Speed Up Computer

If you’re running Windows 7, and you are looking for ways to speed up your computer, here is a suggestion that might help you address specific speed issues. Sometimes, speed is a matter of the hardware you have installed, and other times, your software is responsible for slowing your computer down. These tips are all related to software and configuration issues that, when eliminated, can give your computer a performance boost.

Your Computer Is Busy At Boot Time

When your computer first boots, there are a lot of services that must be started. Each service competes for a limited amount of CPU time and memory. The competition eventually sorts itself out, but while it’s happening, you don’t get to do much of anything, even though the computer may appear to be “ready.”

To cut down on competition for resources, you can configure some applications and services to start up after all of the boot-time festivities have concluded. This will reduce competition for resources at startup and speed up your ability to get going on the double. Use some common sense when you’re configuring these services. For example, if you’re working on a laptop and access to the network is a high priority, don’t configure your computer to boot your network services on a delayed basis.

To get into your services file, type SERVICES in the Run box. Select the Services control panel. You’ll get a list of services that are enabled at boot time, along with a brief explanation of what they do, and their startup status. Look at the services that are started automatically and determine which ones you need right away and which ones can wait. Choose the ones you want to delay, and right-click on the startup status.

Using the Properties box, switch their status to “Automatic (delayed start)” using the pull-down flag and see if that helps you get to work a bit faster. If you don’t like the results of your tinkering, pull up the Services configuration again and return your settings to their previous state. As long as you’re in Services, you may find some services that you want to disable altogether, or switch from Automatic to Manual. That can also speed things up a bit. If you’re looking at the services on the Standard tab, don’t forget to take a peek at the Extended tab for potential additional savings.

You may need to adjust your service configuration, but you may also get a pleasantly unexpected speed boost.

Photo Credit: Lasse Havelund, via Flickr