How to effectively increase Vista performance

We just bought a laptop (Yahoo!).  But the one that we bought is only compatible with Vista. I am used in using Windows XP, but since I don’t have any choice… I research about Vista and decided to share it with you.

Vista has really got cool advanced features, but other areas of Vista are very slow. I have posted some articles on how to speed up the performance of vista but I will be providing this time a set of list that I’ve found very useful and effective.

Add More RAM

Vista is really power hungry and they say that 2GB of RAM is fine for Vista but for me and my advice get a 4gb of RAM for me this is the ultimate tweak.

Turn off Windows Search Service

This is one of the reason for slowdown, This service is constantly reviewing files on your system to make their contents available for quick searching.

Steps to disable this service:

• Click Start, then Computer

• Right Click the C: Drive

• On General Tab, Uncheck Index this drive for faster searching

• On the next dialog box, Select Include subfolders and files

• You can also Stop and set to Disabled the Windows Search Service.

Turn off Remote Differential Compression

Remote Differential Compression is a client-server synchronization algorithm that allows the contents of two files to be synchronized by communicating only the differences between them. Because it constantly checks for file changes, this service can hinder system performance.

Steps 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

Turn off Automatic Windows Defender Operation

This Vista feature continues to run even if the Automatic operation is disabled. You can disable the Windows Defender Service If you have a good antivirus program because there is no need for defender to run.

Steps 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

Turn off Automatic Disk Defrag

Windows Vista has a automatic defrag feature that for me isn’t really necessary and will definitely cause system slowdown you can just turn this feature off and run Defrag on a weekly basis.

To disable this:

• Press Start (Windows key) and E, then select Computer

• Right Click the C: Drive

• Choose “Properties”

• Select the Tools Tab

• Click “Defragment Now”

• Uncheck “Run on a schedule”

Add a 2GB or higher USB Flash drive to use Ready Boost

Ready Boost works by using a USB thumb/flash/SD drive as a disk cache to provide some quick access memory the operating system can use as extra RAM. This feature can help improve system performance.

To set this up:

• Insert a USB Flash Drive (preferably 2GB or more)

• 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

Turn off Hibernation

If you don’t use the hibernate feature of vista you can simply turn this feature off, Windows hibernation background services uses a large amount of system resources.

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

• Bring the selector down to zero

• Click Apply

Turn off System Restore

In the event of a system crash Vista uses system restore undo changes on your system but the analysis and restore point creation by Windows Vista can eat up system resources. Disabling this service will mean the system restore feature in Vista will not be available when problem occurs. However, you can use free tools such as ERUNT which backs up the Registry automatically on boot, and that will cover the vast majority of “restore” type issues. ERUNT is also faster than System Restore.

• Control Panel>System

• Click System Protection on the left panel

• Uncheck the main system drive

• Agree to the confirmation

Disable excess and unneeded Windows Services 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 probably won’t need:

• 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 already disabled indexing)

• Fax (unless you’re using a fax modem)

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:

• Click 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)

Turn off AERO

Turning off the fancy Aero interface, turning off the sidebar, and otherwise disabling the features that make Vista look and feel unique will help speed up performance. Free programs like CCleaner (”Crap Cleaner”) have features that let you manage the startup programs and clean up unneeded files off your hard drive.

Related posts:

1. Vista Aero Quick Speed Tip
2. Windows Vista Privacy Tweak
3. How to Increase the Battery Life of your Laptop
4. How to Disable Windows Vista Balloon Notifications
5. How to Disable Vista CD/DVD Burning Feature
6. How to easily select multiple files in windows vista without using the CTRL key
7. How to change Windows Vista Power Buttons to Shutdown
8. How to Enable Run Command on Windows Vista
9. Poor performance?… It’s time to upgrade your Computer
10. How to enable missing Hibernate on Windows Vista