How To Optimize Windows for Gaming?

Has your gaming experince been slowing down? Do you want to boost the performance you are getting from your PC? We will share our best tips for getting the most out of your PC to have the best possible gaming experience. Whether you enjoy playing Parkasaurus or Mass Effect and Diablo, these tips should surely boost your gaming performance.

1. Use Game Mode

The most obvious and easiest tip is to get started is to use Game Mode. Game Mode optimizes the PC automatically to play games. When using this mode, the resources are managed in a way that helps your PC maintain an optimal frame rate giving you a smoother experience.

To Turn on Game Mode:

1. Press the Windows Key + I 

2. Type Game Mode 

3. Click Game Mode Settings 

4. On the Gaming Screen click Game Mode  

5. Toggle it On to use it.  

Improve Internet Speed by Using a Faster DNS

Though upgrading your internet service via your service provider will help you achieve a better connection, you can also do some network tweaks to improve your connection right now and best of all it is free.  You can do this by using a better DNS.

To do this:

1. Press Windows Key + I  

2. Find Network and Interndkfjet > Change Adapter Settings  

3. Right Click on your wireless network  

4. Highlight Internet Protocol Version 4  

5. Make a note of the two DNS entries for future reference  

6. Replace them with 1.1.1.1 and 1.0.0.1 

7. Click okay the Close  

8. Restart any programs that are connected to the internet  

3. Disable Automatic Updates

Though this isn’t necessarily a tip to optimize Windows for gaming, it is a tip gamers should know especially for those of you who play story games. Windows automatically updates itself and it can catch you without a warning as it downloads updates in the background. To ensure you don’t lose any saved progress by a Windows update be sure to disable automatic updates

To disable automatic updates:

1. Press Windows Key + I  

2. Click Update and Security > Windows Update  

3. Find Advanced Options then click Update Options  

4. Disable Restart this device as soon as possible when a restart is required to install an update 

5. Enable Show Notification 

6. Use Pause Updates to Delay Installation for up to 7 days  

4. Prevent Steam Auto Updating Games

On the same note, you should probably disable automatic updates from steam. Not only will this slowly chop away at your memory by updating games you don’t play, but it can also hinder your performance while playing online games with downloads happening in the background.  

Moreover, you can specifically choose which games you want to keep on automatic updates and which ones you’d like to manually check for.  

To prevent automatic updates: 

1. Launch Steam  

2. Open Settings Then Click Download  

3. Uncheck the Allow Downloads During Gameplay Box  

To select which games you want to be updated: 

1. Open the steam library  

2. Right Click on the Installed Game  

3. Select Properties and then Updates  

4. Under Automatic Updates Change Always Keep this game up to date to only update this game when I launch it 

5. Ensure “Pause Background Downloads while I’m playing” is selected under Background Downloads.  

5. Tweak Your Mouse Settings

Pointer precision is a feature that that allows you to increase the speed of the cursor depending on how fast you move your mouse but it is a good idea to turn this feature off for gaming as you want a consistent speed.

To turn it off:  

1. Press Windows Key + I  

2. Select Devices  

3. Select Mouse from the Menu on the Left then click Additional Mouse Options  

4. Go to Pointer Options Tab and uncheck the enhance pointer precision  

5. Click Apply then OK 

6. Lower Your Game Resolution and Graphic Settings

Lowering the graphic settings in games can help deliver a smoother gaming experience. If you have a high-end PC then there is no need for this. With a low-end PC, it is a good idea to lower the graphic settings in game. This will decrease the load on your GPU giving you more frame rates which is great for competitive FPS games.

Some games have simple settings you can choose from ranging from low to ultra. Other games have much more customization

7. Use Max Power Plan

To get an additional boost out of your PC you can play around with the power settings. Though some gamers claim it does not have an impact, the only way to know is to test it on your PC.  

To do this:  

1. Open settings  

2. Type Power  

3. Click Power & Sleep Settings > Additional Power Settings  

4. Select the High-performance option  

5. If none is available, use create a power plan to configure a new, custom power plan.  

8. Keep your GPU Updated

The GPU is the main component of your gaming experiences so it is important to keep it up to date to have the best experience. Keeping your graphics card updated can help boost your PC’s performance.

To do this:  

1. Right Click on Desktop  

2. Click on Display Settings then Advanced Display Settings  

3. At the bottom look for Display Adapter Properties  

4. You can download the driver updates in this window by clicking on properties then driver and then update driver  

Conclusion

If you utilize these tips you should see a boost in your gaming performance. Best of all all these tips are free and don’t require you to upgrade any parts of your PC. If you also use your PC for work, check out our productivity tips for Windows by clicking here.