Turbo Windows - The Ultimate PC Speed Up Guide (Step-by-step Manual for Computer Users with Windows) by Liz Cornwell - HTML preview

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TURBO WINDOWS®

The ultimate PC speed up guide

www.auslogics.com

Turbo Windows®

The Ultimate PC Speed Up Guide

Liz Cornwell and André Coolfix

DISCLAIMER AND/OR LEGAL NOTICES

The information presented herein represents the views of the author as of the date of publication. Because of the rate with which conditions change, the author reserves the rights to alter and update their opinions accordingly.

This manual is for informational purposes only and the author is not to be held responsible for any liabilities resulting from the use of this information.

While every effort has been made to verify the information provided in this book, the author and his resellers and affiliates cannot assume any responsi-bility for errors, inaccuracies or omissions. Any slights of people or organizations are unintentional.

This content is copyrighted and may not be shared or sold. It is for your personal use only. Failure to comply with this may result in legal action.

© 2011 Auslogics Software Pty Ltd - All rights reserved.

Contents

Foreword 9

Chapter 1 - Hope Is Good, Prevention Is Better

10

The Best Ways to Back Up Your Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10

Configure System Restore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

Creating a disk image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17

Back up to an external hard drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20

Create automatic online backups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20

Chapter 2 - Is Your Hard Drive Playing Up?

21

Use Check Disk to Detect And Fix Hard Drive Errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21

How to run Check Disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22

Chapter 3 - Computer Is Slow to Wake Up?

26

Optimize PC Startup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Delete unnecessary startup items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26

Disable unnecessary Windows services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31

Chapter 4 - Get the Slow-Down Prevention Vaccine

34

Create a System and a Data Partition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Keep your OS and data separated . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35

Redirect and move personal files to the new partition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41

Chapter 5 - Is Your Computer Becoming a Dump?

43

Clean Up Your PC to Improve Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Clean your desktop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44

Run disk cleanup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47

Schedule disk cleanup in Windows 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52

Delete Temporary Internet Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54

Uninstall unused software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57

Delete empty folders in Windows Explorer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60

Chapter 6 - Fancy Looks Come at a Cost

61

Optimize Windows Appearance Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .61

Turn off wallpaper and disable screensaver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .62

Adjust color scheme and visual effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64

Remove desktop search bars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .67

Disable gadgets in Windows 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .68

Chapter 7 - Maximize Your PC Speed

69

The Ultimate Windows Performance Tweaks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Check your CPU is fast enough . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69

Prevent overheating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .70

Configure power options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .70

Speed up Windows boot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .71

Disable GUI boot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .74

Speed up Windows shutdown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .74

Check running processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .76

Disable Indexing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .79

Disable Windows sounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .82

Set processor affinity for specific applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .83

Change application priorities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .84

Clean the Prefetch folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .85

Disable hibernation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .85

Speed up file browsing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .86

Disable Remote Differential Compression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .89

Enable Direct Memory Access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .90

Enable ReadyBoost (Windows Vista and Windows 7 only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .91

Chapter 8 - Need That Bit of Extra Speed?

93

Upgrade RAM and Configure Virtual Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Getting the right type of RAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .94

How to install RAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .97

Configure virtual memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .97

Chapter 9 - Time for Under the Hood Tweaks

102

Optimize Your BIOS for Top Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Access the BIOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .103

Configure boot order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .104

Enable the Quick Boot option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .106

Update your BIOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .107

Use AHCI (Windows 7) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .110

Chapter 10 - Opening Files Takes Ages?

113

Optimize Your Hard Drive for Peak Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .113

Compress files and directories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .113

Defrag your hard drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .115

Schedule Disk Defragmenter to run automatically . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .120

Auslogics Disk Defrag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .123

Enable advanced disk performance (Windows 7) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .124

Chapter 11 - A Bicycle or a Ferrari?

126

Install an SSD for the Maximum Performance Gain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

What is an SSD? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .126

SSD benefits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .127

SSD disadvantages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .128

How to maximize SSD performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .129

Chapter 12 - The Latest and the Greatest

130

Keep Your Computer Fully Patched . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

Update your drivers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .132

Chapter 13 - Is Your Windows Managed Effectively?

133

Cleanup and Defragment the Registry for an Extra Performance Boost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

What exactly is the Windows registry? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .134

Why you need to clean the registry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .134

Registry defragmentation – the real performance booster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .137

Chapter 14 - Slow and Bloated – Not a Good Combination

141

Speed Up Your Browser and Compact Your Mail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .141

Set your homepage to blank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .142

Manage your cache . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .143

Decrease the size of your cache . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .145

Disable ClearType . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .146

Switch off RSS feeds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .148

Disable SmartScreen Filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .149

Increase the number of simultaneous connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .150

Configure Internet Explorer 8 and 9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .152

Configure the connection limit via Group Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .153

Configure connection settings with the help of Auslogics Tweak Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .154

Configure the cache . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .155

Enable pipelining . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .158

Manage you toolbars and add-ons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .160

Speed up your email client . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .160

Limit reservable bandwidth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .162

Chapter 15 - Protect Your PC Without Slowing It Down

164

Configure Your Anti-virus for Maximum Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164

Select the Advanced user interface mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .166

Disable unnecessary components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .166

Exclude safe folders. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .168

Tune up real-time protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .170

Schedule scans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .171

Use Game and Laptop modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .172

Conclusion 173

Exclusive Offer 174

Foreword

When you buy a new computer, you can’t help but be amazed at how fast it is compared to your previous PC. You benefit from the new hardware, more RAM, larger hard drive and from simply having a fresh, uncluttered system. But that won’t last. Sooner or later (usually sooner), you will notice your computer becoming slower and slower. And one day you will realize that the new PC

is just as slow as the old one, if not slower. So, once again you will start thinking of buying a new, faster laptop. But should you?

The truth is, you don’t need a new computer that soon. All you need to do is give your old one some loving care. In a way, computers are a bit like cars – both need regular maintenance and servicing. But there is one difference. Very few people will attempt to repair and service their cars without seeking professional help. But DIY computer maintenance is not at all hard. So don’t run to a PC repair shop just yet! You can make your computer fast again without having to pay a penny to a computer technician and this book will teach you how to do it.

Windows OS is a complicated system that has thousands of different settings, options, advantages and disadvantages. And sadly the default configuration is not the best, nor the fastest one. All the default configuration does is makes sure the operating system works for everyone, on any computer running any hardware. So, if you want your PC to run faster and better, there is lots of room for tweaking, disabling things, and improving the way your Windows operates.

This book will show you how to look after your computer. It will help you keep it healthy, tell you which things are better disabled than enabled, and which things are best left alone. You will also learn how to upgrade your hardware and take advantage of the latest technologies. With this book, your sluggish Windows will become Turbo Windows and you will achieve the ultimate speed and performance gain.

10 | auslogics.com 

TURBO WINDOWS® — The Ultimate PC Speed Up Guide