Turbo Charge Windows 7...

[El Cata]

Before I moved over here a couple of months ago, I thought I'd get rid of Vista from my old laptop & install a brand spanking 'copy' of Windows 7 Ultimate. However, with all the rush I only got around to installing it a few days before my flight & when I arrived I found it to be horrendously slow. It was a real pain, especially as I needed it for my course & I spent many frustrating nights trying to get my work done.

 

FYI here's the specs of my so-called computer:

 

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Model: Acer Aspire 1691WLMi

 

Chipset: 533MHz FSB, Intel 915PM Express

 

Processor: 1.60GHz Intel Pentium M 730

 

RAM: 2*256MB DDR2-533 PC2-4200 SODIMM Dual Channel

 

Graphics: ATI Mobility Radeon X700 PCI-E 64MB VRAM

 

Hard Drive: 80GB Ultra ATA/100

 

WE Index: 2.3

 

I replaced the HD a couple of years ago with a 120GB Seagate ST9120822A (from an NTL set-top box!) & replaced the battery / power pack this year. It's not in bad nick although the fans could do with a good clean, especially in this heat. CPU usage rarely goes above 50%, but RAM usage regularly approaches 90%.

 

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Anyway, the other day I was contemplating whether to go to Pantip Plaza / Fortune Tower to buy a couple of sticks of 1GB RAM, but simply googled 'Windows 7 slow' & found this great site - it's a list of 17 tips to speed up Windows 7:

 

http://www.computing...e-guide-to.html

 

After disabling 'Search Indexing', it was like having a new computer & I couldn't believe it! Indexing basically continuously makes a database of all the files on your computer, in order to speed up any searches; well I can't remember the last time I searched for a file in Windows - Thanks M$!

 

I haven't turned off Aero Desktop or any visual effects, as I quite like them & my GC is still half decent; top spec at the time of purchase!

 

I set all of the suggested services to manual & have had no problems as a result, but don't know if this made a great deal of difference, as I did a lot of other stuff at the same time.

 

I'd brought over a few USB pen drives & decided to dedicate my newest & largest (2GB) one to the ReadyBoost feature. What this basically does is act as a faster caching service for small files, which would otherwise be routed through the slower HD page file; sadly it's not the same as adding 2GB of RAM. I didn't notice much difference at first, but after a day or so I've found that some applications open faster & switching tabs in Firefox is generally faster too. Also, I've experienced faster page loading times, especially on the Addicts & particularly on the ThaiVisa forum.

 

So if you have an old laptop like me (6 yo) & are thinking of buying a new one or upgrading with expensive RAM, why not try these tricks first?

 

Let me know how you get on & if anyone has any other tips feel free to post. :lol: