One of the factors affecting performance operating system, is the state of the system registry. If the system starts to slow down, it may be registry optimization will help fix this and speed up its work.
The system registry stores parameters and settings of hardware and software, necessary for the correct operation of the operating system. Almost all changes made to the system when installing programs, working with the Control Panel, etc. are made to the system registry. In fact, The Windows Registry is a database of settings and options, built on a hierarchical principle.
The system registry is divided into sections (branches). Each section contains folders in which system parameters and settings are stored. The more changes are made to the system during operation, the more the registry grows. Over time, erroneous parameters appear in it (for example, if some programs were removed incorrectly). In addition, the registry is subject to fragmentation, which slows down work with the registry.
Optimizing the registry helps to organize it and, accordingly, speed up the system. Typically, registry optimization involves several operations at once.: cleaning the registry from defective and outdated entries, compressing and defragmenting the system Windows registry. The size of the registry is reduced, and the speed of accessing the registry increases.
Windows has built-in utilities for working with the registry - regedit.exe and regedit32.exe. However, an inexperienced user should not use them to optimize the registry, since they are primarily focused on manual work with the registry. If you are not familiar with the system registry, you may delete something that is not right, and this will lead to system malfunctions. You may even have to reinstall the OS.
Therefore, it will be more effective and safe registry optimization using special programs for working with the registry. Such programs in automatic mode find existing problems in the registry and fix them, perform compression and . Let's take a closer look at several of these programs.
One of the most popular programs to optimize the registry - CCleaner. This program is free and suitable for both 32-bit and 64-bit systems. Registry optimization is just one of the options in the CCleaner utility, designed to optimize the operation of the operating system as a whole.
To optimize the registry, run the program, go to the “Registry” tab and click the “Search for problems” button. The program will scan the system registry for a number of parameters (from incorrect file extensions to missing applications) and display a list of problems found. If you wish, you can choose which parameters will be used for scanning. by checking or unchecking the corresponding parameters.
When working with this program, it is not necessary to do the following: before correcting errors in the registry the program itself will offer to make a backup copy changes made . If the registry optimization goes wrong and the system starts to crash, you can always restore the registry to its original form from the REG file saved by the program.
Another program for registry optimization is called Registry Life. This free utility from Chemtable serves for registry optimization and supports both 32-bit and 64-bit OS Windows family. When you start the program, the program will scan the registry for errors and the degree of fragmentation and make a verdict: whether cleaning or optimizing the registry is really required.
During the cleaning and error correction process, the program finds and removes unnecessary and erroneous registry entries, compresses the registry files, and then defragments them. You can set up automatic optimization, launched according to a schedule with a certain frequency.
Regular registry optimization using special programs will help speed up the system, but do not forget that the performance of the operating system is influenced by other factors that also need to be taken into account.
As you know, Windows 7 received more significant improvements in boot time and system response compared to its predecessor Windows Vista . Significant changes were made that allowed the system not to consume all system memory when opening large quantity Explorer windows, system services and processes are optimized.
In this article we will look at:
- optimization of the start menu
- optimization of work hard drive in Windows 7
- optimizing the speed of copying and moving files in Windows 7
- optimization of work with Windows drivers 7
- time optimization Windows boot 7
- speed up the process of viewing thumbnail images
- acceleration completion Windows operation 7
Please note that some of the methods discussed for speeding up work Windows 7 are based on disabling any kind of tasks, simplifying or improving the functionality of the system for more convenient use. Those. Essentially you are choosing between convenience and performance.
Ways to optimize Windows 7
1. Speed up the start menu.It takes the system some time to detect recently installed programs, as well as highlighting these recently installed programs, each time you open the Start menu. You can save this time.
To do this, you need to go to the start menu settings: in properties "Taskbar and Start Menu"(to activate, go to the control panel Windows 7: Start -> Control Panel). Go to bookmark "Start Menu" and click on the button "Tune".
Figure 1. Start menu customization
Uncheck "Highlight recently installed programs", then click "Apply".
Figure 2. Disable highlighting of recently installed programs
In order to reduce the pause when the Start menu window appears, go to the registry editor (command "regedit" in dialogue "Find programs and files").
Figure 3. Launching Registry Editor
After launching Registry Editor ( regedit.exe) go to the thread HKEY_CURRENT_USER -> Control Panel -> Desktop(Fig. 4).
Figure 4. Selecting the required registry branch
Change the key value MenuShowDelay With "400" on "50". The pause will be significantly shortened.
Figure 5. Changing the pause when displaying a window
2. Optimization work hard disk in Windows 7
This option has been familiar since the days Windows XP, but if in XP it was originally included, then in Windows 7 optimization hard drives It was considered unnecessary and is disabled by default. Now we will look at the method for enabling this option.
Let's go to Start -> Control Panel -> Device Manager -> Disk Devices -> (select your HDD) -> Properties -> Policy... and put a tick next to the item "Disable cache buffer flushing" Windows entries for this device".
Figure 6. Disabling Windows Entry Cache Buffer Clearing
Now in the same "Device Manager" open another thread - "IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers (IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers)", after which in the properties of all channels ATA (ATA Channel 0, ATA Channel 1 etc.) in the tab « Additional settings(Advanced Settings)" check if the checkbox is checked “Enable DMA”.
Figure 7. Enabling DMA mode
If the checkbox is not checked, check it.
3. Speed up copying and moving files in Windows 7
Windows 7 received another interesting feature - remote difference compression.
On the one hand, this option calculates and transmits the difference between two objects, minimizing the amount of transmitted data, but on the other hand, it takes time for calculation.
You can disable this feature. To do this, go to Start -> Control Panel -> Programs and Features -> Turn it on and off Windows components-> Remote differential compression (need to uncheck).
Figure 8. Disabling differential compression
4. Disabling scanning digital signature drivers
This action can also slightly increase the speed of the system (when installing new drivers). To disable this option in Windows 7 follow these steps:
Execute in "Start" gpedit.msc.
Figure 9. Launching the administration panel
Then go to the following path:
User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> System -> Driver Installation -> Digital Signature of Device Drivers. In this window you need to select the mode "Disabled".
Figure 10. Disabling driver digital signature verification
5. Speed up booting Windows 7
We can gain a few more seconds, really this advice refers to those users who work on multi-core processors With Windows 7 as an operating system.
So, follow these steps:
Enter MSCONFIG in the menu search field "Start" and press the key "Enter".
In the window that opens, go to the tab and click on the button « Extra options(Advanced options)".
Figure 11. Additional system optimization options Check the box next to the item "Number of processors" and in the drop-down menu under this item, select the maximum number of your cores (2 or 4).
Figure 12. Setting the number of processors for systems with multi-threaded processors
Click "OK" and reboot the system to see a fairly noticeable difference in boot speed Windows 7.
6. Accelerate viewing of thumbnails (thumbnails).
You can increase the speed of viewing thumbnails in Windows 7. To do this you need to follow these steps:
Enter regedit(without quotes) in the menu search field "Start" and press the key "Enter".
Go to thread "HKEY_CURRENT_USER -> Control Panel -> Mouse".
Figure 13. Selecting the desired registry branch to optimize the pause when displaying thumbnails
Double click on the parameter MouseHoverTime and change its value to 100
.
Figure 14. Setting a new value
7. Reducing time shutdown Windows 7
Shutdown time Windows 7 can be significantly reduced. However, this is a rather barbaric method: we reduce the time allotted to the process to terminate the program, after which the program will be terminated forcibly.
Enter regedit in the menu search field "Start" and press the key "Enter".
Go to thread HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> System -> CurrentControlSet -> Control.
Figure 15. Selecting the required registry key
Change the parameter value "WaitToKillServiceTimeout" from the meaning 12000
(12 seconds) on 2000
(2 seconds).
Figure 16. Changing the value.
The registry is the foundation of the operating system, storing information necessary to configure the operating system to work with users, programs and devices. As you work, entries appear in the registry about new installed programs, devices, settings. Information about remote programs, if the uninstallation was performed incorrectly, or the uninstallation procedure did not completely remove the parameters specified during installation, links to deleted files and so on. Over time, more and more garbage appears in the registry. It is not surprising that the size of the registry is constantly increasing over time.
The registry of operating systems Windows XP and earlier versions, in which a lot of garbage accumulates, begins to issue more often system errors, until the system stops working. In modern Windows versions 7-10 large amounts of data in the registry do not entail any negative effect on system performance.
To prevent errors in Windows XP, you need to regularly clean the registry or optimize it. The optimization process is carried out in several stages. The first step is to compress the registry. Compression is the final removal of unnecessary and marked for deletion entries, which leads to a reduction in the overall size of registry files, because when removing unnecessary entries from the system registry, they are only marked as deleted, although in fact they are still present and taking up space.
But the optimization work doesn’t end there. Even permanent deletion of unnecessary entries does not automatically change the disk space occupied by registry files. Therefore, it is recommended that after cleaning the registry, in addition to optimization, you also defragment the system registry.
Why is defragmentation needed?
When installing the operating system on new disk files are written to sequential clusters. But after some time, after installing and uninstalling applications, separate files, “gaps” begin to appear in the previously filled sequence of clusters. And new files, in the absence of the required free space, begin to be recorded “in a split manner.” In the process of reading a defragmented file, the disk head has to travel a long path from one fragment to another each time, and this path can be long. As a result, the computer slows down.
Defragmentation is the process of combining several parts of one file into a single fragment. This is the second stage of registry optimization. During the defragmentation process, the fragments of files scattered across the hard drive are organized: clusters are organized in such a way that individual pieces of files are located sequentially, one after another, if possible. In addition, all data is moved to the beginning of the hard drive, and free place is located at its end. As a result, the speed of accessing the registry and, accordingly, the performance of your computer increases.
In modern versions of the operating system Windows systems 8-10 the defragmentation process is performed automatically during idle time. During this process, the system registry files are also defragmented.
One of the most important points in optimizing the Windows operating system is cleaning the system registry. Ask what you can clean such an OS partition from? But as it turns out in practice, many things...
Let's start with the fact that when installing programs, many entries are made into the system registry (these are program settings, location, etc.), and when deleting a program, not all entries associated with the program being removed are cleared during the uninstallation process
- Uninstallation is the process of removing a program without the possibility of recovery; during this process, all information about the product being removed is deleted. Typically, a built-in uninstaller (like Uninstall.exe) is used for uninstallation.
This leaves behind records that make it difficult for the system to access the requested applications. Also, the system registry may undergo changes from the system over time; this problem has nothing to do with user activity.
Since the system registry reflects all system and software changes, it is most dependent on cleaning to maintain stable operation.
- The Windows Registry, or system registry, is a hierarchically built database of parameters and settings in most operating systems Microsoft systems Windows. The registry contains information and settings for hardware, software, user profiles, presets. Most changes in the Control Panel, file associations, system policies, and the list of installed software are recorded in the registry. The Windows registry was introduced to organize information previously stored in many INI files, provide a single mechanism (API) for writing and reading settings and get rid of the problems of short names, lack of access rights and slow access to ini files stored on file system|FAT16, which had serious performance problems when searching for files in directories with a large number of them. Over time (finally with the advent of NTFS), the problems solved by the registry disappeared, but the registry remained because backward compatibility, and is present in all versions of Windows, including the latest. Since there are currently no real prerequisites for using such a mechanism, Microsoft Windows is the only (not counting ReactOS) operating system in use today that uses the operating system's registry mechanism. (Material from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
Windows does not provide any means to clean this component of the operating system. The only thing that OS developers offer is a registry editor - Regedit
- Regedit is a registry editor built into the operating system that has all the required functions for making changes to entries. It is a window divided into two parts, the left one – registry sections, and the right one – entries and values. To launch this editor, in the Run window (Win + R), enter the following text: regedit
To find and eliminate problematic registry values, there are special utilities - operating system optimization programs. They scan and automatically fix damage to the system.
One of these programs is . This multifunctional tool OS optimization. Russified interface, convenient management and free use for personal purposes make this program an irreplaceable assistant.
- To clean the system registry, install CCleaner program to your computer. Run the program - in any way available to you. In the main window on the left side, click the “Registry” button
- Afterwards you can select the sections and problems that the program should scan.
- Click the button at the bottom of the "Search for Problems" window
- Wait until the search process completes.
- Afterwards you will have active button“Fix” - click!
- A save notification appears backup copy registry for recovery.
- Click the “Yes” button to agree to the creation this file, you can specify any save location or use the default location – “Documents”
- Click the Save button.
- Afterwards a window will be displayed to start fixing, select the “Fix marked” button
- Wait for the execution process to complete.
- Then click the Close button.
All! The system registry has been cleaned. When finished, you will return to the main window, which you can close.
Registry Life - free application(from the creator of the popular Reg Organizer tool), which allows you to automatically clean the Windows system registry and optimize it.
The utility will help fix errors in the registry, as well as optimize it to improve the performance and stability of the Windows system. Registry Life is an easy-to-use solution for maintaining your system's registry.
The system registry is one of the important components of the Windows operating system. The stability of the system depends on the state of the registry, and the speed of execution of programs that you constantly work with on your computer depends on the volume of data it contains.
A new computer always works with maximum performance. However, everyone notices that the performance of the system is gradually decreasing. The Registry Life utility can reduce the impact of this effect, affecting the two main reasons for the slowdown in the speed of your computer. One of the reasons is the appearance of errors and unused data (garbage) in the registry. Another reason is fragmentation and an increase in the size of the system registry due to unused space in the files where it is recorded.
Main features of Registry Life
Correcting errors in the registry.To identify errors and clean up unnecessary data in the registry, Registry Life offers a convenient and easy-to-use Registry Checker tool. Using it, you can check the system registry for more than 10 different categories of problems. At the same time, the program will remove unnecessary data from the registry.
Registry optimization
The Registry Optimizer tool in Registry Life defragments and compresses the registry. The utility quickly and effectively optimizes the Windows system registry, visually presenting the result of the optimization process.
Autorun programs
The autorun optimization tool allows you to delay the launch of most programs that start at system boot by specifying an arbitrary period of time after which the application will be launched. Postponing programs that are not needed immediately after the system boots allows you to speed up bringing Windows into a working state, i.e. when the user interface of the operating system and third-party software begins to work without delay.