Member Avatar for francisabey

Disable indexing
Description: Indexing creates and maintains a database of file attributes. This can lead to multiple small writes when creating/deleting/modifying files. Searching for files will still work.
Instructions: Start Menu -> Right-Click Computer -> Manage -> Services and Applications -> Services - > Right-Click Windows Search -> Startup type: Disabled -> OK

Disable defragmentation
Description: Defragmenting a hard disk's used space is only useful on mechanical disks with multi-millisecond latencies. Free-space defragmentation may be useful to SSDs, but this feature is not available in the default Windows Defragmenter.
Instructions: Start Menu -> Right-Click Computer -> Manage -> Services and Applications -> Services - > Right-Click Disk Defragmenter -> Startup type: Disabled -> OK

Disable Write Caching
Description: There is no cache on the SSD, so there are no benefits to write caching. There are conflicting reports on whether this gains speed or not.
Instructions: Start Menu -> Right-Click Computer -> Manage -> Device Manager -> Disk drives -> Right-Click STEC PATA -> Properties -> Policies Tab -> Uncheck Enable write caching -> OK

Configure Superfetch
Description: Frees up RAM by not preloading program files.
Instructions: On second glance, I would recommend leaving this one alone. However, there are some customizations that you can follow in the post below.

Disable the Page File
Description: Eliminate writing memory to the SSD, free over 2GB of disk space. Warning - If you run out of memory the program you're using will crash.
Instructions: Start Menu -> Right-Click Computer -> Properties -> Advanced System Settings -> Settings (Performance) -> Advanced Tab -> Change -> Uncheck Automatically manage -> No paging file -> Set -> OK -> Restart your computer
Alternatively, if you want to play it safer, you can set a custom size of 200MB min and max.

Disable System Restore
Description: Don't write backup copies of files when installing new programs or making system changes. Can free up between a few hundred MB to a couple GB. Warning - Although unlikely, if a driver installation corrupts your system, there won't be an automatic way to recover.
Instructions: Start Menu -> Right-Click Computer -> Properties -> Advanced System Settings -> System Protection Tab -> Configure -> Turn off system protection -> Delete -> OK

Disable Hibernation
Description: You may free up 1GB of space on the SSD if you have 1GB of memory, 2GB of space if you have 2GB memory. You will lose the hibernation feature which allows the equivalent of quick boots and shutdowns.
Instructions: Start Menu -> Type cmd -> Right-Click the cmd Icon -> Run as Administrator -> Type powercfg -h off -> Type exit

Windows 7 Tweaks

  • 2 Contributors
  • 1 Reply
  • 367 Views
  • 8 Hours Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by airbourne
Member Avatar for airbourne

Normally, I pass by tweak posts, but this one is misleading. I would recommend renaming your post closer to what the content describes: How to save on disk space if your PC is being run from a Solid State Disk.

As for speed:

Disabling the indexing is negligible on most modern systems, so the speed increase you would see would probably only be able to be measured in nano or micro-seconds.

From a systems standpoint, I do not agree that anyone should perform any of these tasks, especially if they are a home-user with little or no systems repair or support experience.

Disable automatic de-fragmentation - no known benefit or hindrance on modern systems.

Disable write-caching - if the SSD does not have a cache, there can be no write caching, so it probably won't save on CPU cycles. However disabling this feature may actually increase data seek time.

Disable Superfetch - I have never played with this, but if you are running Windows 7 or Windows Vista with less than 1 GB of RAM, this is the least of your problems.

Under no circumstances do I recommend that you disable either the Page File or the System Restore if you are a home user. If you do not make regular backups of your system, which most people don't, you will find yourself in a world of hurt one day when a file or software you install decides to misbehave, either by using up all available RAM and asking for more, or by corrupting your windows install preventing you from rolling back.

Hibernation - I disable this option myself. I also disable sleep mode and turn my PC completely off when I am done using it.

I don't mean to walk all over your post, as it sounds like you are trying to be helpful, and I fully respect that, I just feel that in my experience these tweaks are bad advice in general and I know multiple websites, especially PC enthusiast websites, promote these kinds of tweaks.

If you truly want to increase the speed of a computer without buying anything, the easiest way to do that is to stop unessential software from running in the background and/or at start up. Also, watch what you download off of the internet or from your email, especially if they require a special "player" program or toolbar to view.

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.