5 Tips to Improve Your Windows 7 System’s Speed

The introduction of Microsoft’s Windows 7 was met with great reception and reviews from critics, especially those who didn’t think much of the previous OS of Windows Vista. Windows 7 has been mentioned to have the stability and security of popular Windows XP, with the visual look of Vista; 7 is what Vista should have been. But with all of the features and new bells and whistles, Windows 7 can slow down some systems. Here are five ways in which you can speed up your system to get work done. 1. Upgrade Your System While Windows 7 can run on systems that meet the minimum specifications, it’s always a better practice to meet or exceed that of the recommended specs. This allows for the system to work programs in the background without taxing your system or slowing down your movies, music, or work. 2. Disable Aero Feature One of the features that carried over from Vista was that of the Aero technology. Basically eye candy, the technology allows for transparent taskbars and windows, as well as some quick shortcuts and features. For systems who only meet the minimum requirements, this only slows down the computer. This may be disabled automatically if the hardware doesn’t meet the requirements, but if not - Right click on the desktop and choose “Personalize” Within the box, click the option of “Window Color” Uncheck “enable transparency”, then choose to open the classic appearance Choose the standard Windows 7 Appearance. 3. Disable Desktop Gadgets Gadgets are another feature that was carried over from Vista, giving users a way to view different items from their desktop. Windows 7 comes with a clock gadget, a weather gadget, and a CPU monitor just to name a few, with more to download from both Microsoft and third party companies. The more gadgets you have on your desktop, the more the system is working to keep them up to date. To disable gadgets: Go to the START menu and select ‘control panel’ Within the Control Panel, find ‘Programs & Features’. Under this is a link to turn off Windows features. Within in Windows features, uncheck the Windows Gadget Platform. 4. Turn Off Unused Windows Features There are some standard features of Windows – like games, Messenger – that be turned off as well, especially if you never use them. As above to disable the gadgets, you can disable these features. Try not to disable features you aren’t familiar with, as you could be turning off something important. 5. Prevent Unwanted Programs from Running at Startup When you turn on your computer, several programs will turn on. Like the operating system, any office programs, gadgets, and others. To speed up your computer, have some of these programs not start when the computer does. Go to the START menu and choose ‘run’. In the textbox, type in ‘msconfig’. This brings up a console in which you can configure parts of Microsoft Windows, such as what programs should start. Select the ‘start up’ tab. Go through the list and uncheck programs that you don’t want to start up, like a cell phone manager program, an office program (like MS Office). Make sure you don’t uncheck the operating system! This are just some ways in which you can speed up your Windows 7 computer, but there are more, such as upgrading parts of your computer or removing programs; it all depends on you and the customization of your Windows 7.