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Make Windows 7 Run Lighter But Still Look Good?

post #1 of 10

3/11/12 at 1:39pm

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NeighborhoodGeek
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I have four gigs of RAM in my sig rig, and at idle, the system is using 30%, with Firefox open and 6 tabs it uses about 45%, add on a 4 gig file transfer from a thumb drive to my system drive and it's maxed.

How could I make Windows run lighter, but still have it look nice? I hate the classic style, it's so bland and boring. I do use Rainmeter currently, and have thought about snagging some other programs to emulate the task bar, and then just run the classic style, but then I still get to see the hideous style when I open windows.

Any suggestions here?
Edited by NeighborhoodGeek - 3/11/12 at 1:44pm

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G.Skill Ripjaws	Samsung Spinpoint	WD Caviar	Cheap Samsung DVD RW
Cooling	OS	OS	Monitor
STOCK! GASP!	Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit	Ubuntu 11.10	Acer A221HQV
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post #2 of 10

3/11/12 at 1:49pm

miniterror
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Deleting unused fonts fixed some for me:)
Also disabling the windows index service and search service helped a little but a ssd is advised for those 2.

Verstuurd van mijn GT-S5570 met Tapatalk

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ocz vertex 2 80GB	seagate 7200rpm 32mb cache	Optiarc DVD RW AD-5260S SATA	scythe katana 3 with nexus silver
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ocz vertex 2 80GB	seagate 7200rpm 32mb cache	Optiarc DVD RW AD-5260S SATA	scythe katana 3 with nexus silver
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post #3 of 10

3/11/12 at 1:52pm

blazed_1
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You can always try Black Viper's guide to disabling unnecessary services. It's a lot of reading but some good stuff.
http://www.blackviper.com/2010/12/17/black-vipers-windows-7-service-pack-1-service-configurations/#more-2975

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post #4 of 10

3/11/12 at 2:02pm

Sean Webster
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Use my optimization guide.

http://www.overclock.net/t/1156654/seans-windows-7-install-optimization-guide-for-ssds-hdds

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Plextor M5 Pro	Seagate Barracuda 7200.12	Seagate Barracuda 7200.12	Asus DVD Burner
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post #5 of 10

3/11/12 at 2:24pm

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NeighborhoodGeek
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Quote:

Originally Posted by miniterror

Deleting unused fonts fixed some for me:)
Also disabling the windows index service and search service helped a little but a ssd is advised for those 2.
Verstuurd van mijn GT-S5570 met Tapatalk

I can't spare any fonts. I disabled indexing and search and it helped a bit.

Quote:

Originally Posted by blazed_1

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sean Webster

Use my optimization guide.
http://www.overclock.net/t/1156654/seans-windows-7-install-optimization-guide-for-ssds-hdds

I'll check those out, thanks guys.

EDIT: Quick scan through both of those revealed that following a guide I found I have already done pretty much all of that with hardly any improvement. I guess I'll just have to deal with it until i can get more ram.

Edited by NeighborhoodGeek - 3/11/12 at 2:29pm

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AMD Athlon II X4 2.6	MSI 790GX-G65	Galaxy GeForce GTS 450 GC	Galaxy GeForce GTS 450 GC
RAM	Hard Drive	Hard Drive	Optical Drive
G.Skill Ripjaws	Samsung Spinpoint	WD Caviar	Cheap Samsung DVD RW
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STOCK! GASP!	Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit	Ubuntu 11.10	Acer A221HQV
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CPU	Motherboard	Graphics	Graphics
AMD Athlon II X4 2.6	MSI 790GX-G65	Galaxy GeForce GTS 450 GC	Galaxy GeForce GTS 450 GC
RAM	Hard Drive	Hard Drive	Optical Drive
G.Skill Ripjaws	Samsung Spinpoint	WD Caviar	Cheap Samsung DVD RW
Cooling	OS	OS	Monitor
STOCK! GASP!	Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit	Ubuntu 11.10	Acer A221HQV
Keyboard	Power	Case	Mouse
Cyborg V7	Cooler Master RS 650	Cooler Master Storm Scout	Logitech Wireless MX600
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post #6 of 10

3/11/12 at 7:04pm

SirDrexl
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How are you determining that it's using all that RAM? I have 8GB, and right now it's really only using 2GB. That's with 10 tabs open in Firefox and some other apps running.

If you're looking at the "Standby" tab in Resource Monitor, it is perfectly normal for that to be a large amount. That is used for file caching and will be freed as soon as it's needed. I only have about 1.8GB "free" at the moment.

post #7 of 10

3/11/12 at 9:50pm

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NeighborhoodGeek
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Quote:

Originally Posted by SirDrexl

How are you determining that it's using all that RAM? I have 8GB, and right now it's really only using 2GB. That's with 10 tabs open in Firefox and some other apps running.
If you're looking at the "Standby" tab in Resource Monitor, it is perfectly normal for that to be a large amount. That is used for file caching and will be freed as soon as it's needed. I only have about 1.8GB "free" at the moment.

Using SpeedFan and Rainmeter. Every other HW monitor says the same.

CPU	Motherboard	Graphics	Graphics
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G.Skill Ripjaws	Samsung Spinpoint	WD Caviar	Cheap Samsung DVD RW
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STOCK! GASP!	Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit	Ubuntu 11.10	Acer A221HQV
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CPU	Motherboard	Graphics	Graphics
AMD Athlon II X4 2.6	MSI 790GX-G65	Galaxy GeForce GTS 450 GC	Galaxy GeForce GTS 450 GC
RAM	Hard Drive	Hard Drive	Optical Drive
G.Skill Ripjaws	Samsung Spinpoint	WD Caviar	Cheap Samsung DVD RW
Cooling	OS	OS	Monitor
STOCK! GASP!	Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit	Ubuntu 11.10	Acer A221HQV
Keyboard	Power	Case	Mouse
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post #8 of 10

3/11/12 at 9:56pm

DirektEffekt
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What I would recommend, is to leave it be. I have used, at work, some old laptops, with 1.5GB of RAM and windows 7, no tweaking or anything and you will find that windows can go down to using well under 400MB of RAM if it is needed somewhere else. Don't worry about idle RAM usage. That includes a whole heap of windows caching and things that let it run smoother and faster. I think if you were actually able to free it that you would find windows would run a lot more sluggishly.

Don't expect windows to use under 30% at idle, but don't worry about it, because if it needs to it will free up the space when it is needed. It does that for your advantage and it's best to leave it that way.

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post #9 of 10

3/12/12 at 9:27am

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NeighborhoodGeek
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Quote:

Originally Posted by DirektEffekt

What I would recommend, is to leave it be. I have used, at work, some old laptops, with 1.5GB of RAM and windows 7, no tweaking or anything and you will find that windows can go down to using well under 400MB of RAM if it is needed somewhere else. Don't worry about idle RAM usage. That includes a whole heap of windows caching and things that let it run smoother and faster. I think if you were actually able to free it that you would find windows would run a lot more sluggishly.
Don't expect windows to use under 30% at idle, but don't worry about it, because if it needs to it will free up the space when it is needed. It does that for your advantage and it's best to leave it that way.

Somehow I don't quite think that's how it works... It may free up Virtual Memory, but if the ram is being used by programs, especially Windows itself, it's not going to start killing off application and back ground processes so I can transfer a file. It simply uses up the RAM, and goes as fast as it can running at full capacity.

CPU	Motherboard	Graphics	Graphics
AMD Athlon II X4 2.6	MSI 790GX-G65	Galaxy GeForce GTS 450 GC	Galaxy GeForce GTS 450 GC
RAM	Hard Drive	Hard Drive	Optical Drive
G.Skill Ripjaws	Samsung Spinpoint	WD Caviar	Cheap Samsung DVD RW
Cooling	OS	OS	Monitor
STOCK! GASP!	Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit	Ubuntu 11.10	Acer A221HQV
Keyboard	Power	Case	Mouse
Cyborg V7	Cooler Master RS 650	Cooler Master Storm Scout	Logitech Wireless MX600
Mouse Pad	Audio
3M Carbon Fiber Di-Noc	Logitech X540 5.1
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CPU	Motherboard	Graphics	Graphics
AMD Athlon II X4 2.6	MSI 790GX-G65	Galaxy GeForce GTS 450 GC	Galaxy GeForce GTS 450 GC
RAM	Hard Drive	Hard Drive	Optical Drive
G.Skill Ripjaws	Samsung Spinpoint	WD Caviar	Cheap Samsung DVD RW
Cooling	OS	OS	Monitor
STOCK! GASP!	Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit	Ubuntu 11.10	Acer A221HQV
Keyboard	Power	Case	Mouse
Cyborg V7	Cooler Master RS 650	Cooler Master Storm Scout	Logitech Wireless MX600
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3M Carbon Fiber Di-Noc	Logitech X540 5.1
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post #10 of 10

3/15/12 at 3:11am

DirektEffekt
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It doesn't kill processes as such, what it seems to do rather, is stop caching programs and things that it may have been caching for fast access to free up RAM elsewhere. As I said before, Win 7 can and will run on 400MB of RAM suprisingly well, I wouoldn't recommend it, but it can if it has to.

CPU	Motherboard	Graphics	RAM
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Hard Drive	Hard Drive	Cooling	OS
Crucial M4 128GB	WD Black 2.5" 750GB	Custom Water	Windows 8 x64 Pro
Monitor	Power	Case
Dell U2711 (2560*1440)	SilverStone 550W	Bitfenix Prodigy
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CPU	Motherboard	Graphics	RAM
i5 3570K - 4.9GHz @ 1.512v	ASUS P8Z77-I	Gigabyte HD7950 OC	8GB G.Skill Ares (2x4GB @ 1866MHz OC'd to 2133)
Hard Drive	Hard Drive	Cooling	OS
Crucial M4 128GB	WD Black 2.5" 750GB	Custom Water	Windows 8 x64 Pro
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Dell U2711 (2560*1440)	SilverStone 550W	Bitfenix Prodigy
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