What Tweaks Should You Apply to a Stock Windows 7 Installation?

what-tweaks-should-you-apply-to-a-stock-windows-7-installation photo 1

Back in the day, it was common to apply dozens of tweaks to Windows XP to get things just the way you wanted and to significantly improve performance. Are there equivalent tweaks for the modern incarnations of Windows?

Today’s Question & Answer session comes to us courtesy of SuperUser—a subdivision of Stack Exchange, a community-driven grouping of Q&A web sites.

The Question

SuperUser reader Anonymous Coward wants to tweak his Windows 7 installation:

I remember there were guides for Windows XP on all of the unnecessary services and things that you could turn off in a default install to make the system a bit more ‘snappy’.

Is there such a guide for Windows 7? Suggestions?

We remember all too well the laundry list of tweaks necessary to really make Windows XP use an enjoyable and snappy experience.

The Answer

SuperUser contributor Factor Mystic offers some solid (and stern) advice:

By and large the rule of thumb for Windows 7 is: Don’t Overtweak Anything. Seriously. Just leave the services on and don’t try to turn off things you don’t think you need. Microsoft Engineers have spent more time thinking about optimizing the system than you have, and the best you’ll ever be able to do is save a few megabytes of memory at the cost of hard to diagnose technical issues down the road when you’ve forgotten what you turned off and why.

The system is quite good enough as it is; it’s not 1998 any more.

Hands down, the only serious problems we’ve had with Windows 7 (and its descendant Windows 8) have centered on mucking around with tweaks and then later forgetting the changes we’ve made (e.g. why won’t X app work the way it is supposed to?! Oh right, we disabled a helper app a few months ago.) So the moral of the story is: Windows is pretty great right out of the box these days, but if you’re going to poke around disabling apps, making registry changes, and otherwise customizing your experience, make sure to keep a simple text log so you can look back and see the changes you’ve made.


Have something to add to the explanation? Sound off in the the comments. Want to read more answers from other tech-savvy Stack Exchange users? Check out the full discussion thread here.

Article What Tweaks Should You Apply to a Stock Windows 7 Installation? compiled by Original article here

More stories

Desktop Fun: Seashells Wallpaper Collection Series 2

Searching for seashells at the beach can be a unique adventure each time you go since new shells are always washing up out of the water. Gather up a beautiful collection of seashells for your desktop with the second in our series of Seashells Wallpaper collections.

Supersonic is an Awesome Music-Driven 3D Racing Game

What do you get when you mix music, racing, and an awesome set of 3D racing circuits? Supersonic! Jump into the driver’s seat and prepare for speed-fueled fun as you race your way through track after track, all with an awesome soundtrack that will pump up your need for speed.

Google will Retire ‘Chrome Frame’ in January 2014

When Google introduced Chrome Frame in 2009, it was their intention to help those running legacy versions of Internet Explorer have access to and enjoy a modern browsing experience. Now that more people are using modern up-to-date versions of Internet Explorer and other browsers, Google has decided

Color Zen is a Relaxing, Addictive Puzzle Game

Are you ready to journey into an abstract world of colors and shapes? Then welcome to Color Zen, a relaxing puzzle game with no scores and no penalties for failure…just simple rules, intuitive controls, and awesome puzzles to keep you busy for hours on end.