up the download process a little, but it often causes more harm to some users. Alternatively, you can disable it and check what changes will happen, and if necessary, enable it back.

This can be done through the power management configuration. Through Windows search, find the “Power Options” section and in the left column, follow the “Power button actions” link. By default, remove the checkbox from the value “Enable” quick start(recommended)" will not work. Before doing this, you need to click on the “Change settings that are currently unavailable” link above.

Activate best performance

All the beauty in Windows 10 consumes CPU resources every second and random access memory. However, if you wish, you can sacrifice the beautiful window switching effects and other features by activating the minimalist look of the operating system.

This is done through the “Advanced system settings”, which are available in the left column in the “System” window (called by the combination Win+Break). In the “Performance” area, click on the “Options” button and in the new window, select “Get the best performance.” By clicking on the “Apply” button you will have the opportunity to evaluate the changes. If they do not suit you, then you can optionally return some effects.

Speed ​​up start menu opening

If the opening of Start starts to slow down, you can manually speed up this process. By default, the operating system registry contains a short delay for opening this menu. And if the computer itself slows down, then this value can be reduced. However, remember that you shouldn’t go into the registry settings unnecessarily, much less experiment with values ​​that you don’t understand.

To open the registry editor, press the Win+R combination and in the “Run” line type the command regedit. Click Ok and an editor window will open. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop.

Here you need an entry called MenuShowDelay. Double click on it to edit the value. This indicates the number of milliseconds it takes to delay before the Start opens. The initial value is 400. It is not recommended to change it to 0, but, as an option, reducing the value by half - to 200 - is quite acceptable.

Remove unnecessary commands from the context menu

Some programs consider it their duty to add additional commands of their own origin to the operating system context menu. Over time, this menu may grow so large that it will hardly fit on the screen, not to mention the fact that each time you will have to assemble an expedition to search for the desired item.

Similar to startup programs, these context menu commands can also be disabled. Unless standard Windows tools are enough here. One solution is free program CCleaner, which not only cleans the registry, but also deals with other types of system cleaning.

This program is available even without installation (the so-called Portable version). In it you need to go to the “Service” section, select “Startup” and go to the “Context Menu” tab. Here you simply select the appropriate program and click on the “Turn off” button.

Defragmenting your hard drive

On modern devices, the need to regularly defragment the hard drive has practically disappeared. Windows automatically performs this procedure on a schedule. However, if you have a fairly old device, then there may likely be problems here. By the way, if you are using SSD media, keep in mind that it does not need defragmentation.

There are many tools available for defragmentation. One of the most successful is the specialized application Disk Defrag. It not only defragments files and free space, but also optimizes the placement of system files and can run in the background.

"This PC" by default

Previously, when opening Explorer, we found ourselves in the “My Computer” section, which is now called “This Computer”. Now, when you press the Win+E key combination, the so-called “Quick Access” opens, which, according to the developers, will be more convenient. However, the frequently used folders listed here are displayed in the list on the left, and the old-fashioned way of accessing hard drives with one click is no longer possible.

Therefore, we correct this misunderstanding and return the usual appearance of the Explorer. To do this, through its “View” menu, select the “Options” command and the “Change folder and search options” button. In the window that opens, from the “Open Explorer for:” drop-down area, change the value from “Quick access” to “This computer”.

This operation will be useful even for those who have no problems with the speed of the computer itself. Simply shortening the daily journey to the desired drive in Explorer will significantly speed up the routine.

Removing unnecessary programs

Installing each program fills the system registry and takes up space on your hard drive. Therefore, when the number of applications has already exceeded a hundred, it makes sense to remove everything unnecessary. After all, almost everyone will find a dozen or two programs that have not been used for years.

You can remove programs through the standard Programs and Features utility, but it often takes a long time to load, loading the headers of all installed applications. Therefore, sometimes it will be faster to remove programs through third-party solutions. For example, through the same CCleaner, mentioned earlier. Moreover, specialized software removal programs make this procedure more thorough than the standard Windows procedure, after which a lot of unnecessary garbage often remains in the registry.

Disabling frozen programs

One of the complaints about Windows operating systems has always been instability. In particular, applications periodically freeze, with the appearance of an unpleasant window notifying that the application will have to be closed. Moreover, the procedure for closing a frozen program is often delayed.

But there are alternative ways to disable programs with the “Not responding” status. This can be done without using the Task Manager, using a special script, or by installing a small utility SuperF4, which will add a special keyboard shortcut that will quickly close frozen programs.

What makes a computer faster?

The above recommendations do not guarantee a significant speedup of your PC. Speed ​​problems may have more global causes. If your computer is already a good ten years old, then it simply won’t be ready to adapt to modern realities, no matter how you configure it. However, if you have problems in the areas described above, Computer Literacy tips may be helpful.

Update your equipment. The first thing you need to do is find out if you have enough hardware installed to run the installed programs. Fortunately, Windows Vista and Windows 7 have a tool that automatically performs this operation for you and will take any necessary actions based on the results.

  • Click Start | Control Panel.
  • Type "Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Productivity Tools" in the address bar and press ENTER.
  • Click the "Run this computer assessment" or "Repeat assessment" button.
  • This process may take several minutes. Please be patient during this operation.
  • Once the assessment is complete, results will appear that will provide information about the hardware components that need to be updated.

Defragment your hard drive. When copying new files to your computer HDD fragmented. Speaking in simple words, files are saved in a continuous manner and this causes your computer to perform operations more slowly. Defragmenting your hard drive once a week will help you make your computer run faster. Note that there is a tool called Disk Defragmenter.

Registry defragmentation. The registry is a database where program settings, operating system settings, and other data are stored. Almost every program on your computer has access to the registry, including your operating system. This continuous access to the registry is often fragmented, making your computer slow. Since there is no built-in tool to defragment the Microsoft Windows registry, you will have to choose a good program for this.

  • Go online and download “RegInOut Registry Defrag”.

  • Log in to your administrator account and install the software. Launch the program when the installation process is complete.
  • Close all others running programs and tasks.
  • Run an analysis of the registry state, then click the “Defragmentation” button. And then reboot the system.

View the list of applications and services that start when the system starts. After the operating system has loaded, various programs and services begin to launch. The more of these programs, the slower the computer runs. Therefore, you should monitor these programs and services and disable those that are not necessary.

  • Click Start | Execute. Or press Windows key + R.
  • On the Services tab, check the "Hide Microsoft services" checkbox. Disable all unnecessary services. Click the "Apply" button.
  • Click "OK" and restart your computer.
  • Change your computer settings to improve performance. There are two options: 1) Set Windows settings to have the best appearance; 2) Set parameters to perform tasks better. If you choose the latter, the system will adjust the settings so that the computer directs all resources to the operation, thereby speeding up the work. You can do it like this:

    • Right-click on the My Computer icon on your desktop.

    • Select Properties.

    • On the left, select “Advanced system settings.”

    • Under the "Advanced" tab, click the "Options" button in the "Performance" section.
  • It happens that when loading the operating system it takes a very long time to start or does not start as quickly as the user would like. Thus, his precious time is lost. In this article, we will identify various ways to increase the startup speed of the operating system on Windows 7.

    You can speed up the startup of the OS either with the help of specialized utilities or by using the built-in tools of the system. The first group of methods is simpler and is suitable, first of all, for not very experienced users. The second one is suitable for those users who are accustomed to understanding what exactly they are changing on the computer.

    Method 1: Windows SDK

    One of these special utilities that allows you to speed up the startup of the OS is developed by Microsoft - Windows SDK. Naturally, it is better to use such additional tools from the system developer itself than to trust third-party manufacturers.

    1. After you have downloaded the installation Windows file SDK, run it. If you do not have a special component installed that is necessary for this utility to work, the installer will offer to install it. Click "OK" to proceed to installation.
    2. The Windows SDK Installer welcome window will then open. The interface of the installer and the utility shell is in English, so we will describe the installation steps in detail. In this window you just need to click on "Next".
    3. The license agreement window appears. To agree with it, set the switch in the form of a radio button to the position. "I agree" and press "Next".
    4. Then you will be asked to specify the path on your hard drive where the utility package will be installed. If you do not have a serious need for this, then it is better not to change these settings, but simply click "Next".
    5. Next, a list of utilities to be installed will open. You can choose those of them that you consider necessary, since each of them has significant benefits when used correctly. But to achieve our specific goal, we only need to install the Windows Performance Toolkit utility. Therefore, we uncheck all other items and leave only the opposite "Windows Performance Toolkit". After selecting utilities, click "Next".
    6. After this, a message opens saying that all the necessary parameters have been entered and you can now proceed to download the utility from the Microsoft website. Click "Next".
    7. Then the download and installation procedure begins. There is no need for user intervention during this process.
    8. After the process is completed, a special window will open notifying you of its successful completion. This should be indicated by an inscription "Installation Complete". Uncheck the box next to the inscription "View the Windows SDK Release Notes". After this you can click "Finish". The utility we need has been successfully installed.
    9. Now, in order to directly use the Windows Performance Toolkit in order to increase the OS startup speed, activate the tool "Run" by pressing Win+R. Enter:

      xbootmgr -trace boot –prepSystem

      Click "OK".

    10. After this, a message will appear telling you to restart your computer. In general, during the entire period of the process, the PC will be rebooted 6 times. To save time and not have to wait for the timer to expire, after each reboot, in the dialog box that appears, click "Finish". Thus, the reboot will occur immediately, and not after the end of the timer report.
    11. After the last reboot, the PC startup speed should increase.

    Method 2: Cleaning startup programs

    Adding programs to startup has a negative impact on the speed of computer startup. This often happens during the installation procedure of these programs, after which they are automatically launched when the computer boots, thereby increasing its execution time. Therefore, if you want to speed up your PC boot, you need to remove from startup those applications for which this feature is not important to the user. After all, sometimes even those applications that you haven’t really used for months are registered in startup.


    But programs can be added to startup not only through the registry, but also by creating shortcuts in the . Using the system configuration option described above, such software cannot be removed from autorun. Then you should use a different algorithm of actions.


    You can also remove other unnecessary shortcuts from the folder in the same way. Windows 7 should now start up faster.

    Method 3: Disable autostart services

    No less, and maybe even more, the system’s startup is slowed down by its various services that start when the computer starts operating. Similar to how we did this with regard to software, in order to speed up the startup of the OS, you need to find services that are of little use or useless for the tasks that the user performs on his computer, and disable them.

    1. To go to the Service Control Center, click "Start". Then press "Control Panel".
    2. In the window that appears, click on "System and safety".
    3. Next go to "Administration".
    4. In the list of utilities located in the section "Administration", find the name "Services". Click on it to move to "Service Manager".

      IN "Service Manager" You can get there in a faster way, but for this you need to remember one command and a combination of “hot” keys. Type on the keyboard Win+R, thereby launching the window "Run". Enter the following expression:

      Click Enter or "OK".

    5. Regardless of whether you acted through "Control Panel" or tool "Run", a window will open "Services", which contains a list of running and disabled services on this computer. Opposite the names of running services in the field "State" set value "Works". Opposite the names of those that are launched along with the system in the field "Startup type" worth the value "Automatically". Carefully study this list and determine which services that start automatically you do not need.
    6. After that, to go to the properties of the specifically selected service to disable it, double-click with the left mouse button on its name.
    7. The service properties window opens. This is where you need to perform manipulations to disable autorun. Click on the field "Startup type" which currently contains the value "Automatically".
    8. Select an option from the drop-down list "Disabled".
    9. Then click on the buttons "Apply" And "OK".
    10. After this, the properties window will be closed. Now in "Service Manager" opposite the name of the service whose properties were changed, in the field "Startup type" there will be a value "Disabled". Now, when Windows 7 starts, this service will not start, which will speed up the loading of the OS.

    But it is worth saying that if you do not know what a particular service is responsible for or are not sure what the consequences of disabling it will be, then manipulating it is strictly not recommended. This can cause significant problems in the operation of the PC.

    At the same time, you can read the lesson materials, which tell you which services can be turned off.

    Method 4: Cleaning the system

    Cleaning the system of “garbage” helps speed up the startup of the OS. First of all, this means freeing the hard drive from temporary files and deleting erroneous entries in the system registry. This can be done either manually by clearing temporary file folders and deleting entries in the registry editor, or using specialized software tools. One of the best programs in this direction is CCleaner.

    Details on how to clean Windows 7 from garbage are described in a separate material.

    Method 5: Using all processor cores

    On PC with multi-core processor You can speed up the computer startup procedure by connecting all processor cores to this process. The fact is that by default, when loading the OS, only one core is used, even if you are using a multi-core computer.


    Method 6: BIOS Setup

    You can speed up OS loading by configuring the BIOS. The fact is that often the BIOS first checks the ability to boot from an optical disk or USB drive, thus wasting time on this every time. This is important when reinstalling the system. But, you must admit that reinstalling the system is not such a frequent procedure. Therefore, to speed up the loading of Windows 7, it makes sense to cancel the priority check for the ability to launch from an optical disk or USB drive.

    1. Go to your computer's BIOS. To do this, when loading it, press the key F10, F2 or Del. There are other options. The specific key depends on the developer motherboard. However, as a rule, the key indication for entering the BIOS is displayed on the screen when the PC boots.
    2. It is impossible to describe further actions after entering the BIOS, since different manufacturers use different interfaces. Nevertheless, we will describe the general algorithm of actions. You need to go to the section where the order in which the system boots from various media is determined. This section is called on many BIOS versions). In this section, put booting from the hard drive first. For these purposes, the clause is often used "1ST Boot Priority", where the value should be set "Hard Drive".

    After you save the results of the BIOS setup, the computer, in search of an operating system to boot, will immediately turn to the hard drive and, having found it there, will no longer poll other media, which will save time on startup.

    Method 7: Hardware Upgrade

    You can also increase the boot speed of Windows 7 by upgrading your computer hardware. Most often, a loading delay can be caused by a low hard drive speed. In this case, it makes sense to replace the hard drive (HDD) with a faster analogue. And it is best to generally replace the HDD with an SSD, which works much faster and more efficiently, which will significantly reduce OS loading time. True, SSDs also have disadvantages: high price and limited quantity write operations. So here the user must weigh the pros and cons.

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