[Computers] Windows Optimization Guide

[Acco]

Author: Strelok
Original Thread: Windows Optimization Guide

Windows Optimization Guide

Table of Contents

Add/Remove [AR1]
Temp/Junk [TJ2]
Registry Cleaning [RC3]
Windows Startup [SA4]
Services [SS5]
Registry Tweaks [WE6]
Defragmentation [DN7]
Device Manager [DM8]

To go to the section you want, double-click on the letter & number combination between the [ ]'s and copy it to the clipboard. Then press Ctrl + F and then paste it in and press enter to go directly to the section. Applies to XP & Vista

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Add/Remove [AR1]

Navigate to "Control Panel" and find "Add/Remove Programs" or called "Programs & Features" on Windows Vista

Once you have Add & Remove / Programs & Features open you should see a window pop-up with all the listed applications you have. For each application you feel you do not need / want anymore, remove them. Make sure to not remove any drivers you are not sure that you need or not. (Example: NVIDIA Drivers).

After you have removed all you feel unnecessary, you can continue on.

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Temp/Junk [TJ2]

Before we do what everyone else recommends, here are my recommendations:

Navigate to "Run" and type in without quotes: "cleanmgr /sageset:1". When the Window opens it is safe to tick everything in there, if you are on Windows XP, I highly disapprove of checking "Compress Old Files".

Navgiate to your Desktop and right-click on an empty space. In the context-menu that appears nagivate through "New" and click on "Shortcut". Type in without quotes: "cleanmgr /sagerun:1". Move this shortcut to anywhere you like. If you want it on your Start Menu or Quick Launch, right-click on the shortcut and click "Pin to Start Menu" or "Add to Quick Launch". You can also move this shortcut anywhere you like (such as C:\Windows\Winsxs\*). Now double-click to run this shortcut.

After running this tool we are going to download the best 3rd party application ever named "CCleaner". I recommend downloading the "CCleaner - Slim (No Toolbar) build. Make sure to configure the install to your needs for where the shortcuts are going to be created and what directory it will be in. (Note: I always recommend C:\Program Files\ for maximum compatibility for every application installed). Now run CCleaner from any shortcut you may have. If you are on Windows Vista make sure to tick "Windows Error Reporting" and un-tick "Thumbnail Cache". I do not recommend touching the advanced options, you can try "ISS Logs" and "Tray Notifcations Cache" if you want to experiment. If you are using IE I highly recommend un-ticking "Temporary Internet Files". Now go to the Applications tab, if you are using Firefox/Safari/Chrome/Opera or other, I always recommend un-ticking "Internet Cache".

Now click run Cleaner and you will see quite a lot may (or may not) has been removed. The "registry" bit of CCleaner is covered in the Windows Registry section. The CCleaner registry cleaner is safe, so as such I recommend going to the Registry part of CCleaner and click "Scan for Issues", if you are in doubt you should accept the prompt to make a backup.

Now lets manually clean things out disk related. Clear out anything you find in these folders:

XP:

C:\Windows\Temp
C:\Documents and Settings\%Username%\Local Settings\Temp\
All $NTUninstall directories in \Windows\Temp\

Do a search for any files that match this:
*.BAK
*.OLD
*.TMP

Delete any files you see left over in sub directories of Documents & Settings. For example if you recently uninstalled "Daemoon Tools" you should search for left over files.

Vista:

\Windows\Temp\
\Users\AppData\Username\Local\Temp\
\ProgramData\Temp\

Do a search for any files that match this:

*.BAK
*.OLD
*.TMP

Delete any files you see left over in sub directories of Users. For example if you recently uninstalled "Daemoon Tools" you should search for left over files.


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Registry Cleaning [RC3]

As covered in the Temp/Junk section, run the CCleaner registry scan and if in doubt select yes to the prompt to make a backup.

Now download this program, RegSupreme, that is free for 30 days but only needs to be used once in a while to do a thorough and safe clean

Note: NEVER run RegSupreme on Vista x64

Install and open the program. Say "Yes" if it asks you to allocate its cache files. Wait for that to finish and now click "Registry Cleaner". I recommend keeping the cleaning mode at "Normal" for Maximum safety, ensure to make a backup always if you chose to do Agressive.

In the "Modes" tab if you want to be very agressive and thorough select "Reference Mode", as always this carries a bigger risk.

In "Results format" make sure to select "Raw List" as this gives much more detail and is generally nicer than the newer layout.

Now click "Start". After it has finished, go to "Select" at the top and click "All". Click the "Fix" button and never the "Delete" button, most of the time the keys have to be deleted because they are useless, but sometimes the errors can be fixed. Make sure to accept to make a backup if in doubt.

Now download and install "RegCleaner" and follow advice below to make this app work on multi-core CPU's

Download imagecfg, and move this little *.exe to \Windows\System32\. Now open Command Prompt

XP: Run > Cmd.exe

Vista: Start Menu search for "Command Prompt" and right-click and select "Run as Administrator"

Type this:

C: [press enter]
cd Program Files [press enter]
cd RegCleaner [press enter]
imagecfg -a 0x1 RegCleanr.exe [press enter]

You can now launch RegCleaner. With RegCleaner I recommend to not use the automatic registry cleaner as this won't find much and is inferior to RegSupreme. What we will use RegCleaner for is to manually remove left over data without having to use Regedit. This section will come up automatically. Remove related data you are sure you removed from Add/Remove Programs & the left over files that where with them in \Program Files\ and \Users\ or "Documents and Settings* in Windows XP.

Example: I uninstalled Steam, so I removed the Valve & Steam entries there.

After we have now thoroughly cleaned our registry we will want to compact it with NTREGOPT. Install and run this tool and click "OK" to let it compact. Now reboot to initialize your optimized registry. Make sure everything is okay, and if not restore the CCleaner & RegSupreme backups.

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Windows Startup [SA4]

We are going to download Autoruns.

Install and run any shortcut from Autoruns you may have.
Make sure to right-click "Run as Administrator" for WinVista users.
Once it is opened accept the license agreement and proceed to the "Logon" tab, this is all we want to look at.

If you see any chat IM programs / any other 3rd party apps launching at startup, disable them. This only slows your boot time and will be faster to launch them manually.

For NVIDIA users disable these useless things:

*NVWiz
*NVCplDaemon
*NVMediaCenter
*NvSvc (old, is now in services.msc with never drivers)

ATI users:

*CLIStart/StartCCC
*ATI Hotkey Poller & ATI Smart (in services.msc)

Realtek HD Audio:

*Realtek Control Panel (RTLCPL)
*Realtek Sound Manager

Make sure stuff like Steam, Xfire, MSN are all un-ticked, make sure to not touch things like "Userinit Logon Application" and such.

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Services [SS5]

Navigate to Run and type without quotes "services.msc".
You can double-click on a service and you can Stop/Start them and set them to either "Disabled, Manual or Automatic" in the drop-list provided in the middle.

If you are on a Network or Workgroup, be cautious and disable only a select few that are labeled (Network)

Recommendations for Windows XP:

Disabled:

Fast User Switching Compatibility
Indexing Service
NetMeeting Remote Desktop Sharing (Network)
Network Location Awareness (Network)
Network Provisioning Service (Network)
Portable Media Player Serial Number Service
Printer Spooler (Network + if don't have Printer)
Qos RSVP
Remote Desktop Help Session Manager (Security Risk!)
Remote Registry (Security Risk!)
Secondary Logon
Security Center
Smart Card
SSDP Discovery Service (Network)
TC/IP Network BIOS Helper (Network but not needed for it)
Telnet (Security Risk)
Wireless Zero Configuration (If not using Wireless connection)

NVIDIA Display Driver Service (Un-needed NVIDA GFX card service)
ATI Hotkey Poller (ATI)
ATI Smartgard (ATI)

Manual:

WebClient

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Recommendations for Windows Vista:

Disabled:

Computer Browser (Network)
Funtion Discovery Resource Publication (Network)
Infared Monitor Service (If you need this set back to Auto)
IPSec Policy Agent (Network)
KtmRM for Distributed Transaction Coordinator (Network)
Offline Files
Print Spooler (If you use a Printer, set to Automatic)
Remote Registry (Security Risk)
Security Center (Annoyance)
Tablet PC Input Service (IF you are not using a Tablet PC)
TC/IP Net BIOS Helper (Not even needed for a normal Network)
Terminal Services (Network and also a security risk)
WebClient (Network)

NVIDIA Display Driver Service (Un-needed NVIDA GFX card service)
ATI Hotkey Poller (ATI)
ATI Smartgard (ATI)

Manual:

Secondary Logon
Portable Device Enumerator Service
IKE and AuthIP IPSec Keying Modules
Windows Update

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Registry Tweaks [WE6]

Navigate to "Run" and type without quotes "regedit.exe"

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Disable NTFS last access update time stamps

Navigate in the left pane like this: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/System/CurrentControlSet/Control/FileSystem/

XP: In the right-pane, right-click on the blank space and in the opened context-menu click on "new" and then "DWORD Value (32bit)". Name it without quotes: "NtfsDisableLastAccessUpdate". Double-click and set it to 1 (either Hex or Decimal, does not matter).

Vista: This will already be done by default, if not, follow the same advice above for XP. If it is already created and disabled, double-click it and make sure it is set to "1" (either Hex or Demical, does not matter)

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Disable MS-DOS 8bit filename support

Navigate in the left pane like this: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/System/CurrentControlSet/Control/FileSystem/

XP: In the right-pane, right-click on the blank space and in the opened context-menu click on "new" and then "DWORD Value (32bit)". Name it without quotes: "NtfsDisable8dot3NameCreation". Double-click your new value and set it to 1 (either Hex or Decimal, does not matter).

Vista: Follow the same advice above for XP. If it is already created and not set to the optimal value, double-click it and make sure it is set to "1" (either Hex or Demical, does not matter)

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Shutdown Speeds

XP:
Navigate in the left pane like this: HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Control Panel/Desktop

In the right-pane make sure "AutoEndTasks" is set to 1 (Hex or Decimal, does not matter)
In the right-pane set "HungAppTimeout to 4000"
In the right-pane set "WaitToKillApptimeOut to 4000"

Vista:
Navigate in the left pane like this: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/CurrentControlSet/Control

In the right-pane make sure "WaitToKillServiceTimeout" is set between 5000 and 8000 (5-8seconds). The default is 20 seconds. You can try a lower value at the cost of system reliability and stability.

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Menu Reponsiveness

Navigate in the left pane like this: HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Control Panel/Desktop

Make sure "MenuShowDelay" in the right-pane is set to 0 from the default of around 400. You can try increasing this to a value like 20 if you find it too fast. This will remove the delay when you put your cursor over a menu that expands, such as the things in the context-menu.

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Defragmentation [DN7]

After major program installs / uninstalls, or after a while of not doing this. You will want to defragment your (mechanical) hard disk. When you install apps their files become fragmented accross the drive, the first 40% of the drive is fastest, the very back of the disk is accessed and read off the slowest. A defragmenter will put them back to the front of the disk in the best order possible so that everything is accessed faster.

Recommended Defragmenters:

PerfectDisk
Diskeeper
O&O Defrag

Free (Not as effective) defragmenters

JKDefrag (Now named MyDefrag)
Defraggler

Note: The PerfectDisk services can be stopped and set to manual, then they will intialize only when you run PerfectDisk so you do not have to have it running all the time. The same does not apply to Diskeeper.

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Device Manager [DM8]

Before we open Device Manager, let us open Command Prompt.

XP: Run > "cmd.exe"
Vista: Start Menu search for: "Command Prompt" and right-click and select "Run as Administrator"

Type in command prompt without quotes: "Set devmgr show_non_presentdevices=1"
Now type in Command Prompt without quotes: "devmgmt.msc"

At the top click "View" and select "Show Hidden Devices". Now expand each section and anything that is "greyed" out can usually be uninstalled by right-clicking on them and in the context-menu click "Uninstall".

Now expand the "Disk Drives" section.
For each hard disk/flash disk you have, double-click on them. In the "Policies" tab at the top, make sure: "Optimize for Performance" and "Enable Write Caching" and "Enable Advanced Performance" are all ticked and checkmarked if all there.