Ideas for customizing the OS with SSD please ?

[Cov]

Hi, I am trying to put a list together of all personal adjustments after a fresh installation of Windows 7.

I'm aware that many people would not agree with some of these settings, but I have found them to be useful for a system with an SSD as a boot device.

Of course not all of these things are SSD relevant.

Please have a look at my list and you are very welcome to comment and / or contribute with more suggestions of what might be useful.

Thanks




Windows 7 - Supercharged


• How to modify UAC

Start › user accounts › change user account control settings › adjust slider


• How to disable Page File

Start › system › Advanced system settings › Performance › Settings › Advance › Virtual memory › Change › No paging file › Set › OK


• How to disable Hibernation

Start › cmd › type: powercfg -h off › enter


• How to disable System Restore

Start › System › System protection › Configure


• How to turn off Search Indexing

a) Start › services › windows search › disable

b) Start › computer › right click c drive › properties › untick: Allow files on this drive to have contents indexed in addition to file properties

c) Start › Indexing options › modify › show all locations › double click users in summary of selected locations › uncheck users directory › double click start menu in the summary of selected locations › uncheck start menu directory › ok


• How to turn off Remote Differential Compression

Start › Control panel › programs › turn windows features on or off › uncheck Remote Differential Compression › ok

This makes file transfers (copy, move) faster by turnig off “Remote Differential Compression” (RDC). Copying a 1.91 GB folder from the main HDD to a folder on an external USB drive resulting in ...

With RDC turned on: 3:23 – three minutes and 23 seconds (with a stopwatch).
With RDC turned off: 2:25 – two minutes and 25 seconds.


• How to turn off unneeded Windows features

Start › programs & features › turn Windows features on or off › uncheck


• How to hide the recycle bin

Right click desktop › Personalize › change desktop icons › untick recycle bin

If you do decide to do this, then remember that everything you delete will still be put into the invisible bin.
Unless you right click the recycle bin › Properties › change from "Custom size" to "Don't move files to the Recycle Bin. Remove files immediately when deleted".

Please be aware about the impact of this. If you delete something, it will be deleted for good, bypassing the bin.


• How to disable defragmentation & Superfetch

Start › Computer Management or Services › Disk Defragmentation › disable

Superfetch › disable


• How to change title text of Internet Explorer

Start › regedit › HKEY_CURRENT_USER › Software › Microsoft › Internet Explorer › Main
Look for “Window Title” Registry Key at the right pane. If it’s not there, create a String Value type of registry key and name it as “Window Title”.
Double click the “Window Title” registry key and enter the customized text that will appear in the IE window title.


• How to change border padding for windows

Right click the desktop › Personalize › Windows Color › Advanced Appearance Settings › select Border Padding › change size 4 (default) to a lower value.


• Disable unneeded start-up programs from loading

Start › msconfig or system configuration › services tab


• How to access a) the Disk Management Console Tool and b) Computer Management, includes DMC

a) Start › diskmgmt.msc
b) right click on "Computer" › Manage


• How to display system information

Start › system information


• Turn off automatic update

Start › Windows update › change settings › never check for updates


• How to clean the HDD / SSD

Start › cleanmgr (or use CCleaner)


• How to access Resource Monitor

Start › Resource Monitor


• Activate a window by hovering over it with the mouse and
Prevent windows from being automatically arranged when moved to the edge of the screen (Aero Snap)

Start › change how your mouse works › tick boxes › ok

[Cov]

1. Temporary Internet Folder: Under Internet Explorer go to the “Tools”, then to which will bring up Internet Options, then go to Browser History and hit “Settings”, Go to Current Location and hit “Move Folder” then proceed to move the folder to your alternate location, IE secondary Drive or a None SSD or OS drive.

2. Move the “Temp and Tmp” files: Go to \My Computer\\Properties\\Advanced\\Environment Variables\, then highlight the "temp or tmp" depending on which one you’re working on, pick the variable, click edit, and Change the path to another hard drive if they are located on the Solid State with the “Variable Value Field”.

3. PIO Mode: Make sure the SSD is not running in PIO mode. To verify that go into the Device Manager, open IDE ATA / ATAPI controllers and double-click all Primary and Secondary IDE Channels. Verify that there are no signs of PIO Mode under the Current Transfer Mode entry in Advanced Settings. It should list Ultra DMA Mode 5 by default on there.

I just checked and it even says Ultra DMA Mode 6

[shadowmaster]

This thread should be very useful when I install Windows 7 on an SSD. Thanks

[Cov]

Thanks

You're very welcome.

BTW, I have some of the ideas from here.

[0iD]

Nice one Cov, with SSD's on the way to becoming the de-facto enthusiast boot drive & Win7 about to come online to the general populous this guide when it matures will make a great reference for all.

Well done chap & keep up the good work!

[shaithis]

Nice checklist, although on the latest beta of Win7 I'm running, both defrag and indexing is disabled by default for any SSDs Windows 7 finds....including those on RAID controllers (which I was very surprised to see it spotted)

[dangel]

Nice checklist, although on the latest beta of Win7 I'm running, both defrag and indexing is disabled by default for any SSDs Windows 7 finds....including those on RAID controllers (which I was very surprised to see it spotted)

This is true - 7 is designed to configure itself appropriately for SSDs from the get-go so tweaking is largely pointless. Disabling paging isn't a good idea either (IMHO based on the way windows memory management actually works) and has long been a myth as far as performance increase is concerned.
And why the heck turn off superfetch? It's excellent! Windows update turned off too? Are you mad?

I've seen 'tweak' guides for years for windows and almost none of them have any real world impact on performance or advocate disabling features due to lack of understanding of what they actually do (or how they're configured). Me, i'll be letting Win7 sit on the defaults for almost everything - especially as intel's drives suit random writes so well (so paging, small files, etc). Pretty much every feature listed there i'd leave at stock..

[shaithis]

There's quite a debate raging about prefetch, I've tried 7 with it on and off and I am still sat on the fence TBH.

Page file I send to a conventional HDD......since I hardly use it but still need it occasionally and as much as I want it on the SSD for speed, I don't want it on the SSD because of wear.

I can only presume the turning off updates is a piracy thing

[TheAnimus]

There's quite a debate raging about prefetch, I've tried 7 with it on and off and I am still sat on the fence TBH.

This does depend on what your doing, but if you've got lots of RAM (and with these prices, who hasen't) then its a no brainer. On an SSD however it could be argued to be pointless.

This is true - 7 is designed to configure itself appropriately for SSDs from the get-go so tweaking is largely pointless. Disabling paging isn't a good idea either (IMHO based on the way windows memory management actually works) and has long been a myth as far as performance increase is concerned.
And why the heck turn off superfetch? It's excellent! Windows update turned off too? Are you mad?

I've seen 'tweak' guides for years for windows and almost none of them have any real world impact on performance or advocate disabling features due to lack of understanding of what they actually do (or how they're configured). Me, i'll be letting Win7 sit on the defaults for almost everything - especially as intel's drives suit random writes so well (so paging, small files, etc). Pretty much every feature listed there i'd leave at stock..

I sometimes feal your the only person who shares my pain in this. So many of these guides are advocating stupid things. Like in this case turning off indexing service.

Are you fricken nuts? Indexing an SSD is a brilliant idea, win 7 is even ment to limit the amount of indexing it does when on battery too. The main downside for indexing on a desktop was the fact the heads would always be in the wrong place, so when your NCQ HDD got the 'other' request, that would be the request the user is waiting on rather than the background task, it took a while to seak back. You don't have this problem with SSDs at all.

[Paul Adams]

I would disagree with most of the list to be honest, and as has been pointed out Windows 7 automatically tunes itself when it detects there is an SSD present (Superfetch was automatically disabled on my rig on install, for example).

The QoS "20% bandwidth is stolen" myth was debunked a long time ago:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/316666

[Singh400]

The QoS "20% bandwidth is stolen" myth was debunked a long time ago:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/316666

Ah thank you! I was looking for the same link, knew it was a myth, but I needed something back me up. Now I have it.

I would agree, that Windows 7 is already designed to work brilliant on SSDs out of the box. I'll be leaving everything at defaults.

[CaptainCrash]

At least the OP didn't get the judicial stoning here that he got at Hardforum...

That said, I'm firmly in the "leave it alone" camp.

[pauldarkside]

The SSD related OS tweaks I've read about are more focused on protecting the drive's lifespan, difference in performance more a byproduct of that aim. Apart from some veering toward snake-oil territory, there are a few that make sense - why waste limited writes on temporary data?

With regards to Superfetch and Windows 7 turning it off when detecting SSDs, is that an RTM thing as it's not been disabled here? Maybe it's something to do with having a mechanical drive along with SSD, or the controller configured as IDE instead of AHCI? Running out of straws to clutch ...

[Paul Adams]

With regards to Superfetch and Windows 7 turning it off when detecting SSDs, is that an RTM thing as it's not been disabled here? Maybe it's something to do with having a mechanical drive along with SSD, or the controller configured as IDE instead of AHCI? Running out of straws to clutch ...

I believe AHCI is required to enable TRIM, and the firmware on the SSD drive has to report itself correctly to the OS for Superfetch to be disabled.
(I have 1x SSD and 2x SATA2 drives, and Superfetch was off as soon as I installed Win7 RTM.)

[Singh400]

At least the OP didn't get the judicial stoning here that he got at Hardforum...

Ahhhaaaahhha loving it

[dangel]

The SSD related OS tweaks I've read about are more focused on protecting the drive's lifespan, difference in performance more a byproduct of that aim. Apart from some veering toward snake-oil territory, there are a few that make sense - why waste limited writes on temporary data?

Realistically i'll probably replace the drive (like any drive) before I hit the max writes anyway - it's not something that bothers me on a modern SSD with wear levelling etc. I'm sure that in a couple of years i'll be buying an even faster, even cheaper, even bigger drive etc