The good news is that there are lots of things the average computer user can do to speed up their machine with Windows 7. The bad news is that it speeding up your computer is so easy you won’t be able to use a slow computer as an excuse for not getting something done again.

If you don’t want to speed up your computer, don’t read on. If you actually want a faster computer, it’s easier than you thought to increase the speed on any computer with a Windows 7 operating system.

You can also check out our  how to video tutorial on speeding up Windows 7 here: http://www.howtowindows.com/2011/how-to-speed-up-windows-7-part-13-video/

How to Turn Off Some Features That Slow Down Windows 7

The reason Windows 7 is slow is that it is loaded with all sorts of questionable and unnecessary features. Fortunately you can turn a lot of this stuff off.

Something you can turn off is the sidebar that contains the gadgets. This is a visual effect that slows down the start process that you probably don’t need. To shut off the sidebar all you have to do is right click on it and select properties. Under properties just uncheck the box that says: “Start Sidebar When Windows Starts.”

Something else you can kill is Aero Peek and Aero Snap, two of the visual features. Since nobody actually knows what these things do, it is fairly safe to shut them down.

To turn Aero Snap and Aero Peek off just go into the control panel, and double click on the icon called “Ease of Access Center” Then click on something called “Make it Easier to Focus on Tasks” which is found at the bottom.

Okay, it’s hard to believe Microsoft included something with this name in a Windows application. If you really wanted to make it easy to focus on your tasks you would have bought an Apple.

When you go to this weird box, remove the check mark from the box called: “Prevent Windows from being automatically arranged etc.”

Maximum Performance with Windows 7

Yes there apparently really is a feature that provides Maximum Performance with Windows 7. Unfortunately it is well-hidden but it apparently exists.

To find this feature: open the Control Panel and click on the Power Options Icon. Then scroll down to show additional power plans. Then chose the high performance power plan and activate it. It is that simple unfortunately Microsoft does not tell you about when you buy Windows 7.

This increases performance because Windows 7 is set to a default power plan designed for balanced performance and lower energy consumption. Don’t ask how or why the other plan saves energy, it is just supposed to. The truth of course, is that you probably won’t notice any difference in power consumption by doing this.

Something Else You Can Shut Off to Increase Performance and Speed of Windows 7

Shutting down the Windows 7 thumbnail preview feature will also increase the speed and performance of your computer. To shut the thumbnail off, right click on it and chose organize from the drop down menu that appears. Open the folder and search options. Choose “always show icons never thumbnails” and put a check in the box.

Other Steps You Can Take to Speed up Windows 7

There are a lot of other things you can do to speed up Windows 7. Most experts recommend that you clean up your registry by running a registry cleaning software. There are several good ones out there. The professional Geeks out there seem to recommend Wise Cleaner which is free. You can find it at:

http://www.wisecleaner.com/download.html

We shouldn’t have to remind you to do this but making sure your computer is free of Malware and spyware can speed it up. A lot of spyware, adware and Malware can slow down your machine. Quite a bit of it sends messages back to its creator so it does eat up bandwidth. That means doing a regular scan with your antivirus program, usually about once a month can speed up your system.

Another way to speed up your computer is to change your antivirus and security programs. Some of the antivirus programs, namely McAfee can slow your computer down. Shutting down McAfee and upgrading to a better program such as Avira can give you little more speed.

Other features you can consider shutting down in order to increase speed are:

• Password Protection
• Screen Saver
• Wallpaper
• Sound

Turn off Some Non-windows Features

Also consider turning off some non windows programs that can slow down your computer. An example of something you can turn off is Skype, if you’re not expecting a message, video or phone call shut down Skype because it takes up a lot of processor space. Any similar video or phone program will slow you computer down. Maybe your friends could communicate with you the old fashioned way via e-mail.

Take a look at your computer and see if there is any big program that you don’t use all the time. An example of something that can really slow a computer down is any program that downloads complex images from online. This can include video download services like Hulu or Netflix or whatever application you’re using to get free videos. Then turn it off when you’re not using it.

The final and perhaps best suggestion for speeding up your Windows 7 is to play around with it. Go into the control panel and see what is there and what you can shut off. You would be surprised what unnecessary features they add to it.