performance tuning

A high-profile YouTuber has demonstrated that the ROG Xbox Ally X can feel and, in narrow cases, benchmark better when it’s running a lean Linux gaming distribution instead of Windows 11 — but the test that made headlines did not use Valve’s official SteamOS and left out several real-world...

Set Custom Virtual Memory (Paging File) for Faster Windows 10/11 Difficulty: Beginner | Time Required: 10-15 minutes In short, the paging file (virtual memory) acts as a spill-over area for your RAM. When Windows runs out of physical memory, it uses the paging file on disk to keep apps...

The MSI Stealth 16 AI is, on paper and in practice, a near-perfect example of what modern 16‑inch Windows gaming/creator laptops try to be: slim, sharply finished, lightning-fast in bursts, and outrageously good at color work — yet stubbornly tethered to a wall by battery life and, at times...

Customizing Windows 11’s system sounds is a fast, high‑impact way to make your PC feel personal and less noisy — and it’s simpler than most users expect. In this guide you’ll get a concise, step‑by‑step walkthrough for changing system and notification sounds, re‑enabling the classic...

I used a simple change—turning off nonessential startup apps—and cut my PC's boot wait by measurable seconds; the tweak is low-risk, reversible, and one of the fastest wins for real‑world responsiveness. In controlled tests on two machines (one HDD-based, one SSD-based) the boot time dropped...

Windows 11 ships with a focused toolkit for PC gaming — from Game Mode and Auto HDR to DirectStorage and per‑app GPU control — and when you combine those features with up‑to‑date drivers, the right power profile, and thoughtful storage management you can measurably boost FPS, reduce stutters...

Windows 11 ships with a cluster of gamer-focused features — Game Mode, Auto HDR, DirectStorage, hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling and per-app GPU preferences — that can materially change responsiveness, load times and visual fidelity when configured correctly, but many players never look past...

PC “optimizer” apps promise a magic fix: one click to clean junk files, repair the registry, free RAM and make Windows run like new — but in practice some of the most popular tools have done the opposite, introducing privacy risks, background bloat, and even security incidents that worsened the...

Borderlands 4 arrives on PC alongside consoles on September 12, 2025, and Gearbox’s published PC system requirements make one thing clear: this is a modern‑PC title that expects eight physical CPU cores, fast NVMe storage, and a GPU with 8–12+ GB of VRAM just to be comfortably playable at...

Microsoft’s preview of Windows 11 25H2 arrives under a familiar headline: no sweeping performance gains, and in independent creator‑workload benchmarks it still trails Linux by a noticeable margin. Background Windows 11 25H2 is positioned as an incremental, enablement‑style update rather than a...

Optimize Windows 10/11 for Gaming: Game Mode, GPU Scheduling & Per‑App GPU Settings Difficulty: Intermediate | Time Required: 25 minutes Brief introduction Gaming on a modern Windows PC can be great out of the box, but small OS and GPU setting tweaks often give measurable gains in frame...

If your Windows 11 laptop’s battery life feels shorter than it should, the usual advice—dim the screen, close background apps, choose a power‑efficient mode—helps, but it may not be the whole story; one often‑overlooked background system, the Windows Search Indexer, can silently chew CPU, disk...

Windows ships with a concealed power profile that can squeeze a few extra milliseconds of responsiveness out of high-end systems: the Ultimate Performance power plan — a no-compromise mode designed to eliminate micro-latency by disabling many of Windows’ default energy-saving behaviors...

If your Windows 11 laptop runs hot, fans spin up frequently, or battery life feels worse than it should, the built‑in Windows Search Indexer — also known as searchindexer.exe or the Windows Search (WSearch) service — is one of the single background features that can meaningfully affect power...

Windows 7 arrived as a counterpunch: a carefully tuned, performance-minded release that salvaged the innovations of Windows Vista while shedding its worst excesses — a reboot of public perception that turned a tarnished chapter in Windows history into a rediscovered foothold for Microsoft’s...

Windows has long been celebrated for its versatility, but that flexibility also comes with quirks and complexities that can frustrate power users and casual consumers alike. As Microsoft evolves its flagship operating system, hidden services and features—originally designed as performance...

A newly discovered bug in Windows 10’s Game Bar is creating unexpected turbulence for a subset of high-end PC gamers, particularly those running systems equipped with AMD’s powerhouse Ryzen 3D V-Cache processors. Reports have surfaced from reputable sources highlighting that, under specific...

Managing power and sleep settings in Windows 11 is essential for optimizing your device's performance and energy efficiency. By customizing these settings, you can extend battery life, reduce energy consumption, and tailor your system's behavior to your preferences. Accessing Power and Sleep...

With the code branch for NetBSD 11 freshly created, the storied BSD operating system is preparing to reinforce its position as a bastion of portability and versatility in the Unix world. This imminent release, less than 18 months after NetBSD 10, comes at a critical juncture for open source, as...

Every Windows user, from curious beginners to seasoned pros, eventually runs into routine computer chores: deleting temporary files, keeping backups, making sure apps are at-the-ready after a reboot, or running that one finicky script only at a specific time of day. While these tasks may seem...