Hello everybody!
This video is about accelerating Windows 10 for gaming.
I’ll show you how to improve your PC performance in games by tuning Windows 10 properly.
However, most of the tricks will work with earlier versions of Windows as well.
Here we go.
In this video, I am not going to compare how my computer performed in games before and
after the operating system settings have been optimized.
The computer I am using to make this video is not a gaming rig and there’s hardly anything
to show when it comes to gaming.
All the more, lack of performance – or how visible it is – may differ depending on
the particular configuration of the actual computer.
Anyway, the settings I’m about to show are worth using for any game computer because
their wrong values are certainly eating up a share of its potential gaming performance.
Of course, if you can afford buying a powerful gaming rig or upgrade your current one by
adding some expensive parts, this video may be of little use.
On the contrary, it is intended for those on a tight budget but still dreaming of playing
modern games with the hardware they already have.
1.
The first step is about choosing the power plan.
For better performance, a computer needs more power.
To make sure you have it: • Go to Control Panel / Power Options
• As you can see, the default setting is Balanced.
It will balance performance with energy consumption.
• If you need the most of your computer, this is only possible with the maximum power.
• That’s why you should choose “High performance” and close the window.
2.
Here is the second step.
Remove all the software you don’t use or don’t need from your computer.
To do it: • Go to Control Panel / Programs and Features
• You will see all the programs installed on this computer.
View this list and uninstall the ones you don’t need anymore.
• It will free up some hard disk space and make the system’s work more stable.
• Some of the programs on the list might be harmful so it’s only for the better.
3.
Step three.
Disable the unneeded startup items.
It will free some of the computer’s resources from having to run the programs that start
with the system and continue to run in the background even if you don’t use them.
To do it: • Start the Task Manager and go to Startup
tab.
• This list contains all the programs that start automatically when the system boots.
If you see a certain program on the list it doesn’t necessarily mean that it was added
by you or another user.
Without your knowledge, many applications put themselves into the startup list during
their installation.
So the list can be quite long.
• To remove a program from startup, click on it and choose “Disable.”
• Later, you can start this program manually by clicking on its shortcut, if you need to
use it.
• Similarly, you can enable it to start with the system again if necessary.
• It will give a significant boost to your PC and reduce the operating system boot time
when you turn on the computer.
While in the Task Manager, don’t forget to have a look at the Processes tab.
It shows all the processes your computer is running at the moment.
Some of them may not appear on the startup list.
For each process, you will see the information on how much load it puts on the computer’s
processor (it is shown in the CPU column) and how much system memory it takes (the Memory
column).
Review the list of processes.
If any of them is using too much of your PC’s resources, you can stop it.
Just highlight it, and click on “End task.”
Make sure you don’t act too fast and stop all processes.
If you disable an important system process, the computer may start lagging, freezing or
even shut down.
If you want, you can watch a detailed video on the Task Manager by following the link
in the description:
4.
Step four.
Disable the unnecessary and resource-intensive Windows services.
These are applications launched automatically by the system when Windows starts, running
regardless of the user status and providing support for certain system processes.
There are many process like that but not all of them are in use.
By disabling the ones not being used, you can also gain a performance bonus.
This is how you do it.
• Go to Windows Search or type “Services” in the Start menu.
• Start the suggested system service.
• As you can see, there are many system services and you can’t rush into disabling
them without knowing what you are doing - it will almost certainly result in your system
crashing.
The set of necessary services depends exclusively on the hardware, software and network configuration
of a particular computer, and on the needs of its users.
Anyway, here are the four services you can disable in any case:
o Diagnostic policy service; o Offline files;
o Portable Device Enumerator; o and Secondary Logon.
I will leave this list in the description.
There’s no detailed description of what each service does, but you can look it up
on the Internet.
Turning them off will definitely improve your system performance.
• So, to stop a service, right-click on it and select Properties.
• In the “General” tab, click on “Stop.”
• Set the startup type as “Manual.”
• That’s all, this service is stopped.
In the same way, stop the other three.
5.
Step five is defragmenting and optimizing hard disks.
When there are too many fragmented files, the hard disk performance deteriorates because
now there is more time that needs to be spent on moving the magnetic heads between the separated
fragments.
Defragmentation is the process of rearranging files and the disk logical structure to ensure
an uninterrupted sequence of clusters.
Defragmentation accelerates reading and writing of files, and therefore, programs work faster
because the hard disk can be read without interruptions, that is, without the need to
move the magnetic heads all over the disk surface.
Bear in mind, though, that SSDs don’t need defragmentation as they don’t contain any
moving parts.
To perform hard disk defragmentation: • Type “Defragment” in the Windows Search
field.
• Chose the system tool you are offered.
• When it opens, you will see all your disks.
Select the one you need and click on the “Optimize” button.
• You can also set up automatic defragmentation.
To do it, click on “Change settings” and check the box next to “Run on a schedule.”
Visit our channel to watch a detailed video about disk defragmentation in Windows 10.
You will find the link in the description:
6.
Step six is cleaning the disk.
The Windows integrated tool, Disk Cleanup, must be the safest app to remove all the junk
files from your computer’s hard disk.
Disk Cleanup is very effective at removing the junk files but it never deletes anything
important and it doesn’t generate errors.
To free your disk from junk: • Open This PC, and right-click on the necessary
disk.
• Select Properties / General / Disk Cleanup.
• The tool will calculate and show the things you can delete from this disk.
Check the boxes next what you’d like to remove.
• By clicking on “Clean up system files” you will delete system files from this disk.
In addition to freeing up some hard disk space you will also boost its performance by removing
the junk.
On our YouTube channel, you can find detailed videos about this function as well as other
ways to clean the disk from unnecessary files.
Follow the link in the description: 7.
Step seven is about removing temporary files from the system.
A temporary file is a file created by a program or the operating system to save interim results
in the course of their work.
Usually, such files are removed automatically by the process that has created them.
Yet often they remain on the disk only to eat up the free space and slow down both the
hard disk and the operating system in general.
The system doesn’t need such files, so you can help it by cleaning them up:
• Start the Run tool and type %temp%, then click OK
• Select all the files in the folder that opens and delete them.
Those are temporary files.
• Let’s go back to the Run tool and type “temp” without the percent signs, then
click OK.
• In this folder, delete all files, too.
• Again, go back to the Run tool and type “prefetch”, then click OK.
• In this folder, delete all files, too.
• The job is done; temporary files are removed.
8.
Step eight - disable unnecessary system configuration services.
To do it: • Start the Run tool and type “msconfig”
• In the System Configuration window, go to Services.
• Check the option “Hide all Microsoft services” so that you don’t disable anything
important.
• View the remaining list, and uncheck the boxes for the services you’d like to disable.
• Apply/ Ok.
9.
Step nine is tweaking the registry.
Registry tweaks are software, user, and operating system settings stored in the system registry.
Some of them can also influence your computer’s performance.
Among the many, I’ll show you only a few: To do it:
• Go to the Windows registry: start the Run tool / type “regedit”
• In the registry, go to the folder hkey_current-user / control panel / mouse
• Find the key MouseHoverTime, and change its value data to “10”
• In the same folder, control panel, go to the folder Desktop
• Find the key MouseShowDelay, and change its value data to “10”
• Restart the computer for the changes to take effect.
Never change anything in the registry if you don’t know what exactly you are doing.
The operating system may crash easily.
10.
With the last step 10, we’ll optimize visual effects and the operating system appearance
which are also consuming some of the computer’s resources.
I think advanced users know this trick, because it was a must have with older versions of
Windows such as (XP, Vista or Windows 7).
So, • Type “System” in the Start menu or
in the Windows Search and run the corresponding tool.
• After that: Advanced system settings / Advanced / in the Performance section click on Settings
• The Performance Options tool will open.
Select the tab “Visual effects.”
• In my case, all the settings are defaults.
Yet there are two other variants for the settings: “Adjust for best appearance” and “Adjust
for best performance.”
• Of course, I pick Adjust for best performance / Apply / Ok.
• The system interface may not look too beautiful now, but it certainly improved the
computer’s performance.
After all these settings, restart the computer so that all of them should be applied.
As a result, the load put on the hardware by the operating system will be reduced.
Here is one more way to optimize a computer for gaming.
I haven’t listed it as step eleven, because to me it seems a different story.
Yet I couldn’t miss specialized game optimizing software, or game boosters.
There are many of them, but today we’ll have a look at one of the free products, Razer
Cortex.
Find the link to the official website in the description:
Install and run the program.
Registration is required to use it, but don’t worry - it doesn’t entail any obligations.
After the application starts, you will see four menus: Game Booster, System Booster,
Deals and Rewards.
We are interested in the first two options.
With the System Booster, you can optimize or accelerate your system.
As you can see, the program can clean the system, optimize your hardware, and defragment
your games.
Hit the Scan button and the tool will show you what can be optimized.
Select the things you really need to optimize and click on the “Optimize” button.
I have already shown you how to do manually many of the things this program suggests.
However, Razer Cortex automates all the actions - cleaning the system, disabling unnecessary
services etc.
In the menu Game Booster / My Library, you should see all the games installed on this
computer.
If the program doesn’t see them by default, you can add them by clicking on the “+”
plus button.
The Boost submenu will tell you how Razer Cortex is going to accelerate the game.
Go there to see what system elements will be optimized, what processes and services
suspended.
If you like, you can add more items for optimization, or remove the selection from some of the elements
that have been included automatically.
To start a game with the booster, go to “My Library”, select the game and click “Play.”
After that, the booster will apply the optimization settings you have chosen and start the game
with the optimized conditions.
The gameplay should become much smoother.
I hope the information in this video was useful.
If you have any questions, leave a comment to ask one.
Suggest your own ideas for boosting a weak computer.
Hit the Like button below and subscribe to our channel to see more.
Thank you for watching, bye.