10 Quick Fixes to Make your Windows Computer Faster
Jan. 26th, 2008 | by Shankar Ganesh |
Your computer running Windows isn’t running in the same speed that it used to run when you first used it. It’s slower, crappy, takes a while to start and tests your patience like anything. There are many reasons for this, let’s try fixing up a few things on your slow Windows PC:
Slow Start Up
There can be a variety of reasons to Windows loading slow during start up. Go to Run, type msconfig and hit enter. Under the ‘Start Up’ tab, uncheck the unwanted programs and press OK. Things should be a bit fine the next time Windows boots.
Another program worth mentioning here is StartUp Delayer which will help in setting after how much time programs should be loaded after Windows boots. For instance, you could set your instant messenger program to load 50 seconds after Windows starts up.
Slow Loading Start Menu
If the Start Menu items are loading slowly, you can open the Registry Editor by typing in the Run menu ‘regedit.exe’ and pressing Enter. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop. Look for MenuShowDelay, and double click to edit the value. The lower the number specified, the faster the Start Menu will load.
Slow Right Click Context Menu
Probably the Windows Right Click menu on your computer is loading slow because too many programs added unwanted entries there. Just download this program called Mmm, install it and then modify your context menu to remove unwanted items to speed it up.
Slow Send To Menu
If the Send To menu loads slowly, you can type ’sendto’ in the Run Dialog, and remove unwanted items in the Explorer Window that appears. This should add some speed to it.
Slow Defragmentation
The Windows Defragmenter can’t get any slower. You need to have an alternative to the Windows Defragmenter, and Defraggler is just one of the best ones available in the market. It’s free, and works like a charm and can speed up defragmentation manifold. For some alternatives, see Five Free Programs to Defragment your PC.
Slow loading My Computer Window
If the My Computer Window loads slowly, in the Explorer Window, go to Tools >> Folder Options >> View and uncheck ‘Automatically search for network folders and printers”
Slow loading Add or Remove Programs Applet
This is one of the most annoying piece of programs present in Windows, it takes ages to load if you have a considerable number of programs installed on your computer. You can either use the all-in-one CCleaner for this purpose, or get MyUninstaller that comes as a speedy replacement for Add or Remove Programs.
Slow Ending of Unresponsive Programs
If you’ve clicked on ‘End Task’ if any program is running unresponsive, you might have noticed that the program is not terminated immediately. You can alter this by going to Run >> regedit.exe >> HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\ and change this value to 1000.
Disable Animations and Appearance Overhauls to maximize performance
If you’re a serious performance junkie, you probably won’t bother about eyecandy. Go to System Properties in the Control Panel. Click ‘Advanced’, then ‘Performance’ and click ‘Adjust for best performance’. This might boost your PC’s performance up a bit.
Additional Tips:
- Always keep your computer clean. Remove Junk and Unnecessary registry entries. Use CCleaner for this purpose, one excellent tool that just does what it says.
- Don’t keep installing software. Install a program only if it really serves you a purpose.
- Keep as less programs as possible running on the System Tray. This essentially means reducing the number of programs that start during Windows start up.
(By) Shankar Ganesh, a student and part time blogger from India, and the guy behind KillerTechTips
If you found this article useful then please help us spread the word by Stumbling It.
If you like this article then subscribe to MakeUseOf feed and get latest articles delivered to your Feedreader. If you want to recieve latest articles in your email click here. It's FREE!36 Comments » Leave One...
Sponsored Ads
MakeUseOf Authors
Latest in Blog
- SteadyState - Mess up, Reboot & Everything Is Fixed!
- GRAMPS: Open Source Genealogy
- Post Messages To Twitter Using Your Mobile Phone - & Get Your Invite HERE!
- Top Five Free Online Shooter Games - Must Read For Gamers
- One Online Tool to Handle Five Tedious Tasks
- MUO Polls: Do you use any Browser Toolbar? If so, which one?
- Transmission, The Lightweight BitTorrent Client
Latest in Directory
- Ekpenso : Free Online Mind Mapping Software
- ReadAir : Google Reader App for your Desktop
- Privnote: Send Notes that will Self-destruct after being Read
- TheSixtyOne : Discover Great Tunes Before Everyone Else
- Wattpad : Read and Share Books on your Mobile
- SimplyNoice : Relax and Block Distractions with White Noise
- 99counters: Stylish Web Counters for your Blogs and Profile Pages
- Alerts.com: Get Alerts for Stuff you Want to be Notified About
- PrimoSpot: Find a Parking Spot in New York City (NYC)
- Instinctiv: Better Music Shuffle Feature for your iPhone
Latest in Geeky Fun
- Search Google For French Military Victories
- WEB CRASH 2007: The Internet Has Crashed (Video)
- Latest Gadgets in the Mobile Phone Tech (Funny)
- Make your Own High Tech Computer Desk (Video)
- Star Wars Floppy Disk (Video)
- Typical FaceBook Romance (Pic)
- Geeky Way to End Relationship (Pic)
Recent Comments
- John Burton: http://com batarms.ne xon.net/ is also free...
- DoneThat2: Over the years, I used a variety of tactics...
- Scott Lewis: Here’ ;s some more that are really...
- Simon: http://red .planetare na.org/
- Simon: It was mentioned in the last section.
- Simon: It’s a shame you had this much trouble,...
- Simon: There̵ 7;s a possibilit y I’ll be...
- Sven: Hi, you forgot the Windows Live Toolbar http://...
- KNOWTEBOOK.COM: http://www .americasa rmy.com/ -...
- KNOWTEBOOK.COM: Americas Army is also one. cheers:...
Advertisement
MakeUseOf.com Tools
On this suggestion:
Slow Ending of Unresponsive Programs
If you’ve clicked on ‘End Task’ if any program is running unresponsive, you might have noticed that the program is not terminated immediately. You can alter this by going to Run >> regedit.exe >> HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\ and change this value to 1000.
It is not clear exactly what registry entry should be altered. Could you please clarify? Thanks.
I think you can alter it o anything above 10-15 seconds (1000-1500). If you hav a really slow machine you can set the value to something even higher.
in this tip, (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\) there is a bunch more keys, it is not clear what to change. you can’t do anything to control???????
Thanks for a great article, I just edited my sendto locations! I also found a way to edit the “Open With” dialogue, and I wrote an article about it and the sendto tweak (attributed to you)
http://greasypc.blogspot.com/2008/01/edit-send-to-and-open-with-right-click.html
Thanks
Nice tips Shankar! Is there a part 2?
Hehe, may be.
Thanks for the idea, though. 
Good list you got here. I’ve never heard of StartUp Delayer before, I may have to check that out. Another helpful tip: if possible, do not keep more than one or two users logged into WinXP or Vista at once. This can create a lot of slowdown, esp. if you’re lacking in the RAM department.
That’s a good tip to remember, thanks for sharing.
Some of these I didn’t even know they were configurable.
One more tip to terminate unresponsive programs is ending process from process tab of windows task manager.
For ex:If you want terminate not responding firefox just click firefox.exe from the process tab and hit end process or you can do it right clicking firefox.exe also…This tip closes the program you choose immediately but you should know or find .exe file carefully
That’s how I terminate Firefox. No it’s super fast but also allows you to restore session (tabs) afterwards.
@John Romero
Run >> regedit.exe >> HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\
WaitToKillServiceTimeout key
Thanks, Norm.
[...] 10 Quick Fixes to Make your Windows Computer Faster | MakeUseOf.com. Some good tips here. [...]
[...] 4 - 10 Quick Fixes to Make your Windows Computer Faster [...]
Great one Shankar! I’m glad you shared these, please keep them coming!
Thanks for the tips - i just applied some of them - they worked great.
[...] MakeUseOf, Shankar [...]
[...] Ten Quickfixes to Make Your Windows Computer Run Faster [...]
[...] 10 Quick Fixes to make Windows Faster [...]
@Tina, Matt: Glad to hear your thoughts. Thanks for commenting!
Excellent tips, buddy! Stumbled & bookmarked for the day when my computer starts to slow down.
[...] 10 Quick Fixes to Make your Windows Computer Faster [...]
Slow Startup
WinPatrol can also delay your startup apps in addition to being a startup manager & monitor
Slow Loading Start Menu
Great tweak!
I have the Computer, Documents, Recent Items & Control Panel buttons in the start menu as drop-down menus. Is there any registry tweak to make them load quicker? I’m on Vista Home Premium.
Old tricks but can always work for those who want to stick with old machines and never upgrade! A slow system can also be an indication that its time to upgrade your hardware. If you have a not so old system config. then unnecessary programs running in background like adobe reader and many other services can use CPU power and make system slow. In new systems, switching off all the windows eye candy don’t give any significant performance increase.
[...] Windows Explorer, klik menu Tools - Folder Options - View dan uncek ‘Automatically search for network folders and [...]
Nice tips. They work well!
Thank you
please it there a sipler way i do not get it at all plase tell me if there is
thanks, great tips. it works perfect
hi thanks when i start windows it is really faster
thanks.
i tryed the ”Disable Animations and Appearance Overhauls to maximize performance” and it changed my menus and others to Windows 95 graphics now i dont know what it was before and theres no default setting to change it back.
[...] 10 Quick Fixes to Make your Windows Computer Faster [...]
[...] To menu loads slowly, you can type ’sendto’ in the Run Dialog, and remove unwanted items in the Explorer Window that appears. This should add some speed to [...]
[...] much time programs should be loaded after Windows boots. For instance, you could set your instant messenger program to load 50 seconds after Windows starts [...]
how can we make the graphics card perform at its best.. cause i feel my computer is not doing it… and when i open programs which is games… when i will first enter it always says disconnected its an online games.. how can i make my computer do its work as a gaming PC. when i firs bought i, it performed very awesome, but now it ain’t doing its best. i got a 8500 GT geforce graphics and feels like its not doing its job. please can anyone gave me any response?