Last Updated on Monday, 20 December 2010 09:10 Tuesday, 11 May 2010 00:00

Q: How do you make Windows 7/Vista boot and run faster?

A: In Windows 7, some things are different, but many things are the same. Many of the same things you could do to improve Vista work exactly the same in Windows 7. Windows 7 generally drops much of the software bloat or unused features that came in Vista.

That's generally a good thing, but there are still things you can do to speed it up even more. Like in past versions of Windows, you can turn off Visual Effects to speed up the interface, making it look plainer in the process.

One thing that has changed in Windows 7/Vista is MSConfig, which you can access by typing MSConfig in the Start Menu's search field. In the Boot tab of MSConfig:

• check "No GUI boot" to turn off extra graphics and delays while booting, which will get you to the login prompt as quickly as possible.
• change the Timeout field from the default 30 seconds to the minimum 3 seconds if you have only one option to boot anyway.
• if you have a dual core CPU, click Advanced options, check "Number of processors", and change the popup menu to the highest number so the boot process uses all the CPU power you have available.

As with past versions of Windows, turning off services that are useless to you can make a huge difference. You can open the Services control panel by typing Services in the Start Menu's search field and opening the item that says simply "Services". In the long list of services, most business people can disable:

• Application Experience (set to disabled if you don't have very old software)
• Desktop Windows Manager Session Manager (set to disabled if you don't care about Aero eyecandy)
• Diagnostic Policy Service (set to disabled since it generally only tells you to go to your software company's website to check for updates)
• Distributed Link Tracking Client (set to disabled since Windows XP or earlier since it has no use for normal business users)
• IP Helper (set to disabled if you don't use IPv6)
• Offline Files (set to manual if you don't use offline files and decide to use them later, or leave as automatic if you already use offline files)
• Portable Device Enumerator Service (set to disabled unless your company has removable device data restrictions)

Of course, it's a good idea to sort the Services list by Startup Type to look at all the services that automatically start to see if they really need to automatically start. Some software will install and automatically start services that you know you will never use. One common example is iTunes, which installs and auto-starts iPod and Apple Mobile Device services, even though you may not own an iPhone or iPod.

Contact us with more specific questions about your Windows 7/Vista problems.