Turn Off Or Uninstall Unused Features In Windows 7 | Faster 7 Part 25

Since Windows was born, it has come pre-installed with software and utilities most commonly used by computer users.  While this is a great feature for those of us who don’t know the intricacies of installing our own features, it places a burden on our computers to keep these unused features enabled and running in the background.

Windows Vista and 7 both do a much better job of handling these features than their predecessors. Although the earlier NT and XP operating systems allowed for features to be removed, it was far more limited, and sometimes uninstalling the feature didn’t really remove it from the operating system.  The newer Windows operating systems even give the user the ability to remove Internet Explorer 8, if you can believe that.

Turn Off Or Uninstall Unused Features In Windows 7

1. Select the Windows ‘Start’ button.

2. Choose ‘Control Panel’.

3. In the control panel list, below ‘Programs’, select ‘Uninstall a Program’.

4. In the upper left hand side of the uninstaller, select ‘Turn Windows features on or off’.

5. Once the list has been populated, uncheck the features you do not need or use.  If not sure, Google them.

6. Select ‘Ok’.

7. When prompted, restart your computer.

8. Windows update may run upon shutdown and reboot.

10. To add the features back, reverse step 5.

11. That’s it!

Oddly enough, the new Internet Explorer 9 browser cannot be removed through the feature removal tool.  It does seem odd that they would finally implement a method for uninstalling Internet Explorer and then revoke it upon the release of their new browser.  It could also be that they haven’t gotten the removal process completely debugged.

In either case, removing unnecessary programs and features from the Windows 7 operating system is always a good method for keeping your system in top shape.