Windows 7 was developed with speed in mind. With optimum speed and top performance as the core of this new operating system, it instantly replaces its predecessors for both home and professional users as the fastest system ever introduced by Microsoft. Please share this article with others by clicking the like button and the plus 1 button.

However, as with every new operating system there is always room for improvement, and if you’re more interested in peak performance over visual elements, you can easily further increase the speed and overall performance of your system with just a few simple adjustments.

In addition, you can increase your system’s response rate, improve usability, and get more out of your new Windows 7 system just by completing a series of easy steps, all designed to maximize your speed and load times, while improving your system components.

This article will show you “How To Speed Up Windows 7″.

Visual effects such as animations, menu element shifts (such as fading or sliding) can provide a great experience for the end user, but tend to require additional memory and space, slowing down your computers ability to function at its peak performance.

If visual effects aren’t important to you, you can easily re-configure your system to use less memory by turning off unimportant visual components, or disable them completely.

To begin, click on your Control Panel icon to load this space, and enter into the “System and Security” menu.  Click on “System”, as shown below:

Next, click on “Advanced System Setting” in the left side navigation panel, and in the Advanced tab, under “Performance”, click on Settings as shown below:

In the Performance Options, under Visual Effects tab, you can disable the options that you do not need or you can simply select Adjust for best performance. This will disable all options. Click “Apply” to save your changes.

You can take it a step further by minimizing sound effects that are triggered with specific actions, such as closing a browser, emptying your trash or loading programs.

To do this you will need to return to your Control Panel, and click on “Hardware and Sound” as shown below:

Click on “Sound” to proceed.  Within this section, click the Sounds tab and set the Sounds Scheme to “No Sounds”.  You can also choose to disable all sounds, or allow sounds to be triggered for specific programs.

In addition, you can also disable the “Play Windows Startup” sound option that is set whenever you reboot, or re-start your system.

Click “Apply” to save your changes.

You can also choose to disable your Windows 7 Screen Saver and wallpaper to save on system memory that is used.  You can do this by right clicking on your desktop, choose “Personalize”, and then click the Screen Saver option.

From that menu, set it to “None” and click Apply to save your changes.

To change your desktop background, from the “Location” menu, select “Solid Colors” and choose a reduce memory usage.

By default, Windows is bundled with the “Aero” theme, and if you’d like to increase your Windows 7 speed, you can easily disable the theme to allocate additional power to other tasks.

To do this, right click on your desktop and select “Personalize” as shown below:

Next, choose the “Window Color” option from the panel. You will now want to uncheck “Enable Transparency”, and then click on “Advanced Appearance Settings” to further disable the color and appearance options.

Disabling your search index is a great way to maximize speed and prevent your computer from using internal configurations that may slow down processing time.

To begin, click the “Control Panel” icon to load this panel, and then choose “System and Security”, as shown below:

Next, click on “Administrative Tools”. Now, click on “Computer Management” in the list of short-cut options. Finally, click on “Services and Applications” and then “Services” to proceed.

Look for the “Windows Search” line within this area. When found, right click on it and select “Properties”.From Startup, type “Choose Disabled”.

Click Apply to save your changes.

In order for your computer to perform at is maximum potential, you should consider cleaning your hard drive from time to time.

To do this, simply open “Disk Cleanup” by clicking on the Start button from your main desktop.

Click “All Programs”, choosing Accessories and then clicking on “System Tools”.  Choose “Disk Cleanup” to configure.

Disk Cleanup determines what files will be cleaned as well as how much space can be freed up on your system.  From within the Disk Cleanup area, select the files that you wish to delete, keeping in mind that you should be cautious when deleting files that you are not familiar with.

It is recommended that you only delete recognized files, such as “Temporary Files” generated by cache and browser activity, or other files that you no longer need, such as those included within your Download folders, and unused programs.

To further enhance your computers performance and speed, you may also choose to remove System Restore and Shadow Copies from the Disk Cleanup area. You do this by clicking the “Clean Up System” button, once you are logged into your system as an administrator.

Defragging is an important part of keeping your system clean, and running at its maximum limit. You should defrag your system every couple of weeks, and to retain a consistent schedule, you can choose to set up “scheduled defragmentation”, so that your system automatically defrags at specific dates or times.

To do this, begin by opening “Disk Defragmentation” from the Start Button on your computer.

It is located under “All Programs >>  Accessories >>  System Tools”.

Click the drive that you wish to defragment, as shown below:

Next, click “Analyze Disk”.  Your system will then go to work analyzing your diskspace, and will notify you as to whether you should continue defragmentation or if it is not required at this time.

To defragment a specific drive, select it from the window and click “Degragment Disk” button as shown below:

That’s it! Your system will now defragment your selected disk.

One of the most common reasons for a computer system slowing down, or becoming sluggish over time is in direct connection with your memory.

Windows 7 consumes far more memory than its predecessors, with the exception of Windows Vista.

If you tend to open multiple programs, browsers and tabs at once, you will want to consider modifying the allocation options for your virtual memory, which helps retain temporary information, by using free space from your hard disk, as well as physical memory.

To increase your virtual memory and improve the speed of your Windows 7 system, click on the Control Panel icon, and choose “System and Security” as shown below:

Next, click on “System” to proceed. You will now click on “Advanced System Settings” in the left side navigation panel, choosing “Performance Section >> Settings”.

In this area, under the “Advanced” tab, click on “Change” which is located directly under the “Virtual memory” section as shown below (in my example, it displays a total page file size for all drives as 1385MB. Your system will show a different size). Click “Change” to proceed.

You will now see the current page size. Uncheck “Automatically manage paging file size for all drives” from the options tab, and under ‘custom size’, you can enter the size you wish to allocate to virtual memory.

Depending on your hard disk size and available physical memory, you will want to set this accordingly. Keep in mind that you should carefully consider setting your virtual memory based on your systems ‘recommended size’ (which is solely based on your computers RAM, and will differ from system to system).

Click “OK” to apply your changes.

Note that virtual memory is also referred to as “paging file”.

By default, Windows 7 is not automatically set up for maximum performance, or evenly allocated power. To enhance the performance of your computer system, you can change the power plan associated with your computer.

To to this, click on “Power Options” from within your Control Panel. Next, click the down arrow that indicates “Show Additional Plans”, and look for “High Performance”.

Choose this power plan by activating it.  Save your changes.

That’s it! You have now optimized your Windows 7 system for optimum speed and performance.

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