#Windows 7 Start Slower Than Windows Vista

Even if Windows 7 isn’t proven by benchmarks to be the fastest, bestest version of Microsoft’s operating system yet, it certainly feels a lot better. We’d use it over Windows Vista any day of the week, but new findings show that it’s not the performance king – at least not yet.

Sure, there have been many tweaks under the hood to make it better than Windows Vista, but it seems that boot time is actually longer in Windows 7 – at least according to a certain standard.

Top 10 Windows Vista Speed Tweaks

10 Speed Tweaks that can make a huge difference in Vista performance

1. Turn off Windows Search Indexing

Windows Vista search indexing is constantly reviewing files on your system to make their contents available for quick searching. This is handy, but can severely impact system performance.

To disable constant indexing:

• Click Start then Computer
• Right Click the C: Drive
• On General Tab, Uncheck Index this drive for faster searching
• On the subsequent dialog box, Select Include subfolders and files

2. Turn off Remote Differential Compression

Remote Differential Compression measures the changes in files over a network to transfer them with minimal bandwidth rather than transferring an entire file that has previously been moved. By constantly checking for file changes, this service can hinder system performance.

To disable this service:

• Open Control Panel
• Switch to Classic View
• Select Program Features
• Choose Turn Windows features on and off
• Scroll down and uncheck Remote Differential Compression

3. Turn off Automatic Windows Defender Operation

Windows Defender real-time protection against malware continues to run despite having Automatic operation disabled.

To disable this feature:

• Open Control Panel
• Select Windows Defender
• Choose Tools from the top menu
• Select Options
• Uncheck Auto Start at the bottom of the window

4. Turn off Automatic Disk Defragmentation

Windows Vista and its always-on defragment feature isn’t really that necessary and can cause system slow down. Just remember to run a defrag manually every week or so.

To disable this:

• Click Start then Computer
• Right Click the C: Drive
• Click on Properties
• Select the Tools Tab
• Click on Defragment Now
• Uncheck Run on a schedule

5. Add a 2GB or higher USB Flash drive to take advantage of Windows Ready Boost (Additional Memory Cache)

Ready Boost is Microsoft’s name for using a USB thumb/flash drive to provide some quick access memory the operating system can use as extra RAM. The Ready Boost system can significantly improve system performance.

To set this up:

• Insert a USB Flash Drive
• Click Start then Computer
• Right Click the USB Drive in My Computer
• Select the Ready Boost Tab
• Choose Use this device
• Select as much space as you can free up for RAM usage vs. Storage

6. Turn off Windows Hibernation

Windows hibernation background services can use a large amount of system resources. If you don’t use the Hibernate feature on a regular basis you may want to disable it to give Vista a performance boost.

To disable Hibernation:

• Select the Control Panel then Power Options
• Click Change Plan Settings
• Click on Change Advanced Power Settings
• Expand the Sleep selection
• Expand the Hibernate After selection
• Crank the selector down to zero
• Click Apply

7. Turn off System Restore

Analysis and restore point creation by Windows Vista can eat a fair amount of system resources. Disabling this service will obviously mean the system restore feature in Vista will not be available in the event of a system crash. Change this at your own risk.

To disable this service:

• Control Panel > System
• Click System Protection on the left panel
• Uncheck the main system drive
• Agree to the confirmation

8. Disable User Access Control (UAC)

This much-loathed new Vista feature attempts to protect your system from malware infection by making you manually confirm a whole host of everyday user operations. While it doesn’t directly impact performance, it can be annoying and might be more hassle than good.

To disable User Access Control:

• Click Start then Control Panel
• Select User Accounts
• Select Turn User Account Control on or off
• Uncheck User Account Control Box
• Restart as recommended

9. Disable excess Windows Services that Auto-Launch at Startup

Just like Windows XP, Vista ships with all kinds of services enabled that load at startup and may never be used by most users.

To see what loads at startup and disable the ones you likely won’t be needing (they can always be started manually later):

• Click Start then Control Panel
• Select Administrative Tools
• Choose System Configuration
• Click the Services Tab
• You can safely deselect:
  • Offline Files (unless you’re using Offline File Sync)
  • Tablet PC Input Service (unless you have a tablet PC)
  • Terminal Services
  • Windows Search (If you have already disabled indexing)
  • Fax (unless you’re using a fax modem)

10. Disable Excess Windows Features

Windows ships with other features that are listed separately in the Vista operating system from the startup services.

You can view and disable these features by:

• Clicking Start then Control Panel
• Select Program Features
• On the left panel, select Turn Windows Features on or off
• You can safely deselect:
  • Indexing Service
  • Remote Differential Compression
  • Tablet PC Optional Components
  • Windows DFS Replication Service
  • Windows Fax & Scan (unless you use a modem for faxing)
  • Windows Meeting Space (unless you use the Live Meeting Service)

Windows7 Boots Slower than Vista ?

Although Microsoft itself demonstrated an 11-second Windows 7 boot, with some configurations being able to go as low as a 10-second startup, one company developing PC tune-up utilities claims that Windows 7 in fact is slower than Windows Vista. According to Iolo Technlogies, a new computer running Windows 7 can take as much as 1 minute 34 seconds from a cold boot to the moment when the desktop becomes fully usable. It is Iolo that found Vista to be up and ready for use in just 1 minute and 6 seconds.
I’m not going to comment in any way as to the possibility that Iolo is simply attempting to generate some free publicity for itself and its Windows optimization products that have been compatible with Windows 7 since the operating system was in Beta. Instead, I will share with the users my own experience of running the latest iteration of the Windows client since the start of 2009.

I have been using Windows 7 as main operating system since it launched into Beta in January, and upgraded to the full RTM Ultimate edition as soon as it was offered through my MSDN subscription at the start of August. I also have been running Windows 7 on multiple machines, both at home and at work, while in parallel using test computers still running Windows Vista or even Windows XP. I’m going to leave Mac OS X and Linux out of this, and just focus on Windows.
After almost eight months of using Windows 7 on a daily basis my personal experience is that the latest iteration of the Windows client manages to leave Windows Vista in the dust without any problems. Performance is through the roof when it comes down to day-to-day usage scenarios. Well, truth be told, I haven’t performed a benchmarking of the two platforms, but it feels faster. However, it will be the impression of speed and performance that will make the difference between Windows 7 and Windows Vista, if you ask me, as the vast majority of end users will not be performing any sort of benchmarking either.
Iolo shared its results with Beyond Binary, and underlined that the benchmarking took into consideration not the time it took for the desktop to be presented to end users, but the amount of time passed between when Windows 7 started up and the moment when it reached a fully usable stage. In this regard, Iolo let Windows 7 boot until all CPU cycles dropped and an idle state was reached.
In Vista’s case, the appearance of the desktop is indeed not synonymous with a fully usable operating system. Reaching the Vista desktop was just a part of the operating system’s startup process, as the platform continued to load services in the background.
But Microsoft has optimized the Windows 7 boot process, and one of the optimizations is the fact that the operating system loads services with an on-demand mechanism, instead of piling them up by default and eating CPU cycles and I/O with no other reason than to have all applications ready, even if the user could not even run them. With the same range of applications installed as in Vista, my computer running Windows 7 is faster than when I had its precursor installed. Still, Iolo only gave a taste of their statistics, promising that there was more to come.
I included two videos below, one featuring the 10-second Windows 7 boot, and the other the Vista vs. Windows 7 startup performance drag race.

 

Backup Data in Windows 7 with IdleBackUp

Just confronted a handy tool that provides backup solution for Microsoft operating systems including Xp, Vista and Seven. The main purpose of this utility is to backup files such as photo’s, mp3’s or backup data such as databases.

Idlebackup has the ability to make backup to hard-disk, USB drive or network. Additionally it restores files automatically for the uncompressed Mirror backup job. With zipped files, all that’s needed is to copy the files from the backup destination to the original path on the hard drive.

It offers easy restore for data recovery, browse and select one or more file(s) and press restore (Mirror mode).

IdleBackup features

• 10 backup settings (profiles) can be memorized and recalled.
• Easy to use backup program for both novice and professional users.
• Easy restore, select directories and/or files to restore (with mirror backup).
• Offers 3 backup modes
• For mirror backup it eclude files option added in screen change settings

Download Idlebackup

What to do when Windows Vista Won’t Shutdown

 

Computer not shutting down in Windows Vista has become one of the most common problems. It becomes so annoying when you really can’t figure out what’s causing this. I bought a new HP Pavilion DV 6 1215 three days back and faced this issue last night. I was really pist off because I didn’t even install any additional programs in this machine except Msn Messenger. I ran a full virus scan but didn’t find anything so I decided to Google it and found a few solutions.

When you get this, usually it’s because of a driver hanging. To check if any of the drivers is causing this problem click Start > Control Panel > Performance Information and Tools.

Click “Advanced tools” which is located at the left hand side of the window.

If your drivers are causing any issues or are not up to date it will display a message and will allow you to fix the problem.  It’s then just a case of disabling them from start up.