How to properly optimize Windows for gaming?

Everything you need to know about competent OS tuning on a modern PC

The internet is full of tips for tweaking Windows after installation or optimizing it for gaming. Most of the recommendations are outdated long ago and go back to the days of Windows XP, small amounts of memory and hardly gigahertz processors. In this article, we decided to first destroy the most harmful myths about setting up an operating system from Microsoft, and then advise on really useful things.

Why optimize Windows at all (and is it necessary)

BTW, check out the Windows 7 vs 10 gaming performance comparison.

• Optimization of the operating system is absolutely necessary only in one case – if you have a weak (or old) PC. At the same time, in 2020 it is hardly reasonable to use old versions of Windows – even the people’s “Seven” recently stoppedofficial support. Someday hardware manufacturers will stop releasing drivers for it, and software developers will no longer release new versions for Windows 7.
• Already on gaming PCs of average power, system optimization should be done very carefully, well understanding what each specific edit of deep settings will give. And whether it will give at all.
• But on expensive computers with top-end hardware, optimization can even be harmful, especially if you use branded utilities of the brand. However, some interface improvements and other “cosmetics” can still be done.

What Windows optimization tips are out of date (or harmful)?

1. Disable beautiful visual effects of interfaces. All of these effects are two-dimensional and consume very few resources. Disabling or enabling them will not affect the FPS in games in any way. This tip has been deprecated since the year Windows 7 was released.
2. Setting up the paging file. Already in Windows 7, it was most reasonable to leave the default setting at the choice of the system. If you do not have enough RAM, then the paging file on modern hardware will help little. And if there is enough RAM, then the system itself will not use it.
3. Disable indexing. Indexing helps a lot when searching for the desired file by name on a classic HDD. On fast SSDs, it is technically less useful, but disabling it leads to problems. For example, many games will stop finding saves and user preferences.
4. Enabling high performance in Power Supply. Of all the modes, only “Economical” is relevant today and only for laptops. In all other cases, it is better to leave “Balanced” so that the hardware does not waste the resource in vain when you are not playing.
5. Cleaning of RAM with third-party software. Windows 7 already coped with this task perfectly on its own. Just close your browser before starting the game. And in the browser itself, drag pages from most tabs to bookmarks.
6. Cleaning the registry. The registry may have taken up at least some significant amount of RAM or disk memory in the days of Windows XP or earlier, but today it does not. New values ​​are overwritten by themselves, and old ones are simply not used. In addition, after cleaning the registry with third-party software, you can delete something important.
7. Disable Windows services. You can only disable the annoying “User Account Control”, which generates useless confirmations on top of confirmations of your own actions. But for this it is enough to go to the corresponding section of the “Control Panel”, and not install the “magic” optimizers. By the way about the latter.
8. Using cleaning utilities. All these CCleaner, Glary Utilities, Boostspeed, Advanced Systemcare, as a rule, only pretend to help. And they often demand money for the “maximum” benefit. Better to run a standard “Disk Cleanup” once a month.
9. Using antivirus. The antivirus itself ceased to be relevant when the cloud replaced the flash drives, and all sites switched to the secure HTTPS protocol. True, its use is still reasonable on work or office computers, but this is already too far from games. In any case, the standard automatically updated Windows Defender has been around for many years.

How can I improve my gaming experience by customizing Windows?

1. Update ALL drivers. Not only for the video card, but also for the motherboard chipset, network card and sound. Alternatively, you can look for the latest BIOS firmware on the website of your computer or motherboard manufacturer.
2. Transfer your favorite games to the SSD. This will speed up loading of levels and connect to online matches, and will also eliminate most freezes and lags. Any open-world games, including MMOs, benefit especially from porting to a solid state drive. Windows itself is also best installed on an SSD.
3. Uninstall the Xbox app. It launches a rather heavy background process along with all games. You can uninstall through Windows PowerShell using the Get-AppxPackage * xbox * | Remove-AppxPackageand then restart the PC.
4. Uninstall most other built-in Windows applications. The Microsoft ecosystem finally died after the Windows Phone platform freeze. Therefore, it is better to remove branded software, which often hangs in the background for nothing (with commands via Windows PowerShell):

• Remove-AppxPackage –package Microsoft.BingFinance_10004.3.193.0_neutral_ ~ _8wekyb3d8bbwe
• Remove-AppxPackage -package Microsoft.BingNews_10004.3.193.0_neutral_ ~ _8wekyb3d8bbwe
• Remove-AppxPackage -package Microsoft.BingSports_10004.3.193.0_neutral_ ~ _8wekyb3d8bbwe
• Remove-AppxPackage -package Microsoft.BingWeather_10004.3.193.0_neutral_ ~ _8wekyb3d8bbwe
• Remove-AppxPackage -package Microsoft.Getstarted_2015.622.1108.0_neutral_ ~ _8wekyb3d8bbwe
• Remove-AppxPackage -package Microsoft.MicrosoftOfficeHub_2015.4218.23751.0_neutral_ ~ _8wekyb3d8bbwe
• Remove-AppxPackage -package Microsoft.MicrosoftSolitaireCollection_3.1.6103.0_neutral_ ~ _8wekyb3d8bbwe
• Remove-AppxPackage -package Microsoft.Office.OneNote_2015.4201.10091.0_neutral_ ~ _8wekyb3d8bbwe
• Remove-AppxPackage -package Microsoft.People_2015.627.626.0_neutral_ ~ _8wekyb3d8bbwe
• Remove-AppxPackage -package Microsoft.SkypeApp_3.2.1.0_neutral_ ~ _kzf8qxf38zg5c
• Remove-AppxPackage -package Microsoft.WindowsMaps_2015.619.213.0_neutral_ ~ _8wekyb3d8bbwe
• Remove-AppxPackage -package Microsoft.WindowsPhone_2015.620.10.0_neutral_ ~ _8wekyb3d8bbwe
• Remove-AppxPackage -package Microsoft.WindowsSoundRecorder_2015.615.1606.0_neutral_ ~ _8wekyb3d8bbwe
• Remove-AppxPackage -package Microsoft.XboxApp_2015.617.130.0_neutral_ ~ _8wekyb3d8bbwe
• Remove-AppxPackage -package Microsoft.ZuneMusic_2019.6.10841.0_neutral_ ~ _8wekyb3d8bbwe
• Remove-AppxPackage -package Microsoft.ZuneVideo_2019.6.10811.0_neutral_ ~ _8wekyb3d8bbwe
• Remove-AppxPackage -package Microsoft.3DBuilder_10.0.0.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe

5. Install RuntimePack . This is a set of all libraries necessary to run games. It can also solve problems with incorrectly working physics, loading the processor instead of the video card.
6. Disable mouse acceleration. This is a useful feature for touchpads, but not normal mice. And in shooters, it is more likely to interfere with aiming. You can turn off the speed increase as you get closer to the edge of the screen in the mouse options in Control Panel.
7. Configure Windows updates. This is especially true for the 10th version of the operating system. Go to Start> Settings> Update & Security> Change ActiveHour and set the typical hours you use your PC. It is better not to turn off updates at all, but you can pause them.
8. Defragment only the hard drive where the games are installed. But it is better not to defragment an SSD at all.
9. Install DirectX 12 . On Windows 10, it is already installed by default, but on older versions, you might not think about it. With DirectX 12, most modern video cards perform better in games (not to be confused with Direct3D 12 mode!).