Tweak Windows 7 to get more speedy performance and productivity
The Windows registry is a mysterious place, but if you’re comfortable editing it, you have the power to tweak nearly every Windows setting you can imagine. Here is a collection of registry tweaks that adds extra options to Windows 7, thereby improving the overall work productivity and speed of your much acclaimed operating system a notch further.
NOTE:
• Be sure to make a backup of your registry before you start hacking away.
• The registry hacks given below work in Windows 7, even if not labeled as such. Many may work in Vista or earlier versions of Windows, but it varies, so be sure to read up more on the tweak before you go meddling in Vista’s registry.
Windows 7 tweaks list:
1. Change stacking behavior
This particular tweak is perhaps of questionable usefulness, but we thought you’d like the option to try it anyway. If you don’t like the thumbnail display when clicking on taskbar buttons, then you can change the action and force Windows to open the last opened window of the stack instead.
• Open ‘HKEY_ CURRENT_USERSoftware MicrosoftWindowsCurrent VersionExplorerAdvanced’
• Create a new DWORD value. Rename it LastActiveClick and set its value to 1 to switch this mode on
NOTE: Should you change your mind, you can always go back and delete the key or set it to 0 to revert back later on.
2. Speed up menus
Make menu items automatically drop down a lot faster with this tweak.
• Go to ‘HKEY_CURRENT_USER Control PanelDesktop’
• Right-click ‘MenuShowDelay’ and click ‘Modify’
• Now change the current string value to something like 100 – hey presto, near-instant menu appearance
3. Stop space checking
Free up a tiny shred of system resources so that important programs and applications get enough memory space to run optimally. Here is how it’s done
• Go to ‘HKEY_ CURRENT_USERSoftware MicrosoftWindowsCurrent VersionPoliciesExplorer’
• Create a new DWORD called ‘NoLowDisk SpaceChecks’ and set its value to 1 to switch off disk space checking.
4. Move the kernel
If the Windows Kernel is in memory, it will run slightly faster than it would if it were on your hard drive. To avert this you can follow these steps:
• Hunt out ‘DisablePagingExecutive’ within ‘HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEM CurrentControlSetControlSession ManagerMemory Management’
• Now change its value to 1
5. Boost speed
There’s one tweak that will make every hover action much faster, from tooltips to the Start menu.
• Navigate to ‘HKEY_CURRENT_USER Control PanelMouse’
• Tweak the ‘MouseHoverTime’ value
NOTE: Never choose the value 0, as it’s completely unworkable
6. Open a command prompt from the current Windows Explorer location
• Use regedit to navigate to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT Folder shell
• Select Edit-> New-> Key; and enter CmdPrompt in the dialog box
• Double-click (Default), and enter the name that you want to display when you right-click the directory (e.g., Command Prompt Here)
• Then, select Edit, New, Key and enter a key under CmdPrompt named command (in lowercase)
• Double-click (Default) and enter the path to your cmd.exe program, followed by “%L” (e.g., C:winntsystem32cmd.exe /k cd “%L”).
7. Speed Up Windows 7 Shutdown Time
• Open the registry editor (enter regedit into search field)
• Go to:
“HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControl”
• Lower the value (12000 is the default value = 12 seconds) to a value of your choice
Reference Link:
http://windows7themes.net/speed-up-windows-7.html
8. Speed up Windows 7 Taskbar Thumbnail Preview
Click on Start, enter “regedit” into the search field
Goto: HKEY_CURRENT_USERControl PanelMouse
Double-click on “MouseHoverTime” and change the value to 100 or lower
Your thumbnail previews should appear a lot faster now
Speedy performance for Internet
1. Optimize Your Browser
By default, most internet browsers are set to make only one connection with a server at a time. This can severely hamper your ability to access data on the server quickly, especially since many servers are set up to accept multiple connections from a single host. Adjusting the number of connections to optimize your browsers is a common way to tweak Windows 7 for faster online connections.
You can alter this by either changing the configuration using “about:Config” in Firefox and Opera or editing the registry in Internet Explorer.
If changing the configuration, set “network.http.pipelining“ to True and change “network.http.pipelining.maxrequests” to 10 or greater
If editing the registry, navigate to:
“HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrent VersionInternet Settings” in your registry editor and change “MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server” and “MaxConnectionsPerServer” to 10 or greater.
Restart your browser for the change to take effect.
2. Disable Windows Scaling heuristics
Windows Vista/7 has the ability to automatically change its own TCP Window auto-tuning behavior to a more conservative state regardless of any user settings. It is possible for Windows to override the auto tuning level even after an user sets their custom TCP auto-tuning level.
To prevent that behavior and enforce any user-set TCP Window auto-tuning level, you should execute the following command:
netsh int tcp set heuristics disabled
Possible settings: disabled,enabled,default (sets to the Windows default state)
Recommended: disabled (to retain user-set auto-tuning level)
NOTE: This should be executed in elevated command prompt (with admin privileges) before setting the autotuninlevel in the next section. If the command is accepted by the OS you will see an “Ok.” on a new line.
The corresponding Registry value (not necessary to edit if setting via netsh) is located in:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetservicesTcpipParameters
EnableWsd=0 (default: 1, recommended: 0)
Essential Software's that can boost performance:
1. TuneUp Utilities 2011
Features:
• Status & recommendations
• Optimize system
• Gain disk space
• Fix problems
• Customize Windows®
• Overview of all functions
To learn more about TuneUp Utilities 2011, click here.
2. Advanced System Care
Features:
• Extremely Easy to Use
• Safely cleans registry junks, compacts registry bloat and defragments the registry for blistering-fast performance
• Boosts your system’s performance with Advanced SystemCare Free
• The powerful free XP registry cleaner by cleaning missing files
• Destroying unwanted files, deleting obsolete files
• Supports deep-cleansing of more than 50 types of junk files
To learn more about Advanced System Care, click here:
3. Game Booster 2
Features:
• 1-Click Boosting Game Performance
• Defragments Game Files
• Tweak System for Top PC Performance
Note: Apart from using Game Booster for high-end gaming, you can also use it when running graphics intensive application suites like Adobe CS 5, 3D Max or Maya. When you are running on low RAM it helps you to speed up your system.
To learn more, click here
