After many people telling me horror stories about the computers they are running WoW on and asking me how they can make it better I decided to make this post instead of having to explain it all multiple times. What we will go over here is three main things you can do to your computer to increase performance in not only WoW but every game you play.
The first section we'll be going over the video options of your video card and DirectX. This will only apply to people running Microsoft Windows XP. We will be tweaking the way your computer handles performance and picture quality of the applications and games that run on your computer. If you have a very high end computer and do not require better performance in WoW you do not necessarily need to tweak these settings as the default settings are just fine. Then again if you want to get the max performance of your video card at the expense of picture quality (nothing really noticeable mind you (quality wise)) then you should follow the tips I will be giving.
The second section will be another aspect of video performance but nothing to do with tweaking actual video card options. We will go over steps to reduce the overall load on your video card by turning off Microsoft Windows visual effects. This is recommended for everyone as you do not need this eye candy, the performance gained from turning off these effects outweighs the the effects and color it provides.
The third section we will be going over and disabling unneeded Windows services. Some of the services that we will be disabling are not only unneeded but can pose a security risk to users while enabled. Services are parts of Windows that run in the background, they are not necessarily programs but just what they are called, services used in Windows and not all are needed.
The fourth section will be services that can be disabled but before doing so you will need to look at your situation to know if you should disable them or not.
Before we start I highly recommend you download the Sygate Firewall Pro. I have thoroughly tested every single main stream firewall software there is and even the lesser known ones and this is by far the best there is. I have been a computer technician for ten years and stay up to date on all the latest software so trust me on this. I also recommend downloading the Ad-Aware 6.0 Pro spyware removal and real time protector as well as the WinOptimizer Platinum Suite 2 which gives a great registry cleaner as well as many other useful utilities from. I don't usually like registry cleaners cause most screw up your system but this is a very good one. All three can be downloaded Here. I also highly suggest you get McAfee Antivirus or NOD32 as your main antivirus software. They are the best antivirus by far, picks up virii that others do not and uses very little system resources for such a powerful program. If you cannot get these PM me and i'll hook you up.
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#### Section One - Video Card Performance #####
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ATI CARD USERS
Right click on your desktop and pick Properties.
Click the settings tab at the top, then press the Advanced button.
By default WoW uses Microsoft DirectX so you should only need change the settings for DirectX. If you have WoW set to use OpenGL you will be picking the OpenGL section. Click and drag the slide bar all the way to the left until it's set to optimal performance. You can set different profiles for different games by naming them and saving them. This is not necessary but the rare game needs special settings and might needs its own profile. If you do wish to create different profiles, name it anything you want then press the save button.
Now click Apply
Then hit OK, that window should close.
Then hit OK on the last window.
NVIDIA CARD USERS
Right click on your desktop and pick Properties.
Click the tab that has the NVIDIA icon and the name of your video card. Pick the performance and quality settings from the side menu that pops up. Now make sure the show advanced settings option is not checked, once you unchecked it highlight the Antialiasing Settings from the list and unchecked the Application-Controlled box. Now click and drag the slide bar all the way to the left so that the setting is set to Off.
Now choose Anisotropic Filtering from the list, unchecked the Application-Controlled box then click and drag the slide bar all the way to the left so that it is set to Off.
Now choose Image Settings from the list, click and drag the slide bar all the way to the left so that it is set to High Performance.
[img]http://home.cogeco.ca/~veryhurtin/video10.jpg[/img]
Now choose Vertical Sync from the list, unchecked the Application-Controlled box then click and drag the slide bar all the way to the left so that it is set to Off.
[img]http://home.cogeco.ca/~veryhurtin/video11.jpg[/img]
Now click apply
[img]http://home.cogeco.ca/~veryhurtin/video12.jpg[/img]
Then hit OK, that window should close.
[img]http://home.cogeco.ca/~veryhurtin/video12.jpg[/img]
Then hit OK on the last window.
*** You should also remove your desktop wallpaper as that will free up some resources as well. Go to the tap desktop, and pick "none" in the pull down menu for "background". ***
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#### Section Two - Video Resources ####
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[img]http://home.cogeco.ca/~veryhurtin/performance1.jpg[/img]
Click your Windows start button and choose Control Panel from the right hand column.
[img]http://home.cogeco.ca/~veryhurtin/performance2.jpg[/img]
Choose Performance and Maintenance from the category list.
[img]http://home.cogeco.ca/~veryhurtin/performance3.jpg[/img]
Click the control panel icon System.
[img]http://home.cogeco.ca/~veryhurtin/performance4.jpg[/img]
Click the Advanced tab at the top then the settings button in the performance sections.
[img]http://home.cogeco.ca/~veryhurtin/performance5.jpg[/img]
Click the option Adjust For Best Performance.
[img]http://home.cogeco.ca/~veryhurtin/performance6.jpg[/img]
Now click Apply. Do not be alarmed when you see all the color change as this is windows going back to its old school look. It's also disabled all the unneeded visual effects and will increase the over performance in Windows doing your everyday things as well as in games as it has freed up some valuable resources.
[img]http://home.cogeco.ca/~veryhurtin/performance7.jpg[/img]
Then hit OK, that window should close.
[img]http://home.cogeco.ca/~veryhurtin/performance7.jpg[/img]
Now hit OK on the last window thats open.
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#### Section 3 - Windows Services ####
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[img]http://home.cogeco.ca/~veryhurtin/services1.jpg[/img]
Click your Windows start button and choose Control Panel from the right hand column.
[img]http://home.cogeco.ca/~veryhurtin/services2.jpg[/img]
Choose Administrative Tools from the category list.
[img]http://home.cogeco.ca/~veryhurtin/services3.jpg[/img]
Now double click the Services Icon.
[img]http://home.cogeco.ca/~veryhurtin/services4.jpg[/img]
When the services window pops up first click the bottom tab that says standard. Then find the first service we are going to disable called ClipBook, highlight it and right click to get the popup menu, click Properties from the menu.
[img]http://home.cogeco.ca/~veryhurtin/services5.jpg[/img]
Once the Properties window for ClipBook comes up you'll see various information about the service, what we are going to be changing is the Startup Type and Service Status. From the Startup Type pull down menu change the option to Disabled. Then click the Stop button in the Server Status section underneath. This will shut down the server as well as stop it from automatically loading when you startup windows.
[img]http://home.cogeco.ca/~veryhurtin/services6.jpg[/img]
Now click Apply
[img]http://home.cogeco.ca/~veryhurtin/services7.jpg[/img]
Then click OK to bring you back to the services list.
Find and disable the following services using the same method as they are all unneeded. Take note, the messenger service has nothing to do with Microsoft Messenger.
[img]http://home.cogeco.ca/~veryhurtin/services8.jpg[/img]
[img]http://home.cogeco.ca/~veryhurtin/services9.jpg[/img]
[img]http://home.cogeco.ca/~veryhurtin/services10.jpg[/img]
[img]http://home.cogeco.ca/~veryhurtin/services11.jpg[/img]
[img]http://home.cogeco.ca/~veryhurtin/services12.jpg[/img]
[img]http://home.cogeco.ca/~veryhurtin/services13.jpg[/img]
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#### Optional Services That Can Be Disabled ####
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[img]http://home.cogeco.ca/~veryhurtin/servicesoptional1.jpg[/img]
Hardly anyone that I know actually uses Microsoft's built in Help and Support as it's pretty much useless. If you do not use it you can disable this service to free up some resources.
[img]http://home.cogeco.ca/~veryhurtin/servicesoptional2.jpg[/img]
Unless your computer is set to act as a router using connection sharing or connects to another computer on your LAN for Internet access (MS Windows NATS only (not Linux NATS)) you should disable this service. This will also disable the remote access feature in windows which I cannot stess enough should be disabled.
[img]http://home.cogeco.ca/~veryhurtin/servicesoptional3.jpg[/img]
Secondary login allows multiple windows accounts to login at the same time. No one in their right mind would have multiple users logged into their windows then try to play games. I suggest you disable this. This will not take away the ability of having multiple user accounts, just the ability to log on those multiple accounts at the same time.
[img]http://home.cogeco.ca/~veryhurtin/servicesoptional4.jpg[/img]
If you use McAfee Antivirus it comes with it's own Security Center, a much more user friendly and less pushy one at that. If you do have McAfee's Security Center it's safe to disable this service.
[img]http://home.cogeco.ca/~veryhurtin/servicesoptional5.jpg[/img]
If you have a 3rd party software Firewall installed (I highly suggest you use the Sygate Firewall I mentioned) and do not use Windows' Internet Connection Sharing then you can disable this service.
[img]http://home.cogeco.ca/~veryhurtin/servicesoptional6.jpg[/img]
If you do not have a wireless network you can disable this service.