Disable Windows Experience Index

Windows Experience Index is a rating system introduced in Windows Vista (and continued in Windows 7) that measures the capability in terms of a base score. Each hardware component is assessed and is assigned a subscore. The Windows Experience Index is then determined by the lowest of all the subscores.

You can see your system’s experience index by opening Control Panel → System and Maintenance → Performance Information and Tools. It will show you sub-score of all hardware components as well as the base-score of your system as shown.

Disable Experience Index in Vista

You can disable this Windows Experience Index in the Control Panel using the following procedure :

  1. Open an elevated command prompt. Read this article on how to open an elevated command prompt in Windows Vista.
  2. In the command prompt type the following exactly as shown below (better copy-paste):
    REG ADD “HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Control Panel\Performance Control Panel” /v PerfCplEnabled /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

If later you want to enable Windows Experience Index in the Control Panel, use the following procedure :

  1. Open an elevated command prompt.
  2. In the command prompt type the following exactly as shown below (better copy-paste):
    REG ADD “HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Control Panel\Performance Control Panel” /v PerfCplEnabled /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f

You can also use the registry entries file to automatically enter the values in your Windows’ Registry. Download disable_win_ex_index.zip. Extract its contents to a folder. You will see two files. Double-click on disable_windows_experience_index.reg to disable the Windows Experience Index in Control Panel. Similarly, double-click on enable_windows_experience_index.reg to enable the Windows Experience Index in Control Panel.

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