Are you having trouble running MMOs and MMORPGs on your computer above low or medium graphics? Do you want better performance out of your computer and games, without spending any money? Well then hopefully these tips will be useful to you. Today we are going to take a look at how you can get your games running at the highest settings you can possibly squeeze out of your computer. If you can already run the game at decent/max settings but want to gain some extra FPS, these tips are still relevant to you too! Let's begin.
Download AVG Anti-Virus 2012 (Free) from here. Install once download is complete, the software will ask to update, make sure you allow it to update.
Download Spybot - Search & Destroy (Free) from here. Install once download is complete, the software will ask to update, make sure you allow it to update.
Download Malwarebytes Anti-Malware from here. Install once download is complete, the software will ask to update, make sure you allow it to update.
Run each of the programs and perform a full system scan, don't run them all at once though! Do one at a time, first AVG, then Spybot, then Malwarebytes. This may take some time so do it when you don't need the computer for possibly a few hours.
Once the scans complete they will give you a list of viruses found (if any) and will remove them all for you.
Uninstall unused/unnecessary programs - Click Start>Control Panel>Add or Remove Programs or for Win7 users "Uninstall a program" for a list of currently installed programs.
Defrag your computer - Download and install Defraggler here. Run the program and perform a Defragmentation on your hard drive, this gathers everything together on your hard drive and organizes it so windows can find it faster. For Win7 users, the default defrag software is currently the safest offering, click Start>All Programs>Accessories>System Tools>Disk Defragmenter.
Delete unwanted files and repair disk errors - Download and install CCleaner here. Run the program and perform a system clean on your computer, this will delete all unnecessary files that your computer collects over time.
Clear your games cache (if applicable) - Some games create a cache or areas or NPCs you encounter so that they can load them quickly, over time these can become corrupted however. Check if your game creates a cache, ask on the respective forums if you are unsure. Deleting this cache every time a large content patch is released will ensure your files are up to date and working correctly.
Watch your free space - Ensure you always have at least 15% free disk space.
Optimize Windows appearance for performance - Right click My Computer>Properties>Advanced Tab>Performance then select 'Adjust for best performance'. This will turn off unnecessary animations, effects and the aero desktop theme. Doing this means your theme will look like Win98, ugly but worth it.
Use USB flash drives as RAM - If you have Windows Vista or 7 you can use compatible flash drives as extra memory, the flash drive must have 1-3 times the space of your ram. For example, if you have 2GB of ram, you should use a 6GB flash drive. Plug in your flash drive, right click on the drive in My Computer, select properties then click the ReadyBoost tab and enable it.
Close unnecessary programs - Before launching your game close every program you won't be using, which should be all of them unless you are alt+tab'ing out to talk on msn or facebook.
Use Game Booster (Free) - Download the free version of Game Booster here. This software will shutdown all the programs and services windows is running that you don't need while playing games, it will turn absolutely everything off that you don't need and gives a great boost in performance for old computers and laptops.
Download the latest drivers - Your hardware uses drivers to operate, drivers are software that basically help Windows communicate with the hardware to make everything work. Visit the manufacturer's website for your hardware to download the latest drivers. You can check what hardware is installed by right clicking My Computer>Properties>Device Manager.
