felikcat / W11Boost

🚀Optimizes Windows without changing how it's used. No breaking apps by default.

About

W11Boost’s goals compared to alternative optimizers

1. Works on any Windows 10 or 11 or Server 2019/2022 installation. No need to reinstall.

2. Tries to not break any apps or programs.

3. Very easy to use.

I want to know exactly what W11Boost does.

This isn’t a complete list.

Performance

1. App startups are not tracked.

2. Drivers and other system code are not paged to a disk. They are kept in memory instead, at the cost of higher memory usage.

3. Enabled the following:

   • Increased NTFS pool usage limit, reducing Windows' page-faults and stack usage. As a downside, RAM usage is increased.

   • DXGI’s DirectFlip with multi-plane overlay (MPO) enabled to lower input lag and reduce stuttering in games.

   • Idle tickless for lower power draw, but also has performance benefits to real-time apps like DAWs or virtual machines, and foreground apps like video games.

   • Enabled the BBRv2 TCP congestion control algorithm to minorly lower ping during excessive download or uploading, and improves ping for others connecting to your game or web servers on this PC.

   • MemoryCompression reduces stuttering in video games by reducing the amount of writes to the paging file.

4. Disabled the following:

   • Power Throttling, as it caused severe performance reduction for VMWare Workstation 17.

   • Analyzing application execution time.

   • NTFS Last Access Time Stamp Updates; if needed, an application can explicitly update its own access timestamps.

   • Fault Tolerant Heap. FTH can degrade an application’s performance if it got marked for "crashing" too often; Assetto Corsa triggers this.

   • Automatic offline maps updates.

   • Explorer’s thumbnail shadows. Makes folders with many photos or videos smoother to navigate.

   • Searching disks to attempt fixing a missing shortcut.

   • PageCombining to reduce CPU load and prevents introducing security risks; downside: increased RAM usage.

   • Windows tips in general, such as "recommendations for tips, shortcuts, new apps, and more". This could be considered a usability issue as well for those already versed in using Windows.

5. Disabled various forms of telemetry:

   • Visual Studio 2022’s PerfWatson2 (VSCEIP).

   • Windows Error Reporting, Connected User Experiences and Telemetry, Diagnostic Policy Service, Cloud Content & Consumer Experience.

   • Advertising ID for apps (.appx packaged).

   • Feedback notifications.

6. Disabled the following Scheduled Tasks:

   • Maintenance\WinSAT: decides to measure overall PC performance at the worst times, drastically slowing down performance during its measurements.

   • MUI\LPRemove: On boot-up, checks and removes unused language packs.

   • Power Efficiency Diagnostics\AnalyzeSystem: Knowing this exists and looking for its results is on your part, very deliberate. It’s better to manually run this to check for example, PCIe ASPM incompatibilities.

   • Windows\Autochk\Proxy: An extension of "Microsoft Customer Experience Improvement Program" spyware.

7. For Wi-Fi, other APs (Access Points) are never periodically scanned while currently connected to an AP.

Reliability

1. Windows Updates:

   • Now only prompts for download then installation; updates are never automatic.

   • Updates that Microsoft deems as causing compatibility issues are blocked.

   • Opted out of "being the first to get the latest non-security updates".

2. NTP time sync servers used are now 3 instead of 1, which are time.cloudflare.com time.nist.gov time.windows.com to reduce time sync failure.

   • Important for Tor and 2FA codes from Bitwarden to remain working.

3. Disabled the following:

   • "Fast User Switching", as W11Boost is intended for single-user use only.

   • Automated file cleanup that kicks in if disk space is running low.

   • Fast startup (also called 'hybrid shutdown') due to stability issues, excessive disk usage, and could lower performance each "Fast startup" until Windows becomes a slow and janky mess.

   • 'Wait For Link' on Ethernet adaptors. Can reduce time taken to establish a connection, and prevent drop-outs. Drop-outs were the case with Intel I225-V revision 1 and 2, but not 3.

   • Microsoft’s Malicious Removal Tool, which also has an issue of removing "malicious" files that other antivirus software like Kaspersky excluded.

4. Enabled separating explorer.exe, one for the Windows Shell, the other for the File Explorer.

5. Game Mode enabled to keep FPS consistent in games in certain situations, such as having OBS Studio recording your games.

6. IPv6 is used whenever possible; avoids NAT and handles fragmentation locally instead of on the router, leading to higher performance and reliability.

7. Enabled "smart multi-homed name resolution".

   • Having this feature disabled can make DNS requests extremely slow, which some bad VPN apps do as a hack to prevent DNS leaks.

8. Crash fix for apps using OpenSSL 1.0.2k (Jan 2017) or older; only applied if an Intel CPU is used.

9. TCP timestamps enabled for increased reliability under bad network conditions.

10. The default 2GB memory boundary is ensured for x86 apps.

    • Prevent bugs or crashes with x86 apps that aren’t specifically tested for LargeAddressAware (3GB limit).

    • Manually patch apps with LAA if it’s known to be beneficial, such as in GTA:SA.

Usability

1. Hidden file extensions are shown.

   • If they’re hidden, they are abused to hide the real file format for malicious purposes. Example: an executable (.exe, .scr) pretending to be a PDF.

2. Apps are no longer automatically archived.

   • Archived apps would take a long time to launch, as it needs to unarchived.

3. The lock screen is replaced with the login screen.

4. Windows is activated using the KMS38 method if it wasn’t activated prior. This also prevents deactivation after hardware changes.

5. Installs winget if missing or broken.

6. Enabled NTFS long paths to prevent issues with Scoop and other apps.

7. Ask to enter recovery options after 3 failed boots instead of forcing it.

Other

1. Importing/setting wallpapers is set to 100% of JPEG’s quality; less compression, therefore less "blurriness".

Background information on the Extras.

Microsoft app debloater

1. Replicates what Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2021 includes by default, which is known to only include what’s important.

   • Exclusions:

     • Due to breaking apps: App Installer, Store Experience Host, Windows Store, Xbox Game Speech Window.

     • Due to being high-quality, and not funneling advertisements or towards using a Microsoft account: Camera, Clock, Terminal, Maps, Phone Link.

Install Xbox services

1. This is meant for a de-bloated Windows installation, or for an LTSC variant of Windows.

2. Login to the Microsoft Store before using Install_Xbox_Minimal.bat!

3. Installs only what’s required to support Xbox Controllers (GUI/interface not included, get it here), Microsoft’s PC Game Pass, and specific games such as Forza Horizon 4 & 5.

   • To also get the Game Bar, install the following here then here.

1. Changing Windows edition to "Education" then activating

ℹ️	This is optionally done for less telemetry, and to make W11Boost more effective.

1. Open the Command Prompt as administrator.

2. cscript.exe %windir%\system32\slmgr.vbs /upk

3. cscript.exe %windir%\system32\slmgr.vbs /ipk NW6C2-QMPVW-D7KKK-3GKT6-VCFB2

4. Use Microsoft Activation Scripts to activate Windows; I recommend the KMS38 activation.

2. Creating a System Restore Point

1. Open the Start Menu and search for "Create a restore point".

2. If System Restore is disabled by your system administrator, run in Command Prompt as administrator:
   reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\SystemRestore" /v "DisableSR" /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

   • Afterwards, repeat the first step.

3. Click "Create…​", then name it "Before W11Boost".

3. Installing W11Boost

1. Download W11Boost then extract it.

2. Open Run.bat, then click "Install W11Boost".

Inside the extras tab:

4. Recommendations

Advanced.ps1 can disable Game DVR, remove Microsoft Edge and remove various forms of automation, etc.

• However, configuring Advanced.ps1 is required:

  1. Open Advanced.ps1 in a text editor or IDE of your choosing.
     

  2. After finished, run Advanced.ps1 as Administrator.

     • No help will be provided on how to do this.

Using fullscreen exclusive in games.

Lowers input delay and GPU usage; potentially higher FPS, depending on the game.

Drawbacks:

1. Much higher time to switch between the game and another app (Alt + Tab).

2. Increases chances of crashing games.

How to:

1. Unity engine; use the launch option: -window-mode exclusive

GPU

1. To enable Multiplane Overlay on NVIDIA cards; which makes Borderless Windowed the same speed as Fullscreen:

   • Set your display’s "Output color depth" to 8bpc.

   • Do not use: custom resolutions, DSR, or scaling.

BIOS

• Enable the following:

  1. I/O APIC (IOAPIC 24-119 Entries)

  2. Above 4G Decoding and Resizable BAR.

     • On ASRock motherboards: C.A.M. (Clever Access Memory)

  3. HPET (High Precision Event Timer)

Windows

1. Keep the number of apps installed to a minimum, and remove unused apps. This reduces your chances of being impacted by supply chain attacks, prevents causing Windows more issues, and might improve FPS stability.

2. If you’re okay with installing more software:

   • Install StartAllBack to speed up Windows 11, and also restore old interface elements from Windows 7 or 10.

   • Install Icaros for better and faster image & video thumbnails.

3. Replace Consumer OEM apps with their Enterprise variant. Such as replacing Lenovo Vantage with Lenovo Commercial Vantage.

4. Third-party antivirus programs provide better protection, but may have flaws such as slowing down your internet speeds. Be sure to test before and after installing say, Kaspersky Free, which is still my favorite antivirus.

Ethernet

Avoid Realtek 2.5Gbit adapters, as they are much more CPU intensive than Intel 2.5Gbit adapters.

My test results - with pictures

• Intel i225-V rev3 (important, as older revisions have serious issues):

• "Realtek Gaming 2.5GbE Family Controller":

Buying an Intel i225-V PCIe card

The Intel i225-V PCIe card tested is IOCrest’s variant, which works well our 6700k and 12700k PCs.

I have not tested DERAPID’s Intel i226-V PCIe cards, which are similarly priced and rate well.