Tweaks/Optimizations for a old Win7 desktop?

[McDougal]

Hi all,

I recently installed the Windows 7 Enterprise 90-day trial on my old Compaq desktop with a 1.7GHz Intel Pentium 4, 1.2GB DDR RAM, 80GB HDD, and a Nvidia GeForce FX 5500 graphics card with 256MB dedicated video memory. The machine is running good, a lot better than I expected, having it dual booting with WinXP Pro. I have followed tutorials online on how to tweak Windows 7, such as TweakHound's guide, and I have also followed TweakHound's Windows 7 Freeware Machine guide. Its running pretty good, but not as fast as XP, which is what I expected. I just wanted to make sure that there weren't any tweaks/optimizations that I missed to make this computer run its best?

Thanks!

-McDougal

 

[Petey7]

Did you turn off Superfetch by any chance? If so, turning it back on will actually speed things up over time. You won't notice it at first, but after a week or so it will boot faster, and the computer will be faster after startup.

 

[McDougal]

Turns out I had Superfetch disabled, however I don't remember disabling it myself. Anyway, I turned it back on, set the service to "Automatic" and started it. Thanks for the suggestion, is there anything else I might have missed?

 

[Petey7]

Do you use a home group? If not, there are two services for it that run automatically. Turning them off might help.

 

[McDougal]

No, I don't use HomeGroup. I'll try disabling the two homegroup services.

 

[Brink]

Hello McDougal,

Here a few more to see if you have tried already.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/11728-optimize-windows-7-a.html

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[McDougal]

Thanks for the reply. I'll look through that tutorial, too. I'll post back with my reboot speed in this thread (not the ReBoot Time thread) once I'm finished.

 

[McDougal]

Okay guys, I've done all the tweaking possible, and here is an updated restart time, not bad, but not as good as XP, thats what I expected, though:

 

[gregrocker]

Win7 doesn't require any tweaking whatsoever other than normal System Settings. They will work against you.

You may be advised to edit your Graphics Effects in cued issues at the top of Advanced Tools page accessed by clicking your WEI score at Computer/Properties. I would then uncheck any fading, sliding, or dragging effects to save memory.

Also uncheck any startup programs besides AV and gadgets in msconfig.

Keep your HD perfectly clean and ordered using CCleaner then Auslogics Disk and Registry defraggers monthly.

Work through any repeat errors in Event Viewer>Admin view by googling text and ID# to find how others have solved them.