5 Ways to Speed Up Windows 7 on your PC or Laptop
Here are some quick steps you can take to speed up the performance of Windows 7 on your PC or laptop.
1. Disable unnecessary start-up programs
By default, some programs are set to start during system start-up which can cause longer load time and slower performance. To avoid this, you could disable some of the non-essential programs by following the steps below:
- Click Start
- In the search field type msconfig and press
- In the System Configuration window, go to Startup tab
- Uncheck the box next to those programs that are not essential for you during start-up. This will only disable them from auto-running during start-up but you could still use these programs whenever necessary.
- Once you've unchecked the selected ones, click and
2. Clean up the hard drive
You could use Windows built-in Disk Cleanup tool to remove unwanted data, temporary files and download program files to free up space and improve performance.
- Click Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Cleanup
- At first, the system will estimate how much space can be freed up.
- In the Disk Cleanup window that appears, select the files that need to be deleted
- Then click
3. Perform Disk Defragmentation
Defragmenting is one of those essential features you should consider using every 6 months or so. It is another built-in Windows tool that enables the operating system to perform more efficiently.
- Click Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Defragmenter
- In the window that appears, select the drive you want to defragment and click disk
- This will determine a time estimate for the process, following which you can click disk
- Once complete, you can either or click
4. Minimize Sound Effects
To disable certain sound effects, do the following:
- Click Start
- In the search field type mmsys.cpl and press
- In the new window that appears click on tab
- Set the sounds scheme to
- You could set the essential sounds if needed in Program Events; by selecting the specific event and then choosing the sound from the Sounds drop-down menu
- In addition to that you could also disable the option
- After the settings are applied, click and
5. Minimize Visual Effects
If you don't mind a less visually appealing interface, then proceed with the following steps:
- Go to your desktop
- Press on your keyboard and while holding, press <Pause/Break> key
- In the new window, click system settings
- In the Advanced tab under Performance Section, click
- In the Performance Settings window, under Visual Effects tab, disable the features that you do not need
- Or you could simply select which will auto-disable all non-essential options
- Then, click and
We'd like to hear from you. Feel free to share some of your own personal tips on improving Windows performance.