Disable Search Indexing
If like me you know where your files are stored, and only do a file search once in a blue moon, then the Search Indexing feature is a total waste of time. It uses up quite a lot of resources and is one feature I’d recommend most users disabling:
Click on Start and type in services.msc
Find and right-click ‘Windows Search’
In the startup type field choose ‘Disabled’
Faster Toolbar
Taskbar thumbnail previews are one of Windows 7’s cool features. To decrease the time take to display thumbnails make these tweaks. (Note: be careful as you are tweaking the registry):
Click on Start and type in regedit and hit Enter
Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionExplorerAdvanced
Right-click on Advanced, select ‘New DWORD‘ and enter the following value: “ThumbnailLivePreviewHoverTime”
Then right-click on ‘ThumbnailLivePreviewHoverTime’ and select ‘Modify’.
Choose Decimal Base and enter in your new number in milliseconds. I use 200 (0.2 secounds), but experiment until you find a time you like.
Click Ok and restart PC
Turn Off System Sounds
Do you really need the system sounds? If not then disabling will again free up resources:
Go To Start and type in mmsys.cpl
Click on the Sounds tab and choose ‘No Sounds‘ in the sound scheme drop down
Remove Unwanted Startup Programs
Many programs start automatically or start components with Windows, which will slow your bootup times and use unnecessary resources. These include programs like Acrobat, Quicktime, iTunes, Java etc. To stop these programs autostarting:
Go to Start and enter ‘msconfig’
Click on the startup tab and uncheck anything you are certain you don’t need e.g. don’t untick your AV program
