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)

Microfoft says we never recovered from Vista

As Microsoftprepares for the release of Windows 7, CEO Steve Ballmer admits that the company’s reputation has never recovered from the launch of Vista.

Mr Ballmer said: “We got some uneven reception when [Vista] first launched in large part because we made some design decisions to improve security at the expense of compatibility. I don’t think from a word-of-mouth perspective we ever recovered from that.”
There you have it. Confirmation of what most of us knew already … that the Vista name was mud.
Turning bad news into good though, Ballmer now believes that there’s “pent up demand” for new gear:
“I’d be hopeful that we see a bit more rapid pick-up – particularly people who are upgrading the software without touching the hardware – than maybe we have in years past.”
This is the rub. The people that Windows 7 really needs to appeal to are those millions of entrenched XP users who don’t see a reason to switch OSes. These people are going to be much harder to convince to switch than people who’ve already made the switch to Vista.

source: blogs.zdnet.com

LiveJournal Tags: Microsoft,WindowsVista

Run Windows 7 Paint on Vista and XP

never got the chance to install Windows 7 on my machine but I did use it on my cousin’s computer and I have to say it seems a lot better than Windows Vista. May be I’m just not comfortable with all the beta versions they are releasing for testing purposes. I’m planning to buy an official copy of Windows 7 as soon as it becomes available in my surroundings.

Unlike the default Paint that comes with Vista and XP, Windows 7 offers a much better image editor that not only offers a better interface but also has additional features. For those of you who would like to try Windows 7 Paint on Vista or XP must try Paintribbon.

Paintribbon is a free picture editing application which imitates the Windows 7 Paint interface, utilizing the ribbon first seen in Office 2007. It offers great features including

• Line, Circle, Square and Star shapes
• Different line widths
• A variety of fill and stroke colour options
• The ability to move drawn shapes

As of now Paintribbon can only open and save .pic (pict) image files, however the developers are planning to offer additional file types in later releases of Paintribbon. Note that it does come with a lot of known issues so don’t forget to read more about it before you install the application.

Bugs mentioned on thir home page includes

• Buttons do not uncheck themselves, user must uncheck previous button before using next tool.
• Freehand drawing is extremely rudimentary, will not save and will disappear if regular shapes are drawn after freehand line.
• Obscure errors when attempting to open files other than .pic

LiveJournal Tags: Windows7,WindowsXP,WindowsVista,Paint