New install of Windows 7 looking for solid safe advice

[devnulllore 33]

Just did a clean install of Windows 7 x64 Ultimate, I was using the trial till my original copy came in. I am looking for practical and safe "tweaks" I guess you would call them just to make things a bit more responsive. I went tweak happy with XP and I know full well that over tweaking can make things MUCH worse and I just want relaible web sites, tweak programs, advice etc... I know not to use registry cleaners, except for maybe CCleaner. However I ran an analysis the other day and did not like the look of what it wanted to delete so I left it. I know the basics like a faster processor or more memory etc.. etc.. but a hardware upgrade is just not in the wallet right now so I am relying on plain old software know how.

Thanks for any advice!

[Roger H. 776]

No need for any of those things especially on a BRAND NEW CLEAN install. If you were just coming from say a OEM install that had all their bloat on it then ok but just use the system and see how it runs. Your system is more than fast enough to handle everything.

[mduren2445 53]

just make sure you have the latest drivers for your system not the windows update one and you will be very happy

[xdot.tk 118]

Turn off unneeded services. Use the built in tweaking ability under Advanced system settings.

[devnulllore 33]

just make sure you have the latest drivers for your system not the windows update one and you will be very happy

Ok. I will go through then one by one. Do any of those driver checkers work?

Thanks,

[redvamp128 321]

Turn off Gadgets-- even though they don't use up a lot of them - they still use some.

Not to mention you could slowly turn off some of the "eye candy" that generally makes a system a small amount faster. (not saying you should jump it down to classic theme)-- just tone down some of the eye candy-- like the wobble effect when downsizing.

[Stetson 180]

Turn off Gadgets-- even though they don't use up a lot of them - they still use some.

Not to mention you could slowly turn off some of the "eye candy" that generally makes a system a small amount faster. (not saying you should jump it down to classic theme)-- just tone down some of the eye candy-- like the wobble effect when downsizing.

If you have a modern GPU, turning off Aero will actually decrease responsiveness. Not sure about the extra effects, if your GPU can handle them it shouldn't really make a difference.

[Frylock86 95]

Install the OS.

Don't touch a damn thing.

Enjoy.

:)

[redvamp128 321]

If you have a modern GPU, turning off Aero will actually decrease responsiveness. Not sure about the extra effects, if your GPU can handle them it shouldn't really make a difference.

I didn't say turn off Aero--- I said turn off some visual effects-- Do not use classic-

I also said turn off gadgets.

Also you may pay attention using ccleaner-- your startup items.

For me the HP Digital Image Monitior was a major resource hog-- So I took it out-- and only click on it when I want to use the printer instead of defaulting to start with the computer.

[Tekkerson 65]

Install the OS.

Don't touch a damn thing.

Enjoy.

:)

+1. This. Windows 7 Isn't like XP. Don't let anyone tell you that there's tweaks for it. All services are started whenever you have use for them. If you're not using them then they're most likely not doing anything.

[Pikey 29]

First thing I do is enable the *real* 'Administrator' account ... and use that account instead of the one generated at first install. There's only me using the PC so no need to worry about any other accounts.

apart from that .. nothing at all.

[thechronic 185]

Install a good firewall/antivirus

Install CCleaner for future use (monthly?)

Enjoy Windows 7

[omganinja 26]

First thing I do is enable the *real* 'Administrator' account ... and use that account instead of the one generated at first install.

This. And kill libraries and homegroup.

[REM2000 145]

The only tweak i do to Windows 7 is in MSConfig to keep the list of auto startup junk from using up too much memory and slow boot ups. The rest of the system you'll find is very efficient.

[amon91 41]

First thing I do is enable the *real* 'Administrator' account ... and use that account instead of the one generated at first install. There's only me using the PC so no need to worry about any other accounts.

apart from that .. nothing at all.

Yeah, that's security suicide. If you're coming from XP, that will definitely replicate XP's experience, but UAC and the security features are there for a reason. Malware and broken running on an admin account can cause a lot more damage.

[Nashy 1,661]

I did a clean x64 Ultimate install yesterday. Seriously no need to touch a thing. Windows 7 is fast. Very fast.

[devnulllore 33]

First thing I do is enable the *real* 'Administrator' account ... and use that account instead of the one generated at first install. There's only me using the PC so no need to worry about any other accounts.

apart from that .. nothing at all.

I actually appreciate the securiyt of the owner/admin account. Keeps me from second guessing myself or doing something stupid.

Joe

[devnulllore 33]

There were 6 small registry tweaks I did from the Tweakhound site, which I trust completely. he says leave well enough alone too but these 6 reg tweaks are the only ones he uses AND I can always edit the entries and back out. What do you think?

----------------------------------------------------

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

; Make start menu snappier, end hung apps faster

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop]

"MenuShowDelay"="200"

"HungAppTimeout"="4000"

"WaitToKillAppTimeout"="5000"

; NTFS, Disable 8.3 names and Last Access (speeds up disk access)

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem]

"NtfsDisable8dot3NameCreation"=dword:00000001

"NtfsDisableLastAccessUpdate"=dword:00000001

; Specifies the time, following user input, during which the system keeps apps from moving into the foreground.

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop]

"ForegroundLockTimeout"=dword:00000000

; Faster Shutdown, may cause an error at shutdown with misbehaving apps (ZoneAlarm 7 is one)

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control]

"WaitToKillServiceTimeout"="5000"

; Disable Low disk space checks

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]

"NoLowDiskSpaceChecks"=dword:00000001

; Set CPU Priority

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\PriorityControl]

"Win32PrioritySeparation"=dword:00000026

---------------------------------------------------------

If I should back out of these what should I change the settings to?

Thanks,

Joe

[articuno1au 1,264]

Holy mother of god.

Why would you run that script?

You are ****ing with your NTFS driver, core thread management and explorer settings D:

HORRIBLE SCRIPT.

There is a reason Microsoft set these settings as they do. It stops you being able to **** **** up. If you can't read that script and know exactly what it does, YOU SHOULD NOT BE RUNNING IT.

[mduren2445 53]

no don't use a driver checker....just check and make sure mobo driver, sound,video and network drivers are up to date

[LiquidSolstice 115]

Turn off Gadgets-- even though they don't use up a lot of them - they still use some.

Not to mention you could slowly turn off some of the "eye candy" that generally makes a system a small amount faster. (not saying you should jump it down to classic theme)-- just tone down some of the eye candy-- like the wobble effect when downsizing.

Turning off transperency and other "Windows Effects" will help, switching to Aero Basic or Classic will not. Shutting off Aero will only slow down your computer.

[zeke009 65]

just make sure you have the latest drivers for your system not the windows update one and you will be very happy

Good point, don't overlook chipset drivers. The default Microsoft ones will work, but vendor chipset drivers provide extra performance. I made this mistake with my last build, I forgot to enable AHCI and install the chipset drivers. I have a reimage in my future due to some hardware coming and those drivers are on my USB stick ready to install.

If you are enabling AHCI a rebuild is more than likely in your future unless you are OK with applying some hacks and tricks to get AHCI working on a current install.

[OuchOfDeath 26]

First thing I do is enable the *real* 'Administrator' account ... and use that account instead of the one generated at first install. There's only me using the PC so no need to worry about any other accounts.

apart from that .. nothing at all.

As one poster has already stated, DO NOT DO THIS. You are literally removing the most important layer of security by doing this and giving free reign of any code that runs on your computer to destroy absolutely everything.

People don't realize that UAC isn't just a tool that asks you "Are you sure you want to run this program?". It is THE most important layer of security that separates user-level programs and trusted programs. If you visit a malicious website, and it executes code that exploits a vulnerability in your browser and starts running arbitrary malicious code, without UAC that code will have free reign to do whatever it likes on your system. With UAC in place that code cannot do anything at all except for damage files that don't require admin priviledges, and code generally does not do this because it's useless and doesn't get anywhere. The malicious code has to also exploit a vulnerability in the operating system itself in order to gain administrator access before it can do anything, and having to use two different exploits makes breaking the operating system extremely complicated and way more unlikely.

I repeat again. DO NOT DISABLE UAC.

To address the original post, for extra security a good move is to install Microsoft Security Essentials Anti-Virus.

[articuno1au 1,264]

AHCI can be turned on and off without an OS reinstall on Windows 7.

Intel ICH drivers are a must, same is true of the AMD equivalents.

[devnulllore 33]

Holy mother of god.

Why would you run that script?

You are ****ing with your NTFS driver, core thread management and explorer settings D:

HORRIBLE SCRIPT.

There is a reason Microsoft set these settings as they do. It stops you being able to **** **** up. If you can't read that script and know exactly what it does, YOU SHOULD NOT BE RUNNING IT.

See that's the kind of inpurt that I do not need. As I said I trust Tweakhound. He is recommended by HUNDREDS of Neowinains. But the big problem I have is not that I ran the script but you never told me how to back out of it. What values should I replace to return it to normal?

Thanks,