Looking for an easy speed boost for your PC without spending any money? Windows uses a decent amount of resources just displaying graphical goodies like shadows under the mouse cursor and pretty buttons. Try the following steps to reduce the amount of memory and processor speed that Windows itself robs you of with some of its graphical goodies. You can enable or disable the listed features in the menu as you go to fine tune what things you want to see or not.
Visual Effects in Windows 7
- Start Menu > Control Panel > Performance Information and Tools > Adjust Visual Settings
Visual Effects in Windows Vista
- Start > Control Panel > System > Advanced System Settings > Advanced > Performance > Settings
Visual Effects in Windows XP
- Start > Control Panel > Performance and Maintenance > System > Advanced > Performance > Settings
I typically suggest disabling ALL of the graphical effects, but f you absolutely just must have Windows display itself with the colors, graphic buttons and things you can leave the “Use visual styles on buttons and windows” checked. You can also play around with each of the features in this list if you want, they only affect the graphical features of Windows.
Check out some free programs in our guide below that are powerful but don't sacrifice the speed of your PC.
