Efficiency Tip #73 – Adjust for best performance

Windows has many options that are designed to make the experience of using the operating system more enjoyable.   There are animations, fading effects, drop shadows and many other things that can make objects in the interface look better.  Unfortunately most of these features will slow your computer down just a little.  With enough of them running on your system, you may notice the impact on your computer’s performance.

Fortunately Windows has a way of figuring out what your system can handle and making adjustments that keep the system peppy by turning off features that slow your particular system down.  Here is how you do it.

Right-click My Computer and select Properties.  When the System Properties window opens, click the Advanced tab.  There should be a section called Performance.  Click the Settings button under Performance.  This will bring up the Performance Options where you can select from:

1 – Let Windows decide what’s best
2 – Best appearance (most taxing on system)
3 – Best performance (all the eye candy will be turned off)
4 – Custom – You pick and choose what you want

If you aren’t sure, go with the first selection.  You can experiment if you like.  If you can’t figure out a better set of options, you can always go back to that first option and let Windows decide everything for you.

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