Introduction

I've written a few game-specific tweak guides for TweakTown in the past and in each of those guides I've had to cover some common ground such as where to find the latest drivers and how to update them, the best BIOS settings, general Windows optimization, and overclocking issues. It usually took up 1-2 pages of each guide and quite honestly would essentially be a repeat of the same information you may have seen in one of my previous guides.

This got me thinking "what would a lazy tweak guide writer do in this situation?" The answer came to me in a blinding flash of unoriginality - write a general system optimization guide which you can refer to often, and which is easy to manage and update because the information is all in one location. And so this guide was born.

As you read through the guide you may think some of it is a little obvious, or may be a little "untechnical". The truth of the matter is this guide is aimed at a wide audience, from people who have just starting using a PC, through to people who think Prof. Stephen Hawking is a nice man but a little dim.

Remember this is only a guide, and a simple central resource at that. If something is not mentioned here, be proactive! If you follow the links provided you'll see that there's a wealth of greater detail awaiting you if you want to know more about a particular item. If all else fails and you still have a thirst for knowledge, use trusty ol' Google to search for more information. That's what I do.

If you're already thinking "Why should I bother going through this guide, I just want my game to run faster man!" then you've missed the point. A lot of gaming problems are actually nothing to do with the game itself. In most cases it's a general system optimization issue of some sort. Do yourself a favour, take a few minutes of your life and read the following and I promise you'll find something of use which should have you gaming at full speed ASAP.

Note: This guide is regularly updated to ensure all advice is correct and links are active. If you believe something is in error in this guide, or you experience a dead link, please email me by clicking my name at the top of the guide.