Better Windows Performance

MadMan-JaMeS

MadMan-JaMeS

MadMan-JaMeS

Soldato
Joined
15 Mar 2004
Posts
3,184
Location
Oxford
Hey guys,

at the moment i run vista 32bit,

I got a resonably good system

AMD Phenom II @ 3.6Ghz
4 Gig Ram

Etc etc

I'm just wondering how i can improver performance without actually doing much.

there is nothing wrong with my machine, i defrag weekly, virus scan with kasperky weekly the normal stuff. Just wondering if there is anyway i can make things better.
 
Upgrade to an SSD for your boot/OS drive, my little laptop went from being used once a month when the wife insisted I watch TV with her to being the main PC after that upgrade, the performance improvement is staggering.

Space is limited but not a problem on my laptop, if I used it in my main PC I'd just have data on a second drive anyway :)
 
Why have you got Vista 32Bit installed when you have 4Gb? That's the first problem as your ram and graphics ram will be completely wasted.

Install Windows 7 64Bit :)
 
That's a fairly hefty chunk to be missing, especially if he does a lot of multitasking. A financial waste too, especially if the RAM is of the more expensive variety.

As for performance I would look at removing/disabling software that runs in the background that you don't actually need or use. An SSD is a great idea, but depends how much spare cash you have floating around and for best results would require a reinstall of Windows. Better still an upgrade to 7.
 
Registry clean/defrag, update drivers... Is there anything that's particularly slow?

Could give readyboost a try.
 
i used ready boost and can really see a difference in the laptop.

I also read somewhere that is stores your fav apps in readyboost memory is that correct? Anyway it really seems to work for me firefox and ie load faster as does the office apps. I can't be bothered to say how much but it works. I have given and old 4GB stick over to it...
 
Readyboost shouldn't make that much difference with a system of that spec though. It's good for lower powered machines, definitely noticed a difference on my older rigs.

Faster windows = SSD. One of the best upgrades I've ever made, never going back to a HDD boot drive. Get Windows 7 x64, which performs faster than Vista did for me. It feels better and more optimised, has a handful of nicer features.

If you're not up for spending - you can still install x64 using the same license with vista. You just need the x64 media.

I don't like the newer versions of Kaspersky as much as I used to. They're not as lightweight. Not sure on a good alternative really, depends how careful you are. I'm using MS Security essentials, but it's a pretty rubbish AV, but I don't need the protection that much.

Don't bother with reg cleaners. Ccleaner from Piriform is worth a bash, won't really make things faster though. Defragging might, Vista has that covered (or should do) automagically for you.

Apart from that, not a lot you can really do. Where are you finding performance lacking? Why are you asking this question? If there's a specific application, we might be able to help you with that further.
 
I've always found Kaspersky to be a bit of a hog. It's almost unbearable during a full scan. It's worth considering MSE which I don't notice is running most of the time.

Maybe check your drivers are up to date too. It's not going to make a big difference to general usage but it can improve thing like graphics card performance.
 
Re Readyboost, it works best if your using a slower mechanical drive combined with fast memory stick / ssd drive. I'm using Readyboost on an 8GB system, and it does indeed work. At work I have a Patriot 8GB stick, at home I have a Kingston value SSD dedicated to it.

On my works machine it's speeded up app loading, and taken a large visual studio project down from 2:30 min, to 1:50 build time - I tested this with a stop watch repeatedly.

It also helps with hibernation as when you power from hibernation OS files will be loaded from Readyboost.

To see Readyboost working, all you need todo is open both resource monitor disk stats and/or the Readyboost stats in performance counter.
 
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