I know it's old, but it's still good news that needs re-reporting.
A lot of people I think will benefit from this information...,....
Debunking Common Windows Performance Tweaking Myths - Windows - Lifehacker
The Windows registry is a massive database of almost every setting imaginable for every application on your system. It only makes sense that cleaning it out would improve performance, right? Sadly it's just a marketing gimmick designed to sell registry cleaner products, as the reality is quite different... registry cleaners only remove a very small number of unused keys, which won't help performance when you consider the hundreds of thousands of keys in the registry. This isn't to say they are completely useless, of course. I'd still recommend cleaning the registry when you are trying to troubleshoot a problem caused by uninstalling buggy software that leaves entries behind, but even then you should be very careful to use a reputable application like previously mentioned CCleaner and review the entries before deleting anything.
Ed Bott weighs in with a stronger opinion:
I’d go a step further: Don’t run registry cleaner programs, period. I won’t go so far as to call them snake oil, but what possible performance benefits can you get from “cleaning up” unneeded registry entries and eliminating a few stray DLL files?
This indeed a good reminder. Many people still believe in this registry cleaner myth. And Ed Bott is a pretty good authority in those matters. I would be interested what people like Mark Russinovich would say. Maybe someone who has access to him can find out.
I think it has alot to do with the fact that older versions of Windows used to ask you if you wished to delete .dll files when there weren't any applications using them anymore. Because of this people think that leaving them will cause irreparable damage to their computer. "If the computer tells me to do it, it must be really important!"
Indeed a good read. Wouldn't mind having a sevenforum guide that excludes all those myths. I've read here a lot that the number of processors at startup needs to be set, also read a lot about disabling services. I think disabling the following services are the only good ones:
Computer Browser
Remote Registry
Tablet PC Input Service
I remember reading this advice in a thread here.Make Vista Use Multiple Cores to Speed Up Boot Time
This bogus tip made the rounds recently and almost everybody got caught including Lifehacker and big brother site Gizmodo... although commenters called it out quickly on both sides, and the editors updated the posts. (That's yet another reason to always participate in the comments here.) According to this tip, you were supposed to use MS Config to modify the "Number of processors" drop-down on the Boot tab. The problem is that this setting is only used for troubleshooting and debugging, to be able to determine if there is a problem with a single processor, or for a programmer to test their code against a single core while running on a multi-core system. Windows will use all your processors by default without this setting.
Computer Browser
Keep in mind that this can cause a problem if you are networking and sharing resources with other PC's.
Description of the Microsoft Computer Browser ServiceThe browser service maintains a list of the domain name or workgroup name the computer is in, and the protocol being used for each computer on the network segment being served by the computer running the browser service. On each network segment, a master browser is elected from the group of computers located on the segment that are running the browser service.
Technically, it has been theorized that you can disable this service on all PC's but one and that one will remain always the Master Browser. I am not sure I completely agree with that though. My understanding is there is more to the Browser service than just delegating.
Remote Registry
Tablet PC Input Service
The impact of these services are really very small.
However, for a security reason, disabling the Remote Registry could be useful.
Quite honestly, I have yet to see any real world benchmarks that say tweaking 7 is needed in any way shape or form, other than for the sake of doing it.
Isn't that the one that makes the snipping tool work in Vista? I think in Win7, it is no more required for the snipping tool to work. That was a funny connection anyhow.Tablet PC Input Service
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