Design a guide (tutorial-like) for optimizing the way how your computer runs (software). Include any system optimizations that you find reasonable or required. Assume the target system runs Windows OS.

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There are many variants to complete this type of guide. In the following I assume I have to maintain and optimize a system running Windows 7 Ultimate x64 version on a desktop. In case of a laptop the next things are quite the same; for servers running Windows Sever differ a bit, but it is not the goal of this guide. I will also assume that hardware is enough advanced to can run fine this OS on it (let’s say it is based on LGA775 socket with a Core 2 Duo 2, 8 GHz E7400 CPU). For old enough platform, no matter what optimization measures we take, the effect will be small, due to hardware limitations.
To maintain (i.e. in this context) means to keep OS integrity long time without fresh reinstall so it can properly function. To optimize means to try obtaining the best possible performance and in the same time OS to remain stable. This is why both operations begin with OS booting and start-up. We can take consideration the following checks/measures with respect to Windows 7 maintenance and optimization operations....