Speed up Windows 7 without 3rd party software

Is your Windows 7 computer slow? Are you not interested in downloading any software to help speed things up, out of fear that it will make the problem worse? This post has general tips on speeding up your Windows 7 computer. To find out about free programs that improve your computer's performance, read the previous post.

• Turn off Desktop gadgets. Type "gadgets" in the start menu search bar, choose "View list of running gadgets" there you can remove gadgets that you don't need or want running.
• Don't use a fancy Desktop background. Instead, you can use a solid color to free up a little RAM and boost speed slightly. Right-click on the desktop and click Personalize, then Desktop Background at the bottom. Set it to a solid color.
• Turn off Aero effects by going here: Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Performance Information and Tools. There are lots of effects to choose from, but simply choosing "Adjust for best performance" will turn everything off.
• Windows Defender is built in and this can be used to scan for spyware. I noticed that mine was turned off, and when I clicked the link to turn it on it froze. Not reliable in my case, you might want to find a third party security suite that has more features than this.
• Driver updates on your computer may also help to speed up your computer. Updating drivers is sometimes a necessity for software or hardware to function.
• Go to Control Panel\System and Security\Power Options. From here, click on the left-panel choice "Create a power option" and choose "High Performance." More electricty might be used if you choose this option, keep this in mind. But if you have a laptop which you frequently bring with you in public, it doesn't necessarily have to be on your dime.
  
  

Optimize your computer and make it run faster

Improve your PC's speed and performance without spending any money. Read on to discover tools for cleaning your registry, scan your computer for viruses and other problems, and much more... all for free. These programs don't have some limited demo versions which will expire unlike many programs out there. You can do a Google search for any program mentioned in this blog to know that its reputation is good and that the programs are safe, reliable, and hard to beat. If your computer seems suspiciously slow or otherwise dysfunctional then you've come to the right blog.

Note: all of the programs mentioned here are free to download and use!

• If you ever need to know what's inside of your computer, Speccy is the handiest tool I know of to show you everything there is to know. All capabilities are listed such as the processor brand and version, hard drive type and amount of space that is used- such information can be found by right clicking 'My Computer' but this is very in depth. Its free to download and extremely easy to use. You just click the program icon and it immediately starts to gather data about your computer. Speccy is useful for novices and power users alike, as well as both businesses and casual users.

  So if you're discussing your slow computer problems with your geekier friend to try and get answers, s/he might be impressed with what you're able to tell him about it once you start using speccy.

• Use a third party tool for defragging your hard drive, or just individual files such as Defraggler. It has a nicer looking interface that Windows defrag and its also quicker.

  In case your wondering, what does it mean to defrag the computer, and why should you do it? Defragmenting the computer gathers and organizes files which can get out of place over time, and doing so usually improves retrieval time and the computer's overall performance.

• CCleaner (short for crap cleaner) allows you to delete all kinds of unnecessary files and junk from your computer at once- all of your temporary internet files like cookies, history, and cache, log files, what's in the recycling, and more. Its like Window's native Disk Cleanup All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Cleanup but better. You can also automatically clean your registry which is safe to do but there's not a guarantee that there won't be problems which is why they prompt you to create a restore point just in case there is. With CCleaner you can conveniently see installed programs on your PC and uninstall them right there. Sort programs by size to see which ones are taking up more space than others. CCleaner also has many options for customizing which are sometimes for more advanced users.
  
  
• Malware, viruses, and other security problems have been known to slow down your computer. Advanced SystemCare scans your PC for malware, registry problems, unnecessary shortcuts, junk files, and it also clears web surfing history. I noticed that Advanced SystemCare was able to find and fix registry problems that CCleaner did not detect.