As you use your computer more and more, speed becomes a larger issue. Maybe you’ve downloaded a bunch of unnecessary freeware or you just have used your computer for quite a while - either way, computers gradually become not so fast.
But today, I will show you how to speed up that computer of yours and make it like new! So here are just a few methods:
Windows comes with a bunch of services, or processes, in the background that help the operating system run and do the daily functions a computer does - except some of these are unnecessary. You really do not need to have all of the Microsoft services running in the background at one time - many of which don’t ever need to run at all.
Of course, many windows services are necessary so you need to be very careful what you disable. But if you disable the correct ones you may just be that much closer to a much faster computer.
To disable Windows services:
1. Go to “Start,” “Run,” and type services.msc
2. You may now disable any of the following services based on your use - or non-use - of them:
(2) Automatic Updates - Automatically checks for updates from Microsoft. You can just do so manually by going here.
(3) Smart Card - If you do not use Smart Cards, you can stop it.
(4) Error Reporting Service - This is the thing that pops up everytime a program crashes asking if you want to report what happened to Microsoft. If you always decide not to, then you can disable this one.
(5) Telnet - Used to allow users to connect to your desktop remotely. If you do not need to access your computer remotely, you can disable this.
(6) Remote Registry Service - You really do not need this one. It allows you to remotely edit your registry. Most people definitely do not need this.
(7) Clipbook - Allows you to remotely copy/paste on a private network. It is unlikely many people will use this.
(8) Alerter - This one is completely useless. SP2 automatically disables it for you.
(9) Wireless Zero Configuration - This is necessary if you use Wi-Fi. If not, you can disable this.
(10) Uninterruptible Power Supply - This is unnecessary if, of course, you do not have an uninterruptible power supply.
(11) Windows Messenger - This service can be falsely used for spam. I highly recommend removing it. (Note: It is not related to the IM client.)
Part of downloading all of that freeware and even just installing work-related applications, a likely part of the installation process, is the unfortunate automatic setting of starting the application on startup. Gradually, your computer takes forever to startup and eventually it becomes ridiculously slow. You could use an application like StartupDelayer to delay programs from starting up (also check out AutoRuns by Karl and WinPatrol by Mark), but many of those applications do not even need to be running at all.
So here is one way to stop those unnecessary applications from running:
1. Go to “Start,” “Run,” and type msconfig.
2. Click on the “Startup” tab.
You should now see a list of all of the programs that automatically start up. Many of these applications are nicely labeled with the correct names, but some are not. If they are not clearly labeled you can just check the path of the file and hopefully find the name of the program, but if not it is probably better to just not remove it.
When you are disabling services make sure not to disable any of the Microsoft Services. Many of the ones that you see on the startup are necessary. Once you have selected the services you do not need, simply click “Apply.”
Hope this helps some of you to get started on speeding up that computer of yours. Stay tuned for the next installment of WinHack!
(By) Will Mueller is a computer nerd and geek that has been working with computers for far too long. He is currently working on one of his sites at PiccDrop. You can also check him out on Twitter.
Enjoyed this article? Subscribe to MakeUseOf and get daily updates about new cool websites and programs in your email for free. Plus get free cheat sheets to your favorite programs.
Filed Under: How-To ¦ Windows
Tags: operating system, speedup, start-up, windows tips, XP
It’s been a while, I am really...
Clever post. It cracks me up that I did not previously know about msconfig -> startup. Thanks!
What about startup control panel? Go to mlin.net, this is the simplest and smallest footprint startup configuration tool out there!
Recommended to use startup delayer to speedup your windows… from r2 Studios.. I use it to control programs that automatically run on start up, like Yahoo Messenger so that if I need to use my computer fast without Yahoo Messenger, I can skip the program at all.
good one.
I use windows defender to manage my start up programs. Great guide, thanks. =)
Great tips! Often, we’re told to ‘disable unnecessary services’ but what isn’t mentioned is what is safe to disable! Thanks for listing some examples. Perhaps including a link to a Windows process “map” would be good — something that tells you what each of the processes do and, better yet, what processes you haven’t ‘used’ in 3 months. Probably safe to turn those off. Not sure that software exists, but it’s an idea!