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Top 10 Windows Vista Performance
Tweaks
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Vista SP1 RC available
publicly next week
Select beta
testers will get software during next two days;
software expected to ship first quarter of 2008
Microsoft Tuesday shipped Vista SP1 RC to select
testers and said it would make the service pack
publicly available next week. The SP1 release
candidate is available on Microsoft Connect, and on
Thursday it will be available to MSDN and TechNet
subscribers. Next week, the general public will get
access via Microsoft’s Download Center.
Microsoft said that with SP1
available to hundreds of
millions of customers, the
company is assured of extensive
feedback.
“We also have information to
share with IT professionals and
system administrators regarding
final plans for SP1: We're on
track to complete and release
SP1 in the first quarter of
2008,” wrote Nick White, Vista
product manager,
White also said IT shops
using Windows Update but
postponing SP1 upgrades can
download a “blocker patch” that
prevents installation of SP1.
The patch will be available
starting Dec. 6 on Microsoft’s
On Nov. 14, Microsoft made
Windows Vista SP1 RC Preview
available to 15,000 testers as
part of its private beta
program. Microsoft hopes to
align SP1’s availability with
Windows Server 2008, which
Microsoft hopes to ship on or
before its Feb. 27, 2008, launch
event in Los Angeles. Also on
Tuesday, Microsoft shipped
Windows Server 2008 RC1.
Microsoft officials said the
Vista SP1 RC Preview
incorporates feedback from users
who have been part of the beta
program
that began in September. The new
features include changes that
streamline setup and
installation. The preview also
includes all previously released
updates since RTM: performance
and reliability improvements,
such as file copy, network
browsing and improved response
time to resume from sleep; as
well as changes to
administration features,
including changes to BitLocker
that allow encryption for
multiple volumes.
Over the years, SP1 versions
of Microsoft products have
become a traditional milestone
that some corporate users wait
for before they even consider
rolling out the software. Uptake
of Vista has been slow by
corporate users, many of whom
have standardized on Windows XP
and are reluctant to undertake
another migration
A study by Forrester Research
shows that 52% of respondents
have no plans to roll out Vista
or don’t know when they might do
it. The study shows 11% don’t
plan to start a rollout until
2009 and another 6% are waiting
until 2010.
Vista SP1
will include
a number of
bug fixes
and
performance
enhancements,
but no new
features,
Microsoft
said.
Microsoft
also is
updating its
Vista
migration
tools,
including
the
Application
Compatibility
Toolkit 5.0,
Windows
Vista
Hardware
Assessment
2.1 solution
accelerator
(formerly
called
Business
Desktop
Deployment),
and
Microsoft
User State
Migration
Tools 3.0.
|
100 Reasons You'll Be
Speechless
Seeing Windows Vista for the first time may leave you
searching for words. Many people just say “Wow.” Here are
100 reasons why. Click Here
Windows Vista Top 10 Tips & Tricks
1. Window Vista
Tricks
- Explore the new Windows Vista start menu.
Looking for specific applications, Web sites, and
e-mails is faster than ever with the streamlined Windows
Vista start menu. To find a specific application or
file, click the Windows key on the keyboard (or open the
start menu) and enter the file name in the Instant
Search field. As you type, Windows Vista dynamically
searches filenames, metadata, and the full text of all
files and displays the choices by file type. For
example, type “out” to find Microsoft® Outlook®.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. Window Vista
Tricks
- Discover the new search explorer.
Try filtering by type using the search pane and
selecting Documents. Next choose to see your files in
another way, via the new stack view. Select the author
column header control drop down menu, and choose the
option to Stack by author. Explore all the documents by
a particular author by double clicking on an author’s
stack. Now, save that search as a new search folder.
Choose the option Save Search found on the top command
bar and name and save your search folder. In the future,
to
re-run it, simply select the Searches folder link on the
left side navigation pane, and double click on your
search folder.
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3.Window Vista
Tricks
- Experience the enhanced user interface.
If your PC supports the Windows® Aero™ user experience,
open multiple files and see how easy it is to locate the
right open window using the breakthrough Windows Flip
(simply ALT+TAB) or Flip 3D (Windows key+TAB).
Browsing with Internet Explorer 7
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4.Window Vista
Tricks
- Browse multiple Web sites.
Tabbed browsing in Internet Explorer® 7 enables a single
Internet Explorer window to run with the convenience of
multiple pages. Open a new page by clicking the empty
tab on the toolbar or by right-clicking any hyperlink
and choosing New Tab. Tabs can also be right-clicked to
refresh individual pages or refresh pages as a group.
You can close either individual tabs or an entire group,
and you can save tabs as one favorite group. With the
Quick Tabs feature, the icon just to the right of the
Favorites icon, thumbnail images of all open tabs can be
seen in a single view helping you manage multiple open
tabs.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5.Window Vista
Tricks
- Print picture perfect Web content.
Most Web sites are simply not formatted to fit cleanly
on a standard piece of paper. With the new shrink to fit
printing feature found in Internet Explorer 7 Web sites
will no longer get cut off when sent to the printer.
Collaboration
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6. Window Vista
Tricks
- Collaborate with a co-worker.
Want an easy way to share files and applications with a
colleague or customer—even when you may not be part of
the same network? Windows Meeting Space is a new
experience in Windows Vista that enables you to start an
impromptu collaboration session with other Windows Vista
users. Simply open Windows Meeting Space and start a
session. Windows Vista will automatically detect other
Windows Vista users that are on the same sub-net
infrastructure or close enough for you to create an
ad hoc (direct PC-to-PC connection) wireless connection.
Once you have invited them and they have accepted,
you can share documents by simply dragging a document to
the Handouts area on the bottom right which instantly
replicates that file across the other meeting
participants’ machines. Dragging the file to the
presentation area on the left side starts application
sharing, enabling the other participants to watch as you
present that file. If someone has a good edit for your
file, you can make that edit in real time, or pass
control of the application directly to that participant
for them to make that edit for you.
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7.Window Vista
Tricks
- Share a folder or file directly from your PC.
Windows Vista improves on the Windows network folder
sharing experience first introduced with Windows XP by
giving you more flexibility in what you can share with
other people and improving the setup process. With
Windows Vista you can now share folders and individual
files with any other user on the same corporate network.
From any explorer, select a file or folder and on the
command bar choose the option to Share. Enter the name
of another user on the same network, and give them
appropriate rights of access—reader, co-owner, etc. To
help close the loop, Windows Vista can even
automatically compose an e-mail to the individuals with
which you have shared the content. The auto-generated
e-mail contains a hyperlink to the shared content,
enabling the recipient to instantly be taken to the
shared content.
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8.Window Vista
Tricks
- Create an XPS Document.
XPS documents are a new archiving format perfect for
preserving content and for securely sharing information
in an application independent way. To create an XPS
document, open any document in virtually any
application, and select the print option. In the printer
selection menu, choose Microsoft XPS Document Writer,
and save the file. Double click on the file, which
should open it in the XPS Viewer, which is hosted by
Internet Explorer 7. The XPS document is a pixel-perfect
rendition of the original source material.
Backup & Security
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9.Window Vista
Tricks
- Speed up your PC’s performance.
Windows Vista introduces a new concept for adding
additional performance to a running system. Windows
Ready Boost™ lets people use flash memory on a USB 2.0
drive, SD Card, Compact Flash, or other memory form
factor to provide additional memory cache—memory that
the computer can access much more quickly than it can
access data on the hard drive. Insert a USB 2.0 memory
drive with at least 512 MB capacity. When prompted,
click use this device to speed up my computer.
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10.Window Vista
Tricks
- Recover a previous version of a document.
Windows Vista introduces a new feature: Previous
Versions. This allows you to “roll back” the clock to an
earlier version of a file that you may have accidentally
saved over or edited. In the Documents Explorer, open a
document, edit it, save it, and then close it. While
selecting the document, choose the Previous Versions
option on the command bar, which will bring up a list of
previously saved versions of the individual file. Choose
a previous version and Windows Vista will restore your
file to that version. Careful: all edits since that
version will be lost.
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Top 10
Windows Vista
Performance
Tweaks
|
Windows Vista is
a great looking
operating system
with some
awesome
features, but it
can be slow as
molasses unless
you've got a
hugely powerful
PC to run it.
For most
computers
however, a few
quick Vista
tweaks can make
a massive
difference in
the speed of
Vista for
everyday use.
Here's our
list of
recommended
Vista
performance and
speed tweaks:
-
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
this
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
-
Select
the
Tools
Tab
-
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
(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
-
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.
-
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)
*You can
also control
Windows
Vista
strartup
programs
very easily
with RegCure:
-
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)
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