- Use a Solid State Drive (SSD)
By installing Windows 7 on a solid-state hard drive instead of a regular Serial ATA or IDE drive, you’ll be amazed at the dramatic increase in performance of your computer. - Update BIOS and drivers
Make sure your computer has the latest device drivers and the latest BIOS. The latest drivers and BIOS can be found on the websites of hardware manufacturers. When downloading device drivers, pay attention to their bitness: the bitness of the driver must match the bitness of Windows 7 (32 or 64 bits). It is highly recommended to use drivers specifically written for Windows 7. If your device manufacturer has not released a driver for Windows 7, try installing the driver for Windows Vista in compatibility mode. - Increase the amount of RAM
Installing additional RAM always significantly improves performance and speeds up the computer. For 32-bit Windows 7, 3 GB of RAM will be optimal. Windows 7 64-bit requires at least 4 GB of RAM to run fast. If you often edit videos or use other memory-hungry programs, then you will need even more RAM to improve performance. - Turn off transparency
The glass transparency effect is one of Aero’s most resource intensive features. The transparency effect can be disabled without disabling Aero. To do this, open Control Panel > System > Advanced system settings. On the Advanced tab, in the Performance section, click Options. In the window that opens, clear the Enable transparency effect check box and click the OK button. - Turn off unnecessary visual effects
Open Control Panel > System > Advanced System Settings. On the Advanced tab, in the Performance section, click Options. To turn off all visual effects, select Best performance. To keep Windows 7 looking beautiful while speeding it up, clear a few checkboxes:
Animation in the Start menu and taskbar;
Animation of windows when minimizing and expanding;
Smooth scrolling of lists;
Enable transparency effect;
Fading menu after calling a command;
Display shadows cast by windows;
Sliding when expanding lists;
Effects of fading or sliding when accessing the menu;
Fade or slide effects when hints appear.
- Enable write caching for storage devices
The caching feature allows you to speed up your hard drives. At the same time, you should not enable caching for removable drives. - Disable or Remove Autorun Unnecessary Programs
Carefully study the list of programs that automatically start with Windows 7 and leave only the antivirus, firewall and drivers enabled. You can configure startup programs in msconfig. To do this, press the WINDOWS + R keyboard shortcuts, type msconfig and go to the Startup tab. - Disable unused services
Services use background processes, and these processes consume computer resources, creating load and slowing down the system. Therefore, unnecessary services can be disabled by opening the Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services, double-clicking on the name of the service and selecting “Disabled”. - Disable unnecessary components of Windows 7
Windows 7 includes many features and components. Open Control Panel > Programs and Features. View the list of components in use and disable the ones you don’t need by unchecking their boxes. - Disable scheduled defragmentation
By default, Windows 7 Disk Defragmenter periodically runs in the background. During defragmentation, files on the hard drive are actively moved, and until the defragmentation is completed, the computer slows down. Therefore, you must either disable scheduled defragmentation or configure it so that it runs only during idle periods when the computer is not in use. You can set up defragmentation in Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Defragmenter.