As many Windows Vista users know, Vista can be a real resource hog. This could not be more true on machines that are a few years old or upgraded to Vista from XP. As a Vista user, I have figured out a few ways to alleviate some of the slow down. Most of these methods are relatively easy to implement, no registry edits or crazy long instructions so lets get started.

  1. 1. Aero - Vista has a new pretty user interface with lots of neat and exciting features but is it really necessary? If you are not one that is interested in aesthetics but rather functionality, turning off all of the effects is possible but it will make your snazzy new Vista box look like an XP machine. Here’s how:
       a. Click Start and Right-Click Computer. Click Properties.
       b. In the “Tasks” Section on the left, click “Advanced System Settings” and accept the UAC prompt.
       c. In the next screen, click the settings button under the performance category.
       d. Click the radio button labeled “Adjust for best performance” and click Apply.

See what you think of this setup. You can customize which effects are enabled in the list to adjust to your liking. One way or the other, reducing the number of effects will improve overall performance as well as battery life on laptops.

2. Unnecessary Services - As with past versions of Windows, there are some services that are started by default that are necessicarily required for proper operation but there are trade offs. To get to the services list, Click start and in the search field type “services.msc” (Without Quotes) and hit enter. Accept the UAC prompt to continue. You will now see a list of services, their current state and their start up state. Below is a short list of some that can be stopped and disabled as well as a brief word about what functionality you will loose.

  1.    a. Bluetooth Support – Loose the ability to use Bluetooth devices.
       b. Diagnostic Policy Service – This disables the searching for solutions when a program crashes.
       c. IP Helper – This enables IPv6 over IPv4 networks, which is not commonly used.
       d. Windows Error Reporting – Disables sending of error reports to Microsoft.
       c. Server – Enables you to share files on your network. If you do not share files, you can disable.
       d. Tablet PC Input Service – Enables Tablet PC Pen and Ink input. Disable if not using tablet PC.

I am sure that there are many other services that can be disabled based on the way you use your computer but the above can be disabled by most users without adverse effects.

3. Disable Startup Items - Disabling start up applications has always been a no-brainer when trying to speed up your computer. The less applications that are loaded into memory at start up the faster the start up will be and the less memory will be consumed once start up is complete. This can be done in MSCONFIG as with previous versions of Windows. To access MSCONFIG, click start and in the search dialog, type “msconfig” (Without Quotes) and hit enter. Go to the start up tab and disable anything that is not necessary. These settings will vary from computer to computer but you can re-enable anything that seems to have an adverse effect.

4. Limit Windows Search - Windows Vista has Instant search which means that it constantly scans and indexes the files that are on your computer and when you search for something it can be found quickly. While this sounds like a great option (Which it is) the indexing can be a burden on performance. Luckily there is a way to adjust what windows will search/index.

   a. Right-Click Start Button (Windows Pearl) and choose “Properties”
   b. Click “Customize..” and scroll through the list for Search.
   c. Adjust what is searched on your start menu to your preference.

You can also adjust what is indexed to your liking under Control Panel > Indexing Options or Disable indexing all together by Stopping the Indexing service (You can find the service in the same location mentioned in number 2 above – Unnecessary Services).

5. Disable Thumbnail View - While some like to see a thumbnail of the image files etc. when browsing their folders, I prefer details. This will speed up the time it takes to scroll through folders and navigate through other directories. Do disable thumbnail view, do the following.

   a. Open your My Documents Folder.
   b. Click Tools and choose Folder Options.
   c. In that window, click the “View” tab and check the top box labeled “Always show icons, never thumbnails”
   d. Click “Apply to Folders”

This speeds up browsing folders and files. You can also change the default view to one of the other views (Details, Icons, Thumbnails etc) by changing it in the view menu and then following steps b, c, and d above. As it goes, I am sure there are many other things that can be done to speed up Vista, so if you have any, feel free to post-em here!

Jason (Digitalkid)
www.954network.com