Preface to the Preface#
This article was written in August 2020, nearly three years ago. Some of the content is no longer relevant, and some ideas have become outdated. Please do not reference this article.
Preface#
Last night, the spring water rose by the river, and the huge ships floated lightly.
On July 29, 2015, Microsoft officially released the most comprehensive operating system ever, Windows 10. However, comprehensiveness often leads to bloat, and the significance of this article lies in discarding all unnecessary services, optimizing the entire system without using any software, making the system feel lighter, and saving new computers! Rescue old computers that become slower the more they are used.
System Settings#
Disable WIN10 XBOX#
After the Win 10 update, the WIN10 XBOX feature was added, which is enabled by default, but most of us will not use it. After repeated testing...
Set Power Settings to High Performance#
Run Windows Powershell in administrator mode and enter the following code:
powercfg -duplicatescheme e9a42b02-d5df-448d-aa00-03f14749eb61
And select the appropriate power plan.
Disable Unused Windows Services#
Windows Services refer to a type of computer program that runs in the background of the Windows NT operating system. Conceptually, it is similar to Unix daemon. Windows services must comply with the interface rules and protocols of the Service Control Manager (the component responsible for managing Windows services).
Windows services can be configured to run when the operating system starts and continue running in the background during Windows operation. Services can also be started manually or based on certain events. The Windows NT operating system contains numerous services that run in three types of user account environments: system, network service, and local service. These Windows components typically use the Windows Service Hosting Process. Because Windows services run in their own dedicated user accounts, they can remain active even when no user is logged in.
If a user system has too many automatically starting services, it may lead to excessive resource consumption in the system's background. Of course, we still need to set different startup types for different system service items, rather than uniformly setting them all to disabled.
| Service Name | Details | Recommendation |
|---|---|---|
| Connected User Experiences and Telemetry | Feedback user experience service, used to collect error information, consumes a lot of disk space, and is a major culprit for lag on many low-end computers | Disable |
| Andrea ST Filters Service | Service included with sound card drivers | Varies by user |
| Base Filtering Engine | Basic filtering engine, firewall program | Varies by user |
| Bluetooth Handsfree Service | Bluetooth service | Disable if no Bluetooth device |
| Desktop Window Manager Session Manager | This service is required for desktop Aero effects and 3D effects | Disable |
| Diagnostics Series | Diagnostic execution service for performing fault diagnosis support operations, similar to Connected User Experiences and Telemetry. (Detects and analyzes group policies, tracks Windows usability) | Disable |
| Distributed Link Tracking Client | Monitors changes in NTFS file links between different computers | Suggest disabling for non-local users |
| Fax | Sends and receives faxes using available fax resources on the computer or network | Disable |
| Function Discovery Provider Host | Automatically discovers network shared devices | Suggest disabling for non-local users |
| HomeGroup Listener | Manages home groups to help families with multiple computers easily share music, documents, videos, and even printers | Disable |
| HomeGroup Provider | Performs network tasks related to the configuration and maintenance of home groups | Disable |
| Microsoft .NET Framework NGEN .net Support Service | Manual | |
| Offline Files | Offline caching file service | |
| Print Spooler | Loads files into memory for later printing | Disable if no printer installed |
| Problem Reports | Problem feedback service | Disable |
| Program Compatibility Assistant Service | Program compatibility assistant | Disable |
| Smart Card | Manages computer access to smart cards | Disable for users without installed UPS |
| SysMain | Previously known as SuperFetch, has some effect on mechanical hard drives, but little effect on SSDs, and often causes CPU usage to spike to 100%. If your hard drive is solely SSD and has ample physical memory, consider disabling it. | Disabling will effectively reduce disk usage |
| Windows Search | Windows search service, used for quick file searches. However, this is a service that often "checks the water meter" in the system background, and many times the hard drive light stays on during standby due to it. Additionally, the "Activity History" in the new version of Win10 also relies on this service. If you have an SSD and are indifferent to "Activity History," consider disabling it, especially for low-end computers, as the performance improvement is very noticeable. | Disable if you do not use the built-in search |
| Windows Update | Disable if you do not need updates | |
| Windows Backup | Provides Windows backup and restore functionality | Manual start |
| Xbox | Disable |
Disable Some Desktop Effects#
Disable Unnecessary Background Apps#
HPET#
The High Precision Event Timer (HPET) is a hardware timer used in personal computers. It was jointly developed by Intel and Microsoft and has been integrated into personal computer chipsets since around 2005.
Generally, if you have a good CPU, you can try disabling HPET, which may give you a 10-15 fps boost or eliminate stuttering/reduce stuttering. Even if the system is stable, adjusting HPET settings can provide a good improvement for any system. Changing HPET can also resolve issues like crashes when starting games.
Verify if HPET is Enabled#
Run CMD in administrator mode:
bcdedit /enum // Find the useplatformclock item; you should see useplatformclock as yes or no. If it is set to "NO," it means it is disabled in Windows; if it is "YES," it is enabled in Windows.
Recommended Combinations#
Here are the recommended configurations; finding the correct settings for your system can yield additional smoothness/frame rates or fix micro-stuttering/stuttering :)
- HPET enabled in BIOS + HPET enabled in WINDOWS (recommended)
- HPET disabled in BIOS + HPET disabled in WINDOWS (recommended)
- HPET enabled in BIOS + HPET disabled in WINDOWS (not recommended, a bad thing)
- HPET disabled in BIOS + HPET enabled in WINDOWS (not recommended, can cause software electromagnetic interference/timing issues)
Disable HPET#
Since every system is different, enabling or disabling it may bring benefits.
bcdedit /set useplatformclock No // or bcdedit /set useplatformclock false
bcdedit /set disabledynamictick Yes
If you cannot use the above commands to disable HPET, you can try:
bcdedit /deletevalue useplatformclock
And use bcdedit /enum to verify if it is enabled/disabled.
Enable HPET#
bcdedit /set useplatformclock true
Disable Unnecessary Startup Items#
Open Task Manager and turn off the visibly obvious startup items.
Disable Mouse Acceleration#
Network Optimization#
Start CMD in administrator mode and enter:
netsh int tcp set global dca=enabled //Direct Cache Access (DCA)
netsh int tcp set global autotuninglevel=normal //Receive window auto-tuning level
netsh int tcp set supplemental template=internet congestionprovider=ctcp //Additional congestion control provider
netsh int tcp set global timestamps=enabled //RFC 1323 timestamps
Enable Windows 10 Hardware Accelerated GPU#
- Open the registry
- Navigate to Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\GraphicsDrivers
- Find HwSchMode and change the default value from 1 to 2 (1 means hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling is off, 2 means it is on)
- Restart the computer