Anonymous edits have been disabled on the wiki. If you want to contribute please login or create an account.

Warning for game developers: PCGamingWiki staff members will only ever reach out to you using the official press@pcgamingwiki.com mail address.
Be aware of scammers claiming to be representatives or affiliates of PCGamingWiki who promise a PCGW page for a game key.

Windows

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
Revision as of 06:01, 9 March 2014 by Nicereddy (talk | contribs)
Windows
300px

Microsoft Windows is a popular family of operating systems.

Windows XP

API Version Support

Included DirectX Latest DirectX .NET Framework OpenGL
8.1 9.0c 4.0 4.2

Windows Vista

API Version Support

Included DirectX Latest DirectX .NET Framework OpenGL
10 11 4.0 4.2

Performance Improvements

Disable Aero Theme

Right click on the desktop, click "Personalise", then "Window Colour and Appearance". After that go to "Open classic appearance properties for more colour options" and choose "Windows Vista Basic" on the drop down menu, making sure to click "Apply".

Windows 7

API Version Support

Included DirectX Latest DirectX .NET Framework OpenGL
11 11 4.5 4.2

Performance Improvements

Disable Aero Theme

Right click on the desktop and click "Personalise". Then scroll the themes down until you see the Basic themes, from which you can choose from.

Windows 8

API Version Support

Included DirectX Latest DirectX .NET Framework OpenGL
11.1 11.1 4.5 4.2

General

Command Prompt

The Command Prompt is the command-line interpreter provided by Microsoft for Windows systems and is the not-as-powerful equivalent of the shell in Linux and Mac OS. It can be accessed by going to 'run' and typing 'cmd.exe' or by running a 'Batch file'.

Task Manager

The Task Manager is an application built into Windows that allows for the managing running processes as-well as providing information about computer performance. It can be accessed by presing 'Ctrl + Alt + Delete' and choosing 'Task Manager'.

Device Manager

The Device Manager is an application built into Windows that allows for the management of device drivers. It can be accessed from the Control Panel.

Registry Editor

The Registry Editor allows users to edit the Windows registry. It can be accessed by going to 'run' and typing 'Regedit.exe'.

Blue Screen of Death (BSOD)

A Blue Screen of Death (a.k.a BSOD or Bluescreen) is an error screen that Windows produces when it encounters an error that it cannot recover from.

DirectX

DirectX is a collection of APIs for Windows that allows programs to interact directly with hardware.

.NET Framework

The .NET Framework is a software framework for Windows that is required for games built in C# or XNA. It can be downloaded and installed from the Microsoft website.

DLLs

DLL stands for "Dynamic Link Library". DLL files (.dll) are Windows exclusive library files containing code and data that can be used over several applications.

While they can save time for developers, these files can cause problems for the end-user (commonly referred to as "DLL Hell").

Common Fixes

Older Games Missing .dll File in Windows Vista/7

Some .dll files have different names on Windows Vista and newer.
Instructions

Updating DirectX

To obtain the latest DirectX, download the DirectX Web Updater and run it.