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Introduction:

I am responsible for more than 100 PC's in a medium sized company, and when I install new PC's with the default windows settings, I always wonder which settings could actually be changed to optimize the PC for performance (without loss of functionality).

Our default PC image includes office apps and a lot of security apps, so the initial boot time on a brand new Lenovo T400 is more than 3 mins. Of course network domain and logon scripts is a time consuming factor, but still I feel there's room for improvement in the OS.

We still run WinXP, but most core settings in both WinXP and Vista have roots back to Win2000 and NT, so please share your answer regardless which Windows Version you use. (If your setting is Vista specific though, please indicate this in your answer - Thanks!).

So to my question:

"What default settings do you change immediately after installing windows to optimize for performance, while not losing functionality?"

(If you turn off things like firewall or built-in DHCP services please explain your reasoning behind it - why are these services unnecessary in your environment?)

Also, if you change many settings, please put in multiple answers with only 1 setting and explanation in each answer, so we can vote on them separately - Thanks!

Kara Marfia
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Christian Hollbaum
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9 Answers9

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Make the swap / paging file a fixed size. This will eliminate the overhead of auto-growing the paging file. It also reduces fragmentation. Control Panel -> System -> Advanced -> Performance Settings -> Advanced -> Change.

In the windows performance settings, Control Panel -> System -> Advanced -> Performance Settings, turn off all of the cute effects, like fading, transitions, etc.

Disable unnecessary services. Some people argue that this has no effect, but I don't see how having less programs running doesn't help.

DCNYAM
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Disable the MS indexing and/or search services. They have reduced functionality in a networked environment, and will cause huge HD performance loss.

Otherwise I would advise not going down the route of too many perf tweaks. Performance is normally a tradeoff with stability and functionality, and with 100 networked PCs the last thing you need is 100 disgruntled users yelling down the phone at you.

If they run good enough, then they're good enough.

Maximus Minimus
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I set the desktop background to a color rather than a picture.

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You don't make mention of what you do with your images. I install all necessary programs on my base image and lastly, I defrag prior to making the image.

GregD
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regedit, browse to the following registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

delete all unnecessary services.

Jindrich
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The only change I make is, if possible, move the page file to a separate physical disk. This should help stop a busy system, which may need to page a lot, from slowing down the OS too much as it fights for disk time.

Neobyte
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For Windows XP deployments you can get a TON of tweaks/suggestions here: http://www.tweakxp.com/performance_tweaks.aspx

Be aware, however, that not all tweaks are necessarily "good". That site, thankfully, has had editors follow up with warnings on some of those.

SQLChicken
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In addition to almost everything mentioned above, I always disable System Restore and Hibernation.

For a list of services and what they do go to http://www.blackviper.com

cop1152
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Disable automatic rebooting on blue screen. If i get a blue screen, i want to know about it.

NinjaStyle
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