What are your favorite/must tweaks?

[Coke Robot]

My tweaks are based solely on performance:
- enable maximum cores/unpark parked cores
- set no paging file for 8GB RAM and up; 1.5x size for 4GB and under

On cores: I've never seen an instance where I need to explicitly enable cores in Windows 7 or Windows 8. Which tweaks are these and are you sure there is a difference? I've tried the msconfig -> Advanced Boot Options CPU setting and never noticed a difference.

On pagefile: I've done a bit of testing with this as I have 16GB RAM in my laptop. I haven't noticed a performance increase with disabling the page file. In fact, I have seen this cause problems because the RAM will max out and not have a place to expand to.

Totally forgot I still had my page file set on my SSD... oopsie poopise.

Typically if you have 16 gigs of RAM, even 8, you can safely disable that UNLESS you do a lot of RAM intensive stuff like VMing and Photoshopping. Games don't usually take that much RAM, unless of course, you're running three operating systems in tandem.

 

[whs]

Coke, that's quite a list. I am impressed. But I am an 'Out of the box' guy. If it's no good out of the box, I don't use it.

 

[Emma]

The first thing I did was format my new laptop after setting it up.
Then I found a way to set it up without an MS or local account and no password.
After I had it set up I install classic shell.
Then I removed any software that I had to register for or that I did not need.
I set up two new folder tool bars, one for tools, one for games.

Some of that may not be considered tweaking, but, I made it my PC, not Microsoft's.

 

[Coke Robot]

Coke, that's quite a list. I am impressed. But I am an 'Out of the box' guy. If it's no good out of the box, I don't use it.

Yet you use Linux!

Out of the box is generally OK by me, but it's the crapware OEMs like to install I'm not OK with. Most of my tweaks are more for my liking, what makes more sense, and what I've noticed people tend to use Windows. Like you said on a different thread, I'm picky.

 

[adamf]

My tweaks are based solely on performance:
- enable maximum cores/unpark parked cores
- set no paging file for 8GB RAM and up; 1.5x size for 4GB and under

On cores: I've never seen an instance where I need to explicitly enable cores in Windows 7 or Windows 8. Which tweaks are these and are you sure there is a difference? I've tried the msconfig -> Advanced Boot Options CPU setting and never noticed a difference.

On pagefile: I've done a bit of testing with this as I have 16GB RAM in my laptop. I haven't noticed a performance increase with disabling the page file. In fact, I have seen this cause problems because the RAM will max out and not have a place to expand to.

Totally forgot I still had my page file set on my SSD... oopsie poopise.

Typically if you have 16 gigs of RAM, even 8, you can safely disable that UNLESS you do a lot of RAM intensive stuff like VMing and Photoshopping. Games don't usually take that much RAM, unless of course, you're running three operating systems in tandem.

You will not get a crash dump if you disable page file. This describes well how to set page file for best performance.

Blogs - Mark's Blog - Site Home - TechNet Blogs

Some feel having no paging file results in better performance, but in general, having a paging file means Windows can write pages on the modified list (which represent pages that aren’t being accessed actively but have not been saved to disk) out to the paging file, thus making that memory available for more useful purposes (processes or file cache). So while there may be some workloads that perform better with no paging file, in general having one will mean more usable memory being available to the system (never mind that Windows won’t be able to write kernel crash dumps without a paging file sized large enough to hold them).

 

[Tepid]

Yeah, the whole page file thing has been discussed for a decade.
It is proven that it is best to leave MS recommended settings for page file.
XP is min 1.5 x Ram and max 3 x Ram
Vista, 7 and 8, let the system handle it.
Live by this rule and you will have less issues.

The image they push at work uses a minimal page file.
I change this all the time and the system runs better over all.
Every time they tell me how much better their system runs.

 

[adamf]

Agreed. Only time I change is when making custom refresh point as for some peculiar reason recimg.exe thinks pagefile and hyberfil would be useful things to backup....

 

[CountMike]

My tweaks are based solely on performance:
- enable maximum cores/unpark parked cores
- set no paging file for 8GB RAM and up; 1.5x size for 4GB and under

On cores: I've never seen an instance where I need to explicitly enable cores in Windows 7 or Windows 8. Which tweaks are these and are you sure there is a difference? I've tried the msconfig -> Advanced Boot Options CPU setting and never noticed a difference.

On pagefile: I've done a bit of testing with this as I have 16GB RAM in my laptop. I haven't noticed a performance increase with disabling the page file. In fact, I have seen this cause problems because the RAM will max out and not have a place to expand to.

On cores, when doing clean install on new MB processor etc. Win7 and 8 set right number of cores and memory but when I changed processor only from 2 to 4 cores, both, W7 and 8 left them at 2.
On PF, didn't notice performance increase either, it's more like disk space saving thing. Have 8GB, killed PF and Hibernation because of space and because my computer is on 24/7 and not one program complained about lack of them. Boot drive is an 120 GB SSD, so space is at premium.

 

[CountMike]

Windows Update on manual
This PC, Control Panel and God Mode on desktop
Drivers for everything
Set monitors to proper resolution
Kill PF and hibernation
Unpin all un-needed APPs
Replace all default APPs with desktop versions and if needed set them as default programs for associated types.
Set custom theme and fonts sizes.
Install all needed programs and then sort their shortcuts in Metro clearly marking their groups according to their use and also grouping their icons in folders on the desktop according to same criteria, (names like Tools, Multimedia, Testing, Comms, Games etc.)
Set Downloads, backup and default places for MM, pictures etc. to HDD other than boot drive.
Then while making full system drive backup with Macrium go and return to nature all the coffees and beer used while doing all that mentioned before.
Go to sleep exhausted, because by that time sun is coming up, my eyes are blurry , fingers numb and Carpal syndrome is setting in the wrist from the mouse.
Next day: Put Restart and Shutdown icons on desktop.
Check for Windows updates and implement them watching that it does not change drivers and settings.
And much more stuff after all of which I don't even look at computer for couple of days if I don't have to.

 

[whs]

Yet you use Linux

Yeah right, but only distros that are easy to set up like Mint or Zorin. Red hat stuff like Fedora is not what I would use. I tried that but you need a 2 year class to get it to work. Out of the box you cannot even play a piece of music.

 

[Coke Robot]

On cores: I've never seen an instance where I need to explicitly enable cores in Windows 7 or Windows 8. Which tweaks are these and are you sure there is a difference? I've tried the msconfig -> Advanced Boot Options CPU setting and never noticed a difference.

On pagefile: I've done a bit of testing with this as I have 16GB RAM in my laptop. I haven't noticed a performance increase with disabling the page file. In fact, I have seen this cause problems because the RAM will max out and not have a place to expand to.

Totally forgot I still had my page file set on my SSD... oopsie poopise.

Typically if you have 16 gigs of RAM, even 8, you can safely disable that UNLESS you do a lot of RAM intensive stuff like VMing and Photoshopping. Games don't usually take that much RAM, unless of course, you're running three operating systems in tandem.

You will not get a crash dump if you disable page file. This describes well how to set page file for best performance.

Blogs - Mark's Blog - Site Home - TechNet Blogs

Some feel having no paging file results in better performance, but in general, having a paging file means Windows can write pages on the modified list (which represent pages that aren’t being accessed actively but have not been saved to disk) out to the paging file, thus making that memory available for more useful purposes (processes or file cache). So while there may be some workloads that perform better with no paging file, in general having one will mean more usable memory being available to the system (never mind that Windows won’t be able to write kernel crash dumps without a paging file sized large enough to hold them).

Also, if you have a SSD and 16 gigs of RAM, you'll be recovering a whole install size worth of Windows by disabling it or reducing it down. It's that tradeoff, crash dumps able to be saved, or more space.

 

[muzicman82]

Also, if you have a SSD and 16 gigs of RAM, you'll be recovering a whole install size worth of Windows by disabling it or reducing it down. It's that tradeoff, crash dumps able to be saved, or more space.

Well I run AutoCAD, Premiere Pro CC, After Effects, Cubase, and a slew of other apps that use 16GB RAM so I can't exactly do without the page file. I have a 256GB SSD and only have about 60GB used with it on and all of Creative Cloud, Office, Cubase, and a ton of other apps installed. So space is OK. I have a 750GB HDD for storage. And another SSD installed in this laptop if I need it and don't need the Windows 7 partition.

 

[Mr Sardonicus]

Also, if you have a SSD and 16 gigs of RAM, you'll be recovering a whole install size worth of Windows by disabling it or reducing it down. It's that tradeoff, crash dumps able to be saved, or more space.

Well I run AutoCAD, Premiere Pro CC, After Effects, Cubase, and a slew of other apps that use 16GB RAM so I can't exactly do without the page file. I have a 256GB SSD and only have about 60GB used with it on and all of Creative Cloud, Office, Cubase, and a ton of other apps installed. So space is OK. I have a 750GB HDD for storage. And another SSD installed in this laptop if I need it and don't need the Windows 7 partition.

One would think that your SSD is the only performance tweak you would need. When people ask me how to tweak a modern machine, I tell them to get an SSD. Mostly everything's faster.

 

[muzicman82]

Also, if you have a SSD and 16 gigs of RAM, you'll be recovering a whole install size worth of Windows by disabling it or reducing it down. It's that tradeoff, crash dumps able to be saved, or more space.

Well I run AutoCAD, Premiere Pro CC, After Effects, Cubase, and a slew of other apps that use 16GB RAM so I can't exactly do without the page file. I have a 256GB SSD and only have about 60GB used with it on and all of Creative Cloud, Office, Cubase, and a ton of other apps installed. So space is OK. I have a 750GB HDD for storage. And another SSD installed in this laptop if I need it and don't need the Windows 7 partition.

One would think that your SSD is the only performance tweak you would need. When people ask me how to tweak a modern machine, I tell them to get an SSD. Mostly everything's faster.

Yeah, I remember doubling the 8MB RAM in my 486DX/2 66MHz machine back in the early 90's to speed it up. Doesn't quite work like that anymore.

 

[CountMike]

Adding 16KB on a Timex Sinclair's 2 KB worked like a charm.

 

[Coke Robot]

Also, if you have a SSD and 16 gigs of RAM, you'll be recovering a whole install size worth of Windows by disabling it or reducing it down. It's that tradeoff, crash dumps able to be saved, or more space.

Well I run AutoCAD, Premiere Pro CC, After Effects, Cubase, and a slew of other apps that use 16GB RAM so I can't exactly do without the page file. I have a 256GB SSD and only have about 60GB used with it on and all of Creative Cloud, Office, Cubase, and a ton of other apps installed. So space is OK. I have a 750GB HDD for storage. And another SSD installed in this laptop if I need it and don't need the Windows 7 partition.

I typically service two or three installs of Windows 8.1 in VMs at a time, some Photoshop work and audio editing among others. I've really yet to hit the max of 16 gigs. But it might be because when I run three OSs at once, that has my main attention versus fixing some music files or converting them.

 

[muzicman82]

BTW- I am dual booting Windows 7 and Windows 8 on separate SSDs. I end up using the Windows 7 bootloader because Windows 8's seems to partially boot Win8, then require a reboot to boot into 7. Not sure if there's a way around this. It's not as pretty but it gets the job done.

 

[Gennin]

Disable UAC (Never Notify)<--- my fave. A must! I know better than Microsoft!

+ disable Internext Explorer
+ disable Media Player
+ disable One Drive Intergation/ remove OneDrive from the Navi Panel via registry edit

- if installing Clover( Tabbed Windows Explorer) is a Tweak, than yesh, the first thing I do is installing Clover!

 

[muzicman82]

Disable UAC (Never Notify)<--- my fave. A must! I know better than Microsoft!

+ disable Internext Explorer
+ disable Media Player
+ disable One Drive Intergation/ remove OneDrive from the Navi Panel via registry edit

- if installing Clover( Tabbed Windows Explorer) is a Tweak, than yesh, the first thing I do is installing Clover!

I'd love to be able to disable IE but I use it more than often to troubleshoot things. I do hide all traces of it though. Sometimes if I need to log into a different Google or Dropbox account and don't want to fiddle with the settings in Chrome, I'll use that.

Clover looks cool! Never came across it but I think it is sometime I would install but never really take advantage of simply because :winkey: + E is just too quick and easy.

If you guys haven't heard of it, I would definitely check out True Launch Bar mentioned in my original post. It's a Quick Launch Bar on steroids. AMAZING customization options. Unfortunately it isn't free, but I purchased wayyy back during XP/Vista days and the key is lifetime updates. I have folders on my taskbar for :winkey:+Z shortcut to open up an icon list of my favorite apps, :winkey:+A for Adobe Creative Cloud Apps (there's a lot, and I use them frequently). Complete control over visual settings. You can even set it to change depending on what apps are open. There's plugins, skins, etc. I save a backup of the settings so that after a clean install I can easily restore and all of my fave apps lists are there. Also helps me remember what I haven't re-installed yet.

 

[Gennin]

Disable UAC (Never Notify)<--- my fave. A must! I know better than Microsoft!

+ disable Internext Explorer
+ disable Media Player
+ disable One Drive Intergation/ remove OneDrive from the Navi Panel via registry edit

- if installing Clover( Tabbed Windows Explorer) is a Tweak, than yesh, the first thing I do is installing Clover!

I'd love to be able to disable IE but I use it more than often to troubleshoot things. I do hide all traces of it though. Sometimes if I need to log into a different Google or Dropbox account and don't want to fiddle with the settings in Chrome, I'll use that.

Clover looks cool! Never came across it but I think it is sometime I would install but never really take advantage of simply because :winkey: + E is just too quick and easy.

If you guys haven't heard of it, I would definitely check out True Launch Bar mentioned in my original post. It's a Quick Launch Bar on steroids. AMAZING customization options. Unfortunately it isn't free, but I purchased wayyy back during XP/Vista days and the key is lifetime updates. I have folders on my taskbar for :winkey:+Z shortcut to open up an icon list of my favorite apps, :winkey:+A for Adobe Creative Cloud Apps (there's a lot, and I use them frequently). Complete control over visual settings. You can even set it to change depending on what apps are open. There's plugins, skins, etc. I save a backup of the settings so that after a clean install I can easily restore and all of my fave apps lists are there. Also helps me remember what I haven't re-installed yet.

Sure, :winkey:+E is quick and easy, however, that's not the purpose of Clover. Clover doesn't replace your usual Windows Explorer. What it does is tabbing your explorer. Instead of having a million windows open, you can have one window with tabs. You still can multi-open Windows explorer( new windows). It's just that when you're in need of having a thousand windows open it's easier to have them tabbed! XD

True Launchbar- looks ok, a bit old however. ( Yea, I'm that guy)
I'm using Metrosidebar( still in Beta). I'm in contact with the developer and I love the app. Once it's published it will give its users much more options( Win Taskbar replacement included). I'm not a fan of the Windows Taskbar. Microsoft evidently opened a new chapter and I doubt they'll back off. Modern U.I will be there- forever. I don't see any reason, why I shouldn't replace my Windows Taskbar Neanderthalensis and use a dock of my choice instead. >.>


"I'd love to be able to disable IE but I use it more than often to troubleshoot things. " - by that you mean you're raping your system and its files on a daily base?*laughs* I... I... feel so sorry for your system! Somebody should sue you for giving your OS a hard time!