Installing Windows 7__________________________________

:!: Before you install, do each of these things.

1. If you have multiple SATA ports, make sure you are using the right one. Consult your motherboard manual to ensure you are using the right port.

2. Overclocking your hardware can compromise stability. Revert to stock clocks before installing to prevent data corruption.

3. Enable AHCI SATA mode in the UEFI/BIOS or RAID mode if you're going to use RAID or Intel SRT (SSD caching).

4. Make sure AHCI 2.0 or later is enabled in the UEFI/BIOS. If it's not there, don't worry about it.

5. Make sure your HDD/SSD firmware is up to date. If it's not, update it. ( [ Register or Signin to view external links. ] )

6. To be safe and avoid accidental deletion or installation to the wrong destination, disconnect everything but the drive you are installing to and the Windows installation media. You should re-connect them after step 5 of the optimization process.

7. If you are using an SSD, connect it to the native Intel or AMD SATA 6Gb/s or 3Gb/s controller instead of any third-party controller. Consult the manual to find out which ports use the native controller and use them first.

8. Make sure you're not installing to a hard drive with a capacity of over 2.2TB. You will need to use the GPT format instead of MBR if you are. This guide is for MBR.

:!: This process applies to ALL DRIVES. It is for configuring drives using MBR with BIOS/UEFI motherboards. The Microsoft System Reserve partition is not removed.

1. Boot to the installation media.

2. Press Shift + F10 at the "Install Windows" screen to open a command prompt.

3. Type "list disk" and press enter.

4. Type "select disk #". "#" is the number of the drive you are installing to. Press enter.

5. Type "clean" and press enter.

6. Type "exit" and press enter.

7. Close the command prompt window.

8. Click next.

9. Click "Install now."

10. Accept the agreement and click next.

11. Choose "Custom: Install Windows only (advanced)."

12. Select the partition you want to install to and click "Drive options (Advanced)."

13. Click "New" and then "Apply." Two partitions will appear. Select the larger one to install.

14. Click "OK" and "Next."

15. Follow the instructions until installation is complete.

Optimizing Windows 7__________________________________

:!:Some steps are for HDDs or SSDs only. Only do the steps that apply to your drive.

1. Disable hibernation or shrink the file.

If you don't use hibernation in Windows, you can save several gigabytes of space by disabling it. It can be shrunk if you do use it. Hibernation is different from regular sleep mode and it enables you to use [ Register or Signin to view external links. ]

1. Type "cmd" in the search line of the start menu.

2. Right click the CMD icon and click "Run as administrator".

3. Type "powercfg -h off" to delete the file or "powercfg -h -size 50" to shrink it. Press enter.

2. Disable or shrink system protection.

You will be unable to perform a system restore if you disable protection. Doing this will save you several gigabytes of disk space and result in fewer writes to your drive, but whether it's worth it or not depends on whether you think it's worth it for the size of your drive. You can shrink system protection as well if you don't want to completely disable it. Personally, I'd leave it on and recommend most do the same.

1. Open the start menu.

2. Right click computer and select "Properties."

3. Click "System Protection" on the left.

4. Select "C:".

5. Click "Configure."

5. Select "Turn off system protection" or adjust the slider to whatever you want.

6. Click OK.

3. Turn off drive indexing. (SSD ONLY)

Indexing creates a database of file attributes to speed up the Windows search feature, but it results in lots of small read and write operations. Disabling this will not turn off the search feature and it will still work perfectly, it's just pointless to index SSDs due to their high speeds.

1. Open the start menu.

2. Click Computer.

3. Right click your C: drive and click "Properties."

4. Uncheck the bottom box to disable indexing.

5. Open the start menu, type "Indexing options", and press enter. You can adjust indexing settings however you want.

:!: Shut down to apply the changes. You should now re-connect all drives from pre-installation step 6.

4. Install all of your drivers.

1. Find the drivers for your motherboard, graphics card, SSD, and any other expansion card from the manufacturer's site or included driver disks.

2. Install and restart when needed.

3. Ensure that your drivers are the most up-to-date versions if you used driver disks.

5. Install the latest SATA and chipset drivers.

Make sure your drives all operate at their maximum potential. Keep in mind that not all drivers support TRIM for SSDs in a RAID array, although TRIM will work with an SSD that is not in a RAID volume but RAID SATA mode.

[ Register or Signin to view external links. ]
[ Register or Signin to view external links. ]

8. Update Windows.

Patch all vulnerabilities, update to the latest service pack if necessary, and fix most potential issues by running Windows Update.

1. Open the start menu and type "windows update" into the search line. Press enter.

2. Check for updates and install everything but the Bing Bar (Seriously, Micro$oft?). Your computer may restart multiple times.

3. If you are using an activator, make sure you run it AFTER Windows is updated. You may need to uninstall one of the updates, KB971033. You can use [ Register or Signin to view external links. ]

9. Change power options.

For desktops, you want your performance setting to be on the highest option because you're not dealing with a battery like you are with a laptop. If you're using a laptop, you can just leave this on the default setting.

1. Open the start menu and type "power options" in the search line. Press enter.

2. Select "High performance."

3. Click "Change plan settings."

4. Click "Change advanced power settings."

5. Expand the hard disk option and change setting to "Never."

6. Expand the sleep option and change it to "Never."

7. Click OK.

10. Run the Windows Experience Index assessment

This makes Windows recognize your SSD and other things and makes appropriate adjustments.

1. Open the start menu and type "windows experience index" until "Check the Windows Experience Index" shows up. Press enter.

2. Click "Rate this computer" or "Re-run the assessment" if you have run it previously and changed your hardware since.

11. Make sure you do not defragment your SSD (SSD ONLY)

Ensure that Windows does not degragment any partitions on your SSD because it will have no positive effect and reduce the life of the drive.

1. Open the start menu and type "disk defragmenter". Press enter.

2. Click "Configure schedule."

3. Turn the scheduler off for all partitions on your SSD(s).

4. (Optional) If you only have an SSD in your computer, you can disable the defragmenter entirely by disabling the service in msconfig.

12. Disable Prefetch and Superfetch (SSD ONLY)

These services cache programs from slow hard drives. They are detrimental to newer SSDs.

1a. Open the start menu and type "services.msc". Press enter.

2a. Scroll down to "SuperFetch".

3a. Double-click it and select "Disabled" from the list.

1b. Open the start menu and type "regedit". Press enter.

2b. Go to "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters"

3b. Double-click "EnablePrefetcher" and change the value from 3 to 0.

4b. Double-click "EnableSuperfetch" and change the value from 3 to 0.

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