Replace your Hard Drive with a Solid State Drive (SSD)

SSDs have been around for quite a while now but their rate of adoption is not great at all. This is mostly due to their cost. SSD drives can provide the most significant performance boost to a Windows 7 computer. Their sequential Read and Write throughput is 2 to 5 times greater than those of a mechanical drive (HDD) but they really shine when it comes to random Reads or Writes and the number of operations per second. Replacing your hard drive with an SSD will result in faster boot times, faster application launches and faster file transfers making SSDs one of the best ways when it comes to optimizing Windows 7.

Uninstall bloatware and unneeded programs

Most of the new computers have preinstalled software that provides no actual utility and drain your system’s resources. You can improve Windows 7 performance by uninstalling some of them. You can simply type appwiz.cpl in the Start menu search box and you will see a list of installed programs. Be careful not to uninstall any drivers or needed programs.

Clean up temporary files

Temporary files are created by programs for various purposes but in many cases these files remain on your hard drive even after the programs that left them behind are closed. Because of this, over time, precious hard disk space is wasted and the computer’s performance suffers a hit. In order to remove these files you can use the Disk Cleanup utility that’s included in Windows 7 (type Disk Cleanup in the Start Menu search form ) or download a third party cleaner such as ATF Cleaner or CCleaner (Google them).

Scan your computer for viruses and spyware

The first thing that anyone should install on a new computer is a security solution. Hundreds of new treats (malware, viruses, spyware and others) appear every day. If you’re a home user, a free antivirus should suffice. I would recommend Microsoft Security Essentials (which checks if your Windows installation is genuine) or AVG Free Edition. You should also install Malware Bytes Anti Malware, update it and then do a full scan of your computer. All of the security solutions mentioned here are free for home use.

Add more memory (RAM) to your computer

Memory is cheap nowadays and adding more generally boosts your computer’s performance. A bare minimum for running Windows 7 optimally would be 2GB of RAM. If you’ve got the extra money I would strongly recommend going for 4GB or more. In conclusion, adding memory is one of the best ways to optimize Windows 7 for better performance.

Disable visual effects

1. Lookout Mobile Security

The first app that you should install on your phone is a security suite. LMS is a featured packed security solution that will keep malware away from your device. There are also other providers like AVG and Symantec if you are unsatisfied with this app. I have used it since the second half of 2010 and have never had a problem since. You should be aware that there are trojans and other malware in the wild that have the ability to read information from your phone and even charge your bill by sending SMS messages.

2. YouTube

This is Google’s official YouTube app. You can use it to view and post videos on YouTube. The latest version, 2.2.16, includes some bug fixes for several devices.

3. Tiny Flashlight + LED

This app will come in handy in dark places if you have no other source of light. It allows you to use the phone’s LED flash as a flashlight. If your phone isn’t equipped with a LED camera flash you can take advantage of screen light (by making all your screen white). You can also use Police lights, warning lights and others.

4. Gmail

Gmail is the Android app for the popular web based email service that Google offers for free.

5. Battery Indicator

This app shows your exact battery load percentage and also displays helpful information like temperature, voltage and time since running on battery.

6. Facebook

The Facebook app allows you to share pictures with your friends, make Wall posts, change Status and most of the functionality that you would get by using a web browser.

7. Twitter

Twitter is, as the name suggests, the Android client of the popular micro blogging platform. Version 2.1.2 includes account settings updates, translation updates, improvements and bug fixes.

8. Google+

As Google+ is still in development it is not yet available for the large audiences. You will need an invitation in order to join (similar to the beginning of Gmail). You have the ability to use Circles so that you can share with exactly the right people. You can see your friends updates using Stream. Instant upload lets you immediately share media. Huddle is a feature that lets you instant message to every one in your circles. Version 1.0.6 let’s you reshare a post, increases support for a total of 38 languages and also contains bug fixes and performance optimizations.

9. Market Enabler

If your phone is rooted you can use Market Enabler in order to circumvent restrictions of Android Market in some countries or in some cases, some telephony providers. The app works by temporarily changing the SIM issuer code so that you can download apps from the Android Market that would otherwise be restricted.

10. Google Docs

Google Docs is the Android app for accessing the online productivity suite. With Docs you can create, edit view and share documents. You can also take pictures of your paper documents and transfer the to the cloud using the embedded OCR engine. Version 1.0.16 extends support to 46 languages, let’s you open documents with compatible apps installed on your phone and let’s you send documents as email attachments.

11. LinkedIn

This app lets you connect with more than 120 million professionals comprising the LinkedIn network. Version 2.0.1 fixes some issues reported by users.

12. NASA App

Fascinated by space? The official NASA Android app offers access great photos and videos from NASA missions. In addition to this you also get mission information, NASA TV content, launch info and countdown clocks and lots of other great stuff.

13. Kindle for Android

This app gives you access to the exact same content that you would be able to access by owning a Kindle. There are over 950,000 books available in the Amazon Kindle store. There are also lots of free books, ebooks, newspapers and magazines up for the grabs.

14. SoundHound

SoundHound is a service similar to Shazam. It lets you record a bit of music that you hear on the radio or TV or whatever external source. It then sends it automatically to their Internet servers after which the name and artist of the tune appears on screen. It let’s you share info about the identified track, search for the YouTube video and others.

15. AccuWeather

AccuWeather is a service that provides weather information and forcasts.

1. Gmail

Gmail needs no introduction. Google’s webmail service is also available on Android allowing you to use most of the service’s functions.

2. Youtube

The latest version of Google’s Youtube app, 2.1.6, brings a redesigned UI, new player controls, in-page playback and the ability to rotate the device in order to activate fullscreen video playback.

3. Facebook for Android

Share photos and stay connected to all of your friends with this easy to use app. Some of the new features included in this version are: improved pages support, the ability to post as a page you admin, view a list of pages that you like or pages that you admin, some bug fixes.

4. Twitter

This is the official Twitter app. The new version allows multiple accounts, push notifications, updated home screen widgets and improvements and bug fixes.

5. Shazam

This app will help you discover the tune that is currently playing. All you have to do is to point your phone to the direction of the music source and tap the Shazam icon. The app will then record a sample of the song and upload it automatically to their servers in order to compare it to their databases. In a few seconds the name of the track and artist will appear. You will also have the possibility to buy the track from Amazon or go to a Youtube page and see the video.

6. Advanced Task Killer Free

ATK is simillar to the task manager included with Windows but a lot more simple. After launching the app you get a list of running programs (each one with a radio check box) and you can select wich ones to close so that you can free some memory. That’s about it.

7. Fast Reboot

Fast Reboot is an easy to use app that is designed to help you better manage the hardware resources of your Android phone. By simply opening the app it will restart all of your apps and processes in a few seconds so that you don’t have to actually reboot your phone (waiting for it to load and having to enter your PIN code). The most importand thing about this app is the fact that after running it your phone will be a lot more snappier.

8. Google Sky Map

Have you ever gazed upon the night sky, looking at the stars, asking yourself which one is which? Google comes to the rescue with Sky Map. With the app running, you can point the phone at the sky and it will give you information about each celestial object wether it’s a planet, star or natural sattelite. Dont’t forget to activate the GPS or set your exact location (city).

9. Evernote

Evernote helps you stay organized by allowing you to create notes, photos, to-do lists, audio recordings and memos and storing all of this information in the cloud so that you don’t have to worry about losing a thing. Evernote is cross-platform and you can also use it on your PC or tablet.

10. Barcode Scanner

This app lets you scan many types of barcodes including Data Matrix and QR Codes that contain contacts or URLs. You can also use the app to transfer a contact or a bookmark to another phone using barcodes.If you want to, let’s say, transfer a contact to a friend, Barcode Scanner will generate an onscreen barcode that you can scan using the other phone.

11. Net Counter

Net Counter is a great tool for monitoring the data traffic trough EDGE/3G and/or wireless. It allows you to set alerts that you can use in order to prevent exceeding your data plan. The single negative aspect that I’ve discovered regarding this app was the lack of a widget. Hopefully this functionality will be introduced in one of the future versions.

12. Angry Birds and Angry Birds Rio

Angry Bids took the casual gaming scene by storm since it’s launch on iPhone and it’s now available on multiple platforms. Help the birds destroy the greedy pigs that are responsible for stealing their eggs!

13. Lookout Mobile Security

The security of your data should not be taken lightly regardless of the device that you use. As one of the best security suites for Android, Lookout Mobile Security is quite feature packed. It offers protection from spyware and malware. It also helps you prevent phishing schemes and the infection of your PC with viruses when connecting your phone to it. Other features include online backup and restore of your contacts ( and the ability to access them in your account at myLookout.com ) and Find My Phone, which let’s you remotely activate GPS and see your device on a Google map or allows you to activate a loud alarm on your phone so that you can locate it more easily. All of these features are available in the free version of the app. Upgrading to Premium (which is paid) will add Remote Lock (the ability to remotely lock your phone), Remote Wipe (which lets you securely destroy all the data in your phone after it was stolen), Privacy Advisor and better support. I’ve been using Lookout since the first day I got an Android device in my hands and never had an issuse with malware.

14. Speed Test

You can measure your 3G and Wi-Fi bandwidth and ping with this Android implementation of the most popular speed test in the world.

15. Adobe Flash

One of the aspects that sets Android apart from iOS is Flash. Be aware that Flash is only useful for those located outside of Apple’s distortion field.

16. Adobe Reader

PDF is one of the most popular document standards available today. Adobe Reader offers you the posibillity of viewing PDF files from your mobile device while on the go. One of the newer features implemented in the latest version lets you convert Microsoft Office documents into PDF’s.

17. Compass

Compass is one of the best app of its kind for Android. It behaves like a magnetic compass but allows you to save geo-tagging data and notes.

18. Google Docs

Normally I wouldn’t have included Google Docs in this list but I belive that Google will massively improve this app in the future. With Docs you can edit, create, upload and manage all of your documents without having to worry about local storage. You can also scan documents and they will be automatically OCR’ed and converted to Google documents. All of your docs will be available from your PC, MAC, phone or tablet.

19. GasBuddy

With the GasBuddy app you can find cheap gas on the go with only one click. The app works only in the USA and Canada. The latest verision fixes UI bugs, updates UI colors and icons and extends the list of supported devices.

20. Dropbox

Dropbox lets you upload music, videos, documents and photos that are available from every device you use (PC, phone, tablet and others) regardless of your location. The latest version of the app lets you delete folders, adds photo thumbnails in the file browser and improves security and performance.

You can find more applications for your phone by consulting the Top 15 Android Apps list.

1. Open Google Chrome.
2. Click on the Tools  button located in the upper right side of the application.
3. Click on Options.
4. Go to the Under the hood tab.
5. Scroll down to Downloads and check Ask where to save each file before downloading.
6. Press Close and you’re done.

1. You ask the person that you are talking to on the phone (the one with the computer issue) to go to the Start Menu and they to type psr in the search box.
2. The next step is to press the Start button (within the application) after which the thing that the one on the other end encountered should be reproduced. This means that they should do exactly the same steps that generated the problem. 
3. After finishing, recording can be stopped by pressing Stop Record.
4. Problem Steps Recorder will now open a Save As dialog asking you where to save a zip file and the name of that file. Upon completing this, the user should click on Save.
5. The only thing remaining is for the person with the computer problem is to send you the generated zip file by email or whatever means you wish. The archive will contain a web page with screenshots and useful info regarding what the remote user did.

I will split this into 2 parts so that we can be as organized as possible. The first part involves getting the necessary files from the old computer or the computer you wish to backup. As a point of caution I advise you not to delete anything from the old computer until you are sure that you have everything on the new one.

Backup Outlook files from the old computer:

1. Export Outlook 2007 Mail and Addresses
2. Export Outlook 2007 AutoComplete
3. Export Outlook 2007 Rules and Alerts

Restore Outlook files into the new computer:

1. Import Outlook 2007 Mail and Addresses
2. Import Outlook 2007 AutoComplete
3. Import Outlook 2007 Rules and Alerts

Each of the links above will lead to articles previously written by me. The level of difficulty is quite low as everything is explained thoroughly.

The first thing you need to do is to have the Personal Folders and Archive Folders pst files available. You can get these files after Exporting Outlook 2007 mail and addresses. I am assuming that when you first opened Outlook 2007 it has already created an empty .pst file.

Now that you are prepared we should get started. Here are 2 ways that will get your emails and addresses back into Outlook 2007:

Method #1: Using the Import and Export wizard

1. Open Outlook 2007, go to the File menu and click on Import and Export….
2. Click on Import from another program or file and click Next.
3. Click on Personal Folder File (.pst) and then click on Next.
4. Click on Browse and go to the location of the Personal Folders pst file after which click on Next.
5. In the upper side of the following wizard window select Personal Folders.
6. Make sure that Include subdirectories is checked.
7. In the lower part of the window check the Import items into the same folder in: radio button and select Personal Folders from the drop-down list.
8. After clicking on Finish Outlook 2007 will start importing your emails and addresses. You should know that this method also transfers your Contacts.
9. Repeat the above procedure for the Archive Folders.

Method #2: By copying mail and addresses from the backup pst

1. This method is more complicated but it will allow a more granular control over which emails and contacts you decide to keep when importing.
2. Open Outlook, click on File. Click on Open and then on Outlook data file.
3. Go to the location of your backup .pst file, select it and then click open.
4. You should see something named Personal Folders (if you kept the default name) below the usual Outlook email folders.
5. Open it and go to the first folder (usually Deleted Items).
6. Select the emails that you are interested in transferring and copy them to the corresponding folder contained in the Personal Folders folder from above. You should drag them with the right click pressed instead of the left click as the latter moves them from the backup pst. If you want to select all of them you can do so by pressing Ctrl+A.
7. Repeat step 6 for every folder in the backup pst (Inbox, Sent Items and so forth).
8. The Archive Folders can simply be copied to the default location of the pst files (see the Export guide for the exact paths) after which it can be simply opened by using steps 2 and 3.
9. In order to copy the Contacts click on the Contacts folder and then on Contacts in Personal Folders.
10. Click Ctrl+A and copy them to the Contacts folder above.

I hope that this is not to complicated and if you have any doubts just use the first method as you have no chance for mistakes.

Add more memory (RAM)

The minimum memory requirement for Windows 7 is 1 GB of random access memory. This is far less than what you actually need in order to have the Windows perform optimally. I would recommend that you have at least 2 GB of memory. The computer at which I am writing this article has 4 GB of RAM and seems to be very responsive. Adding more memory to your computer is quite cheap and if you have 1 GB now you will see a tremendous performance boost by adding more. If you run a lot of application at the same time I would not consider in any way less than 4 GB of RAM if I were instead of you. If installing more memory is not possible you should take into consideration using Windows ReadyBoost which uses a fast flash drive to improve performance.

Check for viruses and spyware

One of the things that generally hog computer’s performance is viruses. You have to make sure that you are running a security product and that it is activated and updated so that is able to detect malicious code. Also make sure to perform a full scan of your computer at least once every 2 weeks. If you have doubts or don’t want to spend money on a security suite or antivirus you should check Microsoft Security Essentials which should do just fine at protecting your home computer. The good news about MSE is that it’s free. If you prefer something else that is free I would recommend any of the following: AVG, Avira, Avast.

Install an SSD drive

If money is not a problem to you then installing a solid state drive is one of the best ways to tweak Windows 7. The thing that you will notice first is that your computer will take half the time it took before when it comes to boot times (the time spent since you pressed the power button until Windows is fully loaded and you can start using the computer). That alone is spectacular but you should take into consideration faster program loading times and expect that a lot of the tasks will be done faster. Conventional hard-disk drives have performance problems when it comes to random reads and writes whereas SSD’s do these without a struggle and it is exactly these types of reads and writes that operating systems do a lot (therefore Windows 7 also).

Remove the unnecessary startup programs

If you just bought a new computer and it does not seem to be performing well you should check to see if it is loaded with bloatware (unnecessary programs preinstalled with your computer). Your computer may also accumulate a lot of programs over time and some of them will turn out to be useless at some point. Some of these programs will run every time you start your computer and it is best to remove them.

There are multiple ways of opening Control Panel but the one that users mostly prefer is the one that involves clicking on its icon in My Computer. It is also possible to open it from the Start Menu. My favorite is typing control in the RUN dialog box (you can open Run by pressing Winkey+R).

How to show Control Panel in My Computer

1. Open My Computer.
2. Go to the Tools menu and select Folder Options.
3. Go to the View tab and check the box called Show Control Panel in My Computer.
4. Click on OK and the Control Panel icon should appear.

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1. Right click on Computer and click Properties.
   
2. In the left side of the System window click on Device Manager. 
   
3. If a User Account Control notification appears hit Continue.
4. The Device Manager should now be open and you should double click Disk Drives and then, your hard disk drive.
5. Go to the Policies tab. 
6. Make sure that Enable write caching on the disk and Enable advanced performance checkboxes are checked.
7. Click OK.
8. You can close Device Manager and System.
9. Repeat the steps 4 and 5 and verify that the checkboxes have remained checked. If they are unchecked then you need to install the SATA or RAID controller driver. As an example, for Intel chipsets you have to install the Intel Matrix Storage Manager. For other brands you have to go to the support page of their websites.
10. After installing the driver repeat steps 1 through 8.