Whether it's having some extra power to keep your framerate down in Half Life 2, or simply getting Windows Vista to shut down that second faster, everybody wants a quicker computer.
Because of this, we've prepared fifty affordable idea's to achieve this. Here's the first batch.
1. Add More Memory
The simplest way to improve performance is to add more memory (RAM) to your system – 1GB (1024MB) is the minimum recommended amount, but add as much memory as you can afford or your system supports.
2. Use Your USB Flash Drive
If you’ve got a spare USB flash drive with at least 256MB free space, you can use it to help give your system a helping hand. Plug the drive into a spare USB2.0 slot and – when prompted – select “Speed up my system” when prompted.
3. Configure Readyboost
If the option doesn’t appear, or you want to override Windows Vista’s recommended settings, open My Computer, right-click your flash drive, choose Properties and switch to the ReadyBoost tab.
Manually tweak the ReadyBoost settings from this dialog
4. Pick a new USB Flash Drive
If you want to purchase a flash drive specifically for using as a ReadyBoost device (remember, it’s no substitute for real RAM), opt for a model with faster read/write times (such as the Gizmo Overdrive from
Crucial) for the best results.
5. Overclock Your Graphics Card
You can tweak your graphics card to squeeze a few extra frames per second out of playing games. Use a tool like
PowerStrip or
ATITool to optimise your display, but note you’ll be stressing your graphics card and shortening its life by doing so – you may even damage it by attempting to overclock, so think carefully and remember it’s all at your own risk.
6. Upgrade your Drivers
Certain driver updates – particularly those for graphics cards and chipsets – can lead to better performance. Check your PC, motherboard or graphics card manufacturer to see if a newer driver exists.
7. Super-fast External Drives
Frustrated at how slow USB and Firewire external devices are compared to your internal drive? Fret no more: eSATA is a new standard that offers the performance of an internal drive in an external casing. You’ll need access to an eSATA port – some modern PCs have these built in, but in many cases you’ll need to purchase a plug-in card (PCI or PCI-Express) with your drive. Check out
Lacie for drives and adapter cards.
8. Benchmark Your PC
Your Windows Experience Index base score tells you how capable your PC is of running Windows Vista, which gives you a good idea of what you need to upgrade next for better performance. Click Start > Control Panel and select System and Maintenance followed by Performance Information and Tools. Use the links on the left in conjunction with our tips to improve performance.
9. Speed Up Your Network
Wireless networks are still much slower than wired networks, so don’t make all of your PCs wireless unless you need to. Look for 802.11n equipment for the best possible range and performance – remember, the further away from the access point you are, the slower your connection, so if transferring large files from one PC to another, try to place them as close to it as possible or even plug them into the router for the fastest possible transfer speed.
10. Spread Your Paging file
If you’ve got a second internal hard drive or an eSATA-connected drive, you can instruct Windows Vista to use that for the paging file in addition to your own boot drive. Here's how:
a) Access Virtual Memory Settings
Open System Properties and click Advanced system settings. Click Settings under Performance, switch to the Advanced tab and click the Change button.
b) Set New Paging File
Untick “Automatically manage paging file size for all drives”. Scroll through your list of drives and select the least-used partition on your second drive. Choose System managed size and click Set.
c) Reboot and Review
Click OK three times and reboot when prompted. Once complete, return to this screen and verify that both drive C and your new drive have system managed paging files in place.
11. Distribute Files Quickly
Want to quickly fling files into their correct folders? Download the free
Magic Folder Gadget - this creates a virtual folder into which you drag files. You can dump them all in a single folder, or set it up to move them to a specific location based on their file type.
The Magic Folder Gadget turns your sidebar into a drop-off point for files
12. Customise Start Menu
Right-click the Start button and choose Properties. Click Customize and you can set up the Start menu to your individual tastes, giving you quicker access to key parts of your system – our favourite tweak? Select “Display as a menu” under Control Panel.
13. Shortcut To Any Control Panel
If you frequently use a Control Panel applet, why not create a shortcut to it you can place anywhere on your system, including the Start menu?
a) Create Shortcut
Open the Control Panel and switch to Classic View. Right-click the Control Panel you want to shortcut to and choose Create Shortcut.
b) Place Shortcut
A new shortcut will appear on the desktop – you can drag it on to the Quick Launch Toolbar or place it on the Start menu as shown above for easy access.
14. Use the Windows Key
The [Windows] key is often overlooked as a keyboard shortcut, but you’re missing a trick by ignoring it. For example, to bring the Sidebar to the front, press [Windows] + [Space]. Laptop users can press [Windows] + [X] to access the Windows Mobility Center. And press [Windows] plus a number between one and zero to access any of the first ten shortcuts on the Quick Launch toolbar.
15. Program Your Keyboard
Many modern keyboards come with extra keys that you can configure to access programs and other key parts of your system quickly and easily. Open the Keyboard Control Panel and look for a tab that enables you to assign certain actions to different keys – if it’s missing, download drivers or software (such as Microsoft’s IntelliType) from the keyboard manufacturer’s web site.
16. Create Your Own Shortcuts
You can assign a shortcut key to any program shortcut, enabling you to open it quickly. Right-click the shortcut on your Taskbar, desktop or Start menu and choose Properties. Place the cursor in the Shortcut key box and press a letter. You’ll see [Ctrl] + [Alt] is assigned to it – click OK to finish.
17. Use The Start Menu's Run Dialog
Press [Windows] + [R] to access the Run dialog – from here you can type in web addresses, folder locations or the names of key programs and utilities (for example, devmgmt.msc for Device Manager) to access them more quickly than browsing the Start menu.
18. Use The Address Bar
The Run dialog works in exactly the same way as the Address bar, which you can place permanently on your Taskbar for even quicker access to sites, folders and programs – right-click the Taskbar and choose Toolbars > Address to use it.
19. Jump To A File
If you’ve opened a folder packed full of files, save time by typing the first few letters of the filename you’re after – you’ll jump straight to the file.
20. Utilise The SendTo Folder
Type %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\SendTo into the Start > Run box or Address bar to open your personal SendTo folder. Drag a program shortcut into here (hold down [Ctrl] as you drag to ensure it’s copied rather than moved) and you can open a file in that program simply by right-clicking it and choosing Send to > Program name - perfect if, for example, you have a number of different image-editing tools installed on your PC and you need to choose a different one to the default.
21. Prioritise Your Programs
It’s possible to give programs different levels of priority to the processor, which can help improve performance in processor-intensive programs like multimedia tools (including Windows Media Player) and games at the expense of other programs.
Run intensive programs with higher levels of priority for better performance
By default all programs run with a priority level of Normal, but it’s possible to raise this to AboveNormal or even High. To do so, right-click the Taskbar and choose Task Manager. Locate your program on the Applications tab, right-click it and choose Go to Process. Now right-click the selected process and choose Priority to give it a new level – don’t choose RealTime as this will give the program priority over Windows Vista itself, and may even bring your system grinding to a halt.
22. Always Run at Different Priority
You can tweak a program’s shortcut so that every time it’s launched it runs at a higher priority. Change high to abovenormal or whichever priority you wish to use.
a) Enter Shortcut Command
Right-click the shortcut and select Properties. Type the following into the beginning of the Target box, before the path and filename: cmd.exe /c start “” /high
b) Change Program Icon
Click Apply. The shortcut icon will change to a command prompt, so click Change Icon followed by Browse… Select the program file the shortcut opens and click Open. You’ll see the program icon appear – select this and click OK twice to finish.
23. Choose a Lower Priority
Don’t elevate too many programs to AboveNormal or High – instead, look at some background programs and consider lowering their priority level to BelowNormal or Low, so they don’t compete so fiercely for processor time, helping to boost performance elsewhere.
24. Quickly Gain Elevated Rights
Press the [Windows] key to launch the Start menu and type in the program you’re looking for – press [Ctrl] + [Shift] + [Enter] followed by [Alt] + [C] and you’ll launch it with full administrator rights without having to click once.
25. Disable Security Prompts
The simplest way to disable UAC is using the free Tweak VI tool.
The free basic version of
Tweak VI includes some nifty tweaks that can speed up your PC. First up, the program will disable User Accounts Control for you during installation if you wish, removing the confirmation dialogs that appear when you perform administrative-level tasks. Remember though that you’re compromising security for convenience, so disable it with care.
26. Optimise Superfetch
Windows Vista’s SuperFetch settings are designed to maximise performance, and Tweak VI has a section dedicated to occasionally flushing the logs to clear things out and optimise it. To access this, select System Information and Tweaks > Hard drive information… and switch to the ‘Prefetcher’ and ‘SuperFetch’ optimization tab.
27. Go Tweaking
Explore the other areas of Tweak VI and see what you can find – there’s a section on improving performance based on your processor, plus other tips and tweaks too. Make sure you take a System Restore point before tweaking though, in case you push your machine too far.
28. Defrag Your Hard Drive
Set a schedule for defragmenting your drive.
Defragmenting your hard drive basically rearranges the files on it so they’re loaded quicker, speeding up your PC as a result. Unlike previous versions of Windows, Windows Vista runs the Disk Defragmenter automatically on a weekly basis to stay on top of this. You can run the program manually or change the schedule to daily or monthly by typing defrag into the Start menu’s Search box.
29. Turn Off Automatic Defragmentation
Your PC slows down while the Defragmenter is running, so you might prefer to set it to run manually – turn off scheduling by unticking “Run on a Schedule (recommended)”. Alternatively, pick a time when you’re away from your PC – say your lunch hour – so it doesn’t interfere with your work.
30. Boost Your Hard Drive
Many PCs now ship with SATA hard drives, which are superior to the older IDE standard. If you’re running a laptop or a PC connected to an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) you can speed things up by switching on its advanced features. To do this, click Start, type Device Manager and press [Enter]. Open the Disk Drives section, right-click your hard drive and choose Properties > Policies tab. Write caching should already be enabled, so tick “Enable advanced performance” and click OK.
31. Access Any CD or DVD Instantly
Fed up with swapping discs? CDs and DVDs can be stored as ISO image files – exact replicas of the disc – on your hard drive for super-fast access (they’re quicker to load from too). All you need to do is set up a virtual CD or DVD drive to access them – DAEMON Tools enables you to do this – download it from
Daemon-tools - if you have privacy concerns, make sure you untick “DAEMON Tools Search Bar” during installation.
Virtual CD or DVD drives look and behave exactly like a DVD-ROM drive
32. Create your own ISO
It’s possible to convert a disc into a single ISO file that you store on your hard drive – download the free LCISO Creator tool from
Lucersoft to do so (just select your disc from the drop-down menu and click Create ISO).
33. Monitor System Demands
Resource Monitor gives you a detailed overview of how your system is working
Right-click the Taskbar and choose Task Manager, then switch to the Performance tab to see what the current demands are on your processor and memory (click Resource Monitor for more details). Switch to the Processes tab and click the CPU tab to see what’s currently hogging system resources.
34. Remove Unwated Programs
The more software you have installed on your system, the slower it will run. Even applications that aren’t currently running take up disk space and clutter up the Registry. Open the Control Panel and select Uninstall a program under Programs. Select the program you want to remove and click Uninstall/Change. Follow the uninstaller.
35. Streamline Your Startup
Every program that starts with Windows Vista consumes resources and extends the boot time. Some programs – like your security tools – are essential, but others aren’t. Discover how to trim back what loads with a free program called AutoRuns, which you can download from
Microsoft TechNet.
a) Extract Program Files
Once downloaded, double-click Autoruns.zip and choose Extract all files. Choose a folder and click Extract. Once complete, double-click autoruns.exe to launch the program.
b) Logon Tab
A whole series of tabs will appear, each display start-up programs according to their category. Switch to the Logon tab. Untick those you think it’s safe to disable – right-click an entry and choose Search Online to find out more about it first.
c) Delete Entries Permently
Once you’ve ascertained a disabled entry isn’t important, you can opt to remove it completely - to do so, right-click it and choose Delete. Click Yes when prompted.
36. Disable Network Printer Search
If you’re on a network, but not sharing any printers, speed things up a little by disabling the network printer search. Click Start, type network and sharing center and press [Enter]. Under Printer Sharing, click the down arrow and select Turn off printer sharing before clicking Apply.
37. Speed up Start Menu Searches
There are various ways to speed up the search box on the Start menu by scaling back what it looks for when you enter your search terms. Right-click the Start button and choose Properties, then click Customize. Scroll down and consider unticking Search communications (for email and instant messaging chats), plus favourites and history (Web searches). Select “Don’t search for files” under Search files to restrict the Search box to the Start menu only.
Speed up searches by excluding chats and email from them
38. Scale Back Indexed Searches
Windows Vista’s indexed search technology means super-fast searches, but does impact on day-to-day performance. Exclude unwanted items from your indexes to boost performance – click Start, type indexing options and press [Enter]. A list of current locations will be displayed – click Modify followed by Show all locations, and then untick those areas you don’t want to index.
39. Advanced Index Options
Remove file types that you’re unlikely to search for from the index
Back in Indexing Options, click the Advanced button. This launches a dialog that enables you to change more indexing configurations. On the File Types tab, you can opt to add or remove certain file extensions from indexing. Consider removing executables and files that you’re unlikely to search for.
40. Disable Search Indexing
The minor performance hit brought about by indexing your hard drive for fast searches is acceptable to most people, but if you’re on a low-spec system you can disable this for slower search results, but better overall performance. Click Start > Computer, right-click your drive and choose Properties, then untick “Index this drive for faster searching” on the General tab before clicking OK.
41. Optimise the Registry
Download and install Free Registry Defrag from
registry-clean.net then launch the program. Click Analyze Registry and wait for the results to show up – unlike Registry cleaning utilities, no entries are removed from the Registry with the problems that often introduces; instead wasted space is reclaimed and the files defragmented to improve performance.
Don’t “clean” your Registry, defrag it instead
42. Scale Back Visual Effects
Remove some of Windows Vista’s visual effects for a speed boost. Click Start, right-click My Computer and select Properties. Click Advanced System Settings and click Settings under Performance. On the Visual Effects tab select Adjust for best performance to disable everything, or click Custom to disable individual effects. Click OK twice to enable your changes.
43. Disable Transparent Effects
Disable transparency in Windows Aero for a more responsive experience
The glass effect used by Windows Aero consumes a large number of resources. You can switch it off without disabling Windows Aero by right-clicking the desktop and choosing Personalize. Select Window Colour and Appearance and untick Enable Transparency before clicking OK.
44. Disable System Restore
System Restore is handy for rolling your system back after encountering problems, but the cost is less disk space and processing power as Restore points are created and your drive is monitored. If you can live without this fail-safe mechanism, switch it off. Click Start, right-click My Computer and select Properties. Choose System Protection, then untick the box next to your drive and click Turn off System Restore when prompted.
45. Disable User Account Control
User Account Control puts in a layer of security that stops you from making system changes without confirming them. More experienced users willing to take the security risk can disable this to speed things up when performing low-level tasks. Open Control Panel and choose User Accounts and Family Safety. Select User Accounts and click Turn User Account Control on or off. Untick Use User Account Control to protect your computer, click OK and reboot.
User Account Control can slow down and irritate experts, but it’s essential for less experienced users
46. Stop Autmatic Hibernation
Prevent your PC from going to sleep to free up more resources
The Automatic hibernation process runs constantly in the background using up resources. If you’re happy to hibernate manually, and you’re not using a laptop on battery power, switch it off: open Control Panel, select System and Maintenance and click “Change when the computer sleeps”. Set “Put the computer to sleep” to Never and click Save changes.
47. Disable Remote Differential Compression
Unless you move files around your network on a regular basis, this feature can be safely switched off. Open Control Panel and select Programs. Choose Turn Windows features on and off, untick Remote Differential Compression and click OK.
48. Check Event Viewer
Problems with your PC can sometimes be manifested in sluggish performance or long delays – here’s how to identify what they are, enabling you to examine ways of fixing them
a) Access System Logs
Click Start, right-click Computer and select Manage. When the Computer Management console appears select Event Viewer – after a short delay the following summary screen will appear.
b) View Errors and Warnings
Select Windows Logs. Double-click a log to view recorded events – select Action > Filter Current Log and tick Critical, Error and Warning so only those events are shown. Click OK.
c) Event Details
Right click an event and choose Event Properties. The resulting dialog presents details of the event, including a brief description of what happened – if further information is available, click it for a possible fix.
49. Lose the Sidebar
Each Sidebar gadget consumes system resources, so either trim back what you use to a minimum or go one step further and switch it off completely. Right-click the sidebar and choose Properties. Untick “Start the Sidebar when Windows starts” and click OK, then right-click again and this time choose Close Sidebar.
50. How Stable are your Tweaks
It’s a good idea to monitor your system to see what effect – positive or negative – your tweaks have on the stability of your system. The Reliability Monitor provides a graph over time so you can see how each action might have affected the running of your PC.