Most people know that adjusting Windows visual effects can speed up computer performance. But did you know that the sounds Windows makes on startup, shutdown, when you insert a USB stick, when you encounter an error, etc. don’t do system performance any good? Even though Windows sounds don’t affect computer speed as much as graphics, disabling them will still give you a small performance boost. Besides, I find Windows beeps really annoying, don’t you?
To disable Windows sounds, do the following:
1. Click on Start and go to the Control Panel
2. Locate and double-click Sounds and Audio Devices (Windows XP) or Hardware and Sound – Change system sounds (Windows 7)
3. In the new window, go to the Sounds tab
4. Select No Sounds from the dropdown menu and click OK
Set processor affinity for specific applications
If you have a dual or a multi-core CPU, you can set processor affinity for specific applications. Depending on your CPU, you can significantly speed up the performance of some programs. The speed increase may vary, but getting use out of your secondary processors is definitely worthwhile.
Setting processor affinity is very easy and can be done from the Task Manager:
1. Start the Windows Task Manager by pressing Ctrl+Shift+Esc
2. Now go to the Applications tab, right-click the application you want to assign to a different processor and select Go to Process
3. You will then be taken to the Processes tab and the process related to the application will be highlighted
4. Right-click on it and select Set Affinity
5. Select the processors you want to associate with the application in the pop-up window
6. Click OK and close the Task Manager
Change application priorities
If you don’t have a dual or multi-core CPU, you can still speed up applications and overall computer performance by changing priority settings for programs of your choice. Basically, assigning high priority to an application will speed up the application itself, but might affect overall system performance. Similarly, assigning low priority to a resource-hungry application will speed up overall computer performance, but will slow down the application itself.
You can change application priority in the Task Manager:
1. Open the Task Manager by pressing Ctrl+Shift+Esc
2. Now go to the Applications tab, right-click the application you want to assign to a different processor and select Go to process
3. Right-click on the highlighted process, navigate to Set Priority and select the desired priority from the list
4. Close the Task Manager
Clean the Prefetch folder
Every time you launch a program for the first time, Windows creates a file that will make the program launch quicker the next time you use it. This little file gets put into a folder called Prefetch and is stored there. Sounds good, doesn’t it? Well, only up to a point. Just like any other folder, the Prefetch folder can get pretty cluttered as it accumulates files for different applications. As a result, all that clutter starts slowing down your computer, even though it’s meant to be speeding it up. The solution is to give your Prefetch folder a cleanup every now and again.
To clean the Prefetch folder, do the following:
1. Click on Start and type prefetch in the Search bar (XP users: go to Start – Run, type prefetch in the Run box). Hit Enter
2. The Prefetch folder will open
3. Now simply highlight everything in the folder by pressing Ctrl+A and hit the Delete key
Disable hibernation
Hibernation is one of the power-saving modes offered by Windows. It is a great mode if you want to reduce your power consumption, but don’t feel like switching your computer on and off and losing all your open documents, browsers, programs, and current settings. In short, hibernation is great if you want to reduce your electricity bills without compromising your productivity.
However, hibernation has some downsides, the main one being its negative effect on system performance. That’s because Windows reserves a hidden file called hiberfil.sys, which is roughly the size of your RAM. This means that if you have 2GB of RAM, your hiberfil.sys file is something close to 2GB. Now, that’s perfectly fine if you do use hibernation. But if you don’t, then this file is just a waste of space. You can free up this extra space by disabling hibernation. Here is how:
1. Make sure you are logged in as administrator
2. Click on the Start button and type cmd in the Search box (XP users will need to click on Start – Run and type cmd). Hit Enter. This will open the Command Line.
3. In the Command Line, type powercfg /hibernate off and hit Enter
4. Type exit and press Enter to exit the Command Line
If one day you’d like to re-enable hibernation, simply repeat steps 1-4, but type powercfg /hibernate on in step 3 instead.
Speed up file browsing
Do you ever use network folders and printer? My bet is you don’t. But did you know that Windows looks for them by default every time you open Windows Explorer, just in case you do? This is no big deal, but it can slow down file browsing. Disabling search for network folders and printers can make using Windows Explorer and browsing files much more enjoyable.
Windows XP
1. Open My Computer
2. In the menu, click on Tools, click on Folder Options and go to the View tab
3. Now uncheck Automatically search for network folders and printers
4. Click Apply and click OK
5. Reboot your PC
Windows 7
1. Go to the Control Panel and open Network and Internet
2. Click Network and Sharing Center
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3. Select Change advanced sharing settings
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4. In the Network discovery section, choose Turn off network discovery
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