Speed Up Windows 7

Speed Up Windows 7

Change desktop background to black. (solid color)
Keep desktop clean of files and shortcuts.
Clear the index from the hard drives. (right click drive/properties/un-check index/ignore all)
Turn off Windows search service. (I use "Everything" for occassional searches)
Adjust power plan to High Performance
Disable hibernate (a known problem source)
If SSD turn off pre/superfetch. (only for SSD and not for speed)
Control Panel\System and Security\System\System Protection Turn off restore. (after you have your system stable) (has this ever really worked)
Sounds use no sounds.
MSConfig uncheck unnecessary startups.
Install Launchy and learn how to use it.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\desktop
 In the right pane, right click on MenuShowDelay and click on Modify and use 1
Be aggressive on uninstalling programs you don't use.
If you wish to manipulate Aero I would do it this way and not Ultimate Tweak
 Control Panel\System and Security\System\System Properties\Advanced\Performance
  If you "break" transparency it can be hunt and seek to fix. Turning it off and on here is easier.

Use discretion on what and how you install programs but don't be paranoid either. Before you install Microsoft Office, ask yourself if you really need it. Libre Office Portable will work just as well for most mortals and you won't have a bunch of unnecessary junk installed on your system. If you must install MS Office, do you really need Outlook, Access or One Note? At least customize and omit these and others.

In Windows XP days I always did these (the one's available in XP) but I quit doing some of them in Win7 because processors ran faster and who doesn't love transparent Windows. Well, I'm over that now and all I want is fast, quick, blazing Windows. So I'm back tweaking for speed and loving it. On a monster desktop, I may let Aero run, depending on how things are popping. There are other tweaks but these are basic and will improve things greatly.

Ultimate Windows Tweaker (a quick way of doing some of the tweaks and more)