Usually when I start working on a new project, I try to optimize the tools I work with so I can maximize my productivity.
If you’re also a heavy RDP, Citrix, View, etc. user as I am, and often work with servers spread across all continents, I’d say it’s mandatory to optimize your remote experience as much as possible.
Here are some simple tricks that would offer you a boost in performance when talking about how fast the remote Windows UI is shown on your screen.
- Limit RDP to 15 bit colors
RDP isn’t the most optimized protocol for graphics so you can force this setting to decrease the number of colors RDP can show. I bet if you’re a man, you won’t spot the difference as we work in 8 bit (at most) 🙂
- Disable transparency
This will for sure give a bump in performance. Not sure how much, percentage-wise, but it’s highly visible.
- Disable unneeded Visual Effects
This is again something that would visibly impact your performance.
In case you want even better performance, you can disable Smooth edges of screen fonts and Smooth-scroll lists boxes but things will look harder to read and your eyes will get tired easier
- Disable Server Manager auto-start
This is not something that’s important but for sure annoying. You can achieve this also with PowerShell by running the following command in an elevated PowerShell window:
Get-ScheduledTask -TaskName ServerManager | Disable-ScheduledTask -Verbose
Victor an End User Computing Consultant. You find him most of the time on Twitter (@01004753) but also on LinkedIn evangelizing new technologies and processes that can change in good, the world we live in. Victor has expertise in Server & Client Virtualization, Client Management, GPU Virtualization, HyperConvergence and Enterprise Security
Victor Homocea 
The Performance Options is an area that trips up most of us with end-user slowness issues!
Nice to see you blogging, Victor! 🙂
Hey Dionne, thanks for the encouragement. I have a ton of things to share but limited time. I once promised myself to write at least a blog article per month. I failed miserably but do hope to improve the number of blog posts 🙂