How to Maintain the Speed of a Freshly Installed Windows OS
Normally, people ask “Antivirus soft wares are supposed to be in-built for an OS if they promise security, right?, Well the answer is, improved security is one of the promises offered by any OS from its previous versions., Make sure you're a user...
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Normally
So why is it that I can’t find it in my OS?” , As in Windows, there are two things which can be obviously seen.
One is the Windows Firewall, the other is Windows Defender.
Both took a giant leap from XP to Vista.
But there is a silent warrior performing security measures in Windows apart from the above two.
Anyway, I am talking about the Data Execution Prevention(DEP for short) module in Windows systems.
By default, it is started up both in XP and Vista when the system boots up, their capabilities are widespread, but in a nutshell what they do, is they monitor every file in your OS, when they are MODIFIED, even in the most slightest way.
Although DEP is a really great thing, it does the most to slow down your system.
Initially in a freshly installed OS, you won’t even notice DEP’s influence, but as you install and add more files for your OS to monitor, that's when all hell breaks loose.
Consider copying a file about the size of 500MB or more, when the OS is fresh, this should be nearly a piece of cake, but when your hard drive is filled up, you can take two cups of coffee before the process gets done, Phew! that's what happened when I had DEP enabled in Vista sometime ago.
You can’t really blame DEP, it's doing good to you at the cost of speed, so I think I gave you enough info on this, let's get to the point of disabling them, oh and don't PANIC!! It's no big deal.
Here is what you need to do.,,,, This is your system’s bootloader settings, don’t touch anything in their which you don’t know about. , Bingo!! You found the roots of DEP, all you have to do is change the value “OptIn” to ” AlwaysOff ” (without quotes, ‘A’ and ‘O’ should be in capitals). ,,,,,,,, Now restart the system. , Personally I felt a great speed boost in Vista SP1 compared to the normal Vista installation.
I would recommend you to disable DEP after you install Vista SP1 if you really have the need for speed . , I wrote this post, because, DEP is somewhat old school to hackers and viruses.
They learned to get past them, so DEP is just slowing things down for you, if you think keeping them enabled will save you from malicious codes.
As for antivirus softies unlike DEP, they are not embedded to your OS, you can always turn them off with a simple click later, so they don’t pick on your operating system’s speed while your working. -
Step 2: people ask “Antivirus soft wares are supposed to be in-built for an OS if they promise security
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Step 3: right?
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Step 4: Well the answer is
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Step 5: improved security is one of the promises offered by any OS from its previous versions.
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Step 6: Make sure you're a user with administrative rights.
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Step 7: Go on to Control Panel -> System -> Advanced Tab
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Step 8: and under Startup and Recovery click Settings.
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Step 9: A new window pops up
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Step 10: in which you must click the ‘Edit’ button.
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Step 11: You should see a text file opening up.
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Step 12: In the last line you should see something like this “/NoExecute=OptIn”.
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Step 13: Now save the file and close it
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Step 14: for those who want to know where the actual DEP is
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Step 15: under Advanced Tab click on Settings which is under Performance
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Step 16: you should find DEP in the popped up window.
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Step 17: Now restart the system
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Step 18: and feel the first speed boost to your XP system.
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Step 19: Since Vista doesn’t allow you to directly edit the bootloader settings
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Step 20: here is how you do it in Vista.
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Step 21: Be sure to be a user with administrative rights.
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Step 22: Click Start -> Run and then type in “command.com” without quotes and then you should have the command prompt.
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Step 23: In there
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Step 24: just type in the following and it doesn't matter which directory you're in.
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Step 25: ” bcdedit.exe /set {currentuser} nx AlwaysOff ” (without quotes)
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Step 26: If you did it correctly
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Step 27: it will say “The Command Completed Successfully”.
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Step 28: For Vista users who do not own Vista Service Pack 1
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Step 29: I would recommend you order it
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Step 30: and get it installed in your system as soon as you can.
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Step 31: If DEP is disabled
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Step 32: doesn't that make my system more vulnerable to attacks though it improves my speed?” 3rd party Antivirus softwares will rescue you from that trouble
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Step 33: That's what they were built for!
Detailed Guide
So why is it that I can’t find it in my OS?” , As in Windows, there are two things which can be obviously seen.
One is the Windows Firewall, the other is Windows Defender.
Both took a giant leap from XP to Vista.
But there is a silent warrior performing security measures in Windows apart from the above two.
Anyway, I am talking about the Data Execution Prevention(DEP for short) module in Windows systems.
By default, it is started up both in XP and Vista when the system boots up, their capabilities are widespread, but in a nutshell what they do, is they monitor every file in your OS, when they are MODIFIED, even in the most slightest way.
Although DEP is a really great thing, it does the most to slow down your system.
Initially in a freshly installed OS, you won’t even notice DEP’s influence, but as you install and add more files for your OS to monitor, that's when all hell breaks loose.
Consider copying a file about the size of 500MB or more, when the OS is fresh, this should be nearly a piece of cake, but when your hard drive is filled up, you can take two cups of coffee before the process gets done, Phew! that's what happened when I had DEP enabled in Vista sometime ago.
You can’t really blame DEP, it's doing good to you at the cost of speed, so I think I gave you enough info on this, let's get to the point of disabling them, oh and don't PANIC!! It's no big deal.
Here is what you need to do.,,,, This is your system’s bootloader settings, don’t touch anything in their which you don’t know about. , Bingo!! You found the roots of DEP, all you have to do is change the value “OptIn” to ” AlwaysOff ” (without quotes, ‘A’ and ‘O’ should be in capitals). ,,,,,,,, Now restart the system. , Personally I felt a great speed boost in Vista SP1 compared to the normal Vista installation.
I would recommend you to disable DEP after you install Vista SP1 if you really have the need for speed . , I wrote this post, because, DEP is somewhat old school to hackers and viruses.
They learned to get past them, so DEP is just slowing things down for you, if you think keeping them enabled will save you from malicious codes.
As for antivirus softies unlike DEP, they are not embedded to your OS, you can always turn them off with a simple click later, so they don’t pick on your operating system’s speed while your working.
About the Author
Grace Phillips
Committed to making creative arts accessible and understandable for everyone.
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