How To Make Vista Faster. [loads of tips]

[Ryan]

There had been loads of same question suddenly in the past hours so here is the summary of all
Here is how to speed up your Vista

Probably because you don't have enough RAM. You need at least 1GB to run Vista, better 2GB.

that what i am doing>>

Turn off the sidebar and all the fancy desktop effects. It'll look like Windows 2000 and you'll wonder why it cost you so much. If it came bundled on your PC when you bought it the cost was factored into the price, you have paid for it.

The best thing you can do to make Vista run fast is increase your Ram. That is the only way that can work for you if you do not want to delete anything. Otherwise look at the programs that load on start and remove the ones that you do not want to autoload when you boot up.

There is a program name VISTA MANAGER. it's a great pro to help your Vista go faster and cleaner.
Source(s):
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Install as much RAM as your machine will take... It's very memory hungry.

You have 2GB ram which is fine, run ccleaner software to clean the junk, and run shkdsk with fix errors option to check the hard drive.

Using a registry cleaner can fix your computer and then make your computer faster,Why?the reason is that there may be some regsitry errors and remnant,corrupt files and temp files in your computer to cause "computer slow".
Everytime you install and uninstall software on your computer and surfing online you create junk in the computer registry.over time, the registry can grow to enormous proportions, especially if the various programs you've installed do not do a good job of deleting and/or updating it's Registry You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login need to scan and clean your computer with registry cleaner to make it fast.Good Regisry Cleaner will improve your computer and Internet performance dramatically!It even can speed up your computer by 300% or more!
There are some comparison and review of TOP 5 registry cleaners. You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login  You can download and scan your computer for free.

from the "Run" command in the "start" menu, type "msconfig".

XP or Vista:
press windows key + letter R
enter msconfig
press enter

Then click on the "Startup" tab [ XP ]
and you will see everything that gets loaded on boot.
All of those things are candidate to turn off.
turn off ONLY those items that you yourself have added
You may need to start something later if it happens to be a service that is needed for a program or app.
But check it out and you should be able to get your boot speed back up to par.
Run disk cleanup, and de-fragmenter.
These applications are built-in with windows and will help you remove any unwanted files etc.

XP:
Disk Cleanup:
start
all programs
accessories
system tools
Disk Clean:
click disk drive [c] to clean
place a check in each box that shows any numbers on the right
CAUTION ,RECYCLE BIN WILL BE ON THIS LIST.
IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO EMPTY IT,...DO NOT CHECK IT !
click delete
click ok in confirmation dialog box

Disk Defragmenter:
start
all programs
accessories
system tools
Disk Defragmenter:
click analyze
if it shows that you need to defrag,click defrag now

Vista:

Disk Clean:
start
control panel
performance-information & tools
click Disk Clean
click disk drive [c or o.s. (c)] to clean
place a check in each box that shows any numbers on the right
CAUTION ,RECYCLE BIN WILL BE ON THIS LIST.
IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO EMPTY IT,...DO NOT CHECK IT !
click delete
click ok in confirmation dialog box

Disk Defragmenter:
start
control panel
performance-information & tools
advanced tools
open Disk Defragmenter
click analyze
click defrag if you're told you need to do so

faster icon load:
XP:
start
my computer
local disk drive [c]
tools
folder options
view
uncheck auto search for network folders/printers

Connections:
start
connect to
right click connection
select properties
click networking
check print/file sharing
click uninstall
[ don't do this if you use printers ]

Internet Options:
start
control panel
internet options
general
connections
check always dial default connections [ DIAL UP ONLY ! ]
SETTINGS:
check auto detect settings
DIAL UP SETTINGS:
properties
general
configure:
uncheck show terminal window
uncheck enable modem speakers [ to get rid of electronic squeal on boot up ]
general:
options:
check include windows domain

Redial: 5 times
attempts: 1 minute
idle time: never
Redial if dropped: check

General:
security:
check typical

networking:
properties:
check obtain ip address automatically
check use dns server address
[ you need to get these from your i.s.p. and add them into the 2 boxes here.
localnet is:
207-251-201-10
207-251-201-11
DIAL UP ONLY ]

Dial up settings:
Advanced:
connect 10 times
wait time 15 seconds
uncheck:
disconnect if idle
disconnect when not needed

Dial Up Options:

What's a modem initialization string?
Before your modem software dials a phone number, it initializes (inits) the modem by sending it a series (string) of commands, typically Hayes commands. These commands configure the modem's options for things like error correction, data compression, flow control, and many other parameters. The modem manual should list the Hayes commands the modem recognizes, and what effect each command has.
The important thing about modem init strings is that having the right one often makes the difference between connecting and not. Init strings are fairly specific to each modem. The string that made your friend's modem fly may not work at all for your modem.
Not all programs use simple init strings. Some use settings files, such as Windows 95 .inf files, Mac CCL modem scripts, etc.
Tip: You may also want to try one of these generic init strings:

* AT&F
* AT&F1
* AT&F&C1&D2
* AT&F1&C1&D2

modem strings:
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Tip 2: For K56flex modems, try one of these generic init strings:

* AT&F+MS=56
* AT&F+MS=56S202=32
* AT&F1+MS=56
* AT&F1+MS=56S202=32

Where do I put the modem init string?

start
control panel
phone & modem options
modems
properties
advanced
INITIALIZATION

enter initialization string in box provided
close and reboot

1. Use a partition for your swap file - This will modify the virtual memory settings and it will speed up your computer
2. Defragment your HDD regularly
3. Use a software like CCleaner that cleans your registry and removes unused and temporary files
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HI, look windows vista requires a lot of RAM i have 2GB of RAM and works great, i also have a dual core processor that increases windows vista performance, remember that this is a new OS a need some time to fix the bugs (XP release 2 services pack after it debut to fix some bugs). One thing that i did was installing windows live onecare it makes my computer even better, you can get one for less than 20 in eBay stores. If you want to stop a few programs when your computer start go to msconfig then go to start and take out the programs that you don't like. That should do the work. Be patient with vista is a great program it just need some time to adapt. PS. you will have trouble when trying to synchronize your PC with other devices such as cameras, smart phones, PDA and some other stuff. Be patient.

Run the Programs/Accessories/System Tools/Disk Cleanup. Select all the boxes in the menu. Then run the Defrag. It will better set up the programs for quicker access. Money wise you can add RAM. That is about all without changing the processor, motherboard, hard drive, etc. One other thing to try is remove unneeded icons from the taskbar on the right side. A lot can be right clicked and selected to not start.

If you get a USB memory "stick" that supports the Vista Readyboost feature then this will allegedly speed up your computer and giagbyte for gigabyte will be cheaper than fitting more memory internally.

How To Make Vista Start, Run and Shutdown Faster.

While the discussion pertains to Vista particularly, the same applies to Windows in general too ! For a general user the first three are usually more than sufficient to make your Vista faster. The remaining are some more which a tweak enthusiast may wish to consider. Utilities like WinPatrol or Tune-Up Utilities can help you in most of the cases.

1. Restrict the no. of start-ups. Why have programs starting up when you dont really use them. Even those you use can always be started manually by clicking on the. I personally prefer not to have ANY starups. I click on my Internet Defense Suite manually, before connecting to the Internet. So decide for yourself which one's you really need as start-ups.

2. Disable services which one may not require. For example, if your pc is a stand-alone one, there may be sevral services which you can disable or switch over to manual mode. Auto-starting and closing down of services takes time & resources. These can be saved. BlackViper's Vista Service Configurations is an excellent guide to follow.

3. Reducing visual effects (eye candy). Right-click on “My Computer” > Properties > Advanced > Performance-Settings > Visual Effects > Adjust for best performance > Apply > OK.
To allow the themes and the glass effects, you may have to check on the boxes : enable transperant glass and use visual styles; this way atleast the spirit of Vista will be preserved- else be prepared for a really bland Vista ! Use your discretion. I know disabling all can actually negate the purpose of 'eye-friendly' Vista.

4. Ensure that boot defragmentation is enabled, so that files used during start-up are clubbed together.
Start Regedit. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ Microsoft\Dfrg\BootOptimizeFunction . Select Enable from the list on the right.
Right Click on it and select Modify. Change the value to Y to enable and N to disable. Reboot.

5. Disable : "clear page file on shutdown" option. Cleaning the page-file on every shutdown means overwriting the data by zeros, and it takes time.
To clear/not clear page file you can apply this reg tweak. Back up registry before trying this.
Start->run->regedit [enter]
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\Session Manager\Memory Management
Modify (if not present, rt click in open space and create) the Value Data Type/s and Value Name/s :
Data Type: REG_DWORD [Dword Value]
Value Name: ClearPageFileAtShutdown
Setting for Value Data: [0 = Clear Page File Disabled / 1 = Clear Page File Enabled]
Exit Registry and Reboot.

6. Defragment your System Disk & Fine Tune your Registry. If you find the Vista's in-built defragger slow, you can try SysInternals Power Defragmenter which works on Vista too ! Use the freeware CCleaner to clear up your PC Junk and clean up the Registry. Compacting the Registry occasionally is a good idea too !

7. Generally people also recommend emptying the Prefetch directory once in a while. But Windows uses this directory to speed up launching
applications. It analyzes the files you use during startup and the applications you launch, and it creates an index to where those files and applications are located on your hard disk. Using this index, Windows can launch files and applications faster. Nevertheless clearing the Prefetcher say once a month is what I do !

8. Go to BIOS settings, by pressing del key during boot-up, and disable 'seek floppy drive' option. This saves time for those who do not use floppy drives. There are also some BIOS hacks like Enabling Quick Post, Disabling Boot Daly, etc but best to refrain from these.

9. Change Boot-Order Sequence : Normally, the bios is set to boot from floppy first, then CD and then Hard Disk. Changing the Boot-Order to be: Hard Disk first, then maybe CD/Floppy, could possibly "shave" a second, I guess !

10. Disable windows startup/shutdown/logon/logoff sounds. Go to control panel, sounds & audio devices, sound tab, in program events select 'no sound' for these events.

11. Disable the ScreenSaver if you dont need it. Rt-Click desktop>ScreenSaver>None>OK.

12. Fonts take time to load. Removing some can save on resources. But one must be careful in deciding which fonts to remove. If you delete some system fonts, you may b in for trouble. Tweak VI Pro is a good shareware to manage fonts. It uninstalls fonts without physically removing them. Open its help file. It lists down the system fonts which must not be deleted ! use the list; and then decide what to delete and what to keep.

13. To REALLY reduce your shutdown time.
Start Regedit. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Control.
Click on the "Control" Folder. Select "WaitToKillServiceTimeout"
Right click on it and select Modify. the default value is ( i think) 12000.
Setting it to a lower 4 digit value,( say 1000) will make your PC shutdown faster, but you could end up losing data, so use this tweak judiciously.

14. Get rid of all the extra programs Windows Vista installs. You may not be using some like WLM, Calculator, Games, Meeting Space, Fax, etc. Go To Control Panel\Programs\Programs and Features > Turn windows On or Off and do the needful.

15. Go To Control Panel\System and Maintenance\Performance Information and Tools. On the LHS you will see options to Adjust Indexing options, visual effexts, power Settings, etc. These all help directly and indirectly.



Do remember that your Vista-based machine will tend to run a little faster, after the first few weeks after it's installed, thanks to its new feature called "SuperFetch" ; which basically studies the programs that the user frequently runs and loads them into memory automatically.

[iantac]

Nice Tips Ryan!!
Thumbs UP!!   

[kapadult]

good tips. thanx!