Hi all,
Hopefully this is a useful posts. Its basically a collection of all the Windows Visa tweaks to speed it up.
I would say it works well for me but im not responsible for breaking your system... Now I got that in...
Its in no particular order and some make only a small difference but combined it can make quite some difference. Probably plenty of typo's and spelling mistakes but enjoy...
Adjust File Indexing
How often do you use search? If you don’t very often then you can turn this off in Programs and Features or simply disable the service.
If you do then you can tweak it for better performance in Control Panel.
Turn off file types you don’t want indexed or point it at only places you want indexed.
To disable Windows indexing:
Click Start Orb
Click Computer
Right-click on Local Disk C:
Left click on Properties
Uncheck Index this Drive for Faster Searching
Let it complete and select Include subfolders and files in any subsequent dialog box
Click on Start Orb and enter MSConfig
Click on Services tab and find Windows Search
Uncheck, Apply and OK
Configure Page File
Vista manages this well but if you have added a newer faster disk put the page file on this instead.
Cleanup Startup
Remove all startup applications except for the Antivirus entries.
Click Start Orb
Run
Type Regedit
Go to
HKEY_Current_User\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Run
HKEY_Local_Machine\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Run
Speed Up Boot Process
By default, Windows Vista waits 30 seconds during the startup process before loading the operating system. This delay can be decreased considerably, speeding up Vista boot time.
Click the Start Orb
Right-click Computer
Click Properties
Click Advanced System settings
In the Advanced Tab, Start and Recovery, click Settings
In the Time to display operating systems list setting, set a 5 second value instead of 30.
Click Apply
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
Select Program Features
Choose Turn Windows features on and off
Scroll down and uncheck Remote Differential Compression
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 0
Click Apply
Speed Up Shutdown
By default, there is a 20 second delay in shutdown of Vista, a process that vista has set in order to allow software to shutdown correctly. You can adjust this to a much shorter time, thus significantly reducing the total time it takes to shutdown your computer.
Open Regedit
Expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE|SYSTEM|CurrentControlSet|Control
Select Control
Right-click WaitToKillServiceTimeout and select Modify
The default value is 20000. Set to a lower 4 digit value, say 5000
The 20000 signifies a 20 second delay whereas 5000 signifies a 5 second delay. You may want to remain at the 5000 mark as Vista does need time to shut software down. If this is not enough, come back and increase the size.
Get Quicker Internet Confirmation (Home PC/Non-Networked PC)
The last item to load on some systems is the internet connection. It may take as much as 10-15 seconds for Vista to confirm the connection. To change:
Run services.msc
Scroll to Workstation
Double-click to open and disable it
Reboot
NOTE: This tweak is a great enhancement for standalone systems that use wired or wireless internet. Do not use it in a LAN environment!
Disable Non-Required services
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 Orb
Open Control Panel
Select Administrative Tools
Choose System Configuration
Click the Services Tab
You can safely deselect if using Vista at Home:
1. Offline Files (unless you’re using Offline File Sync)
2. Tablet PC Input Service (unless you have a tablet PC)
3. Terminal Services
4. Fax (unless you’re using a fax modem)
5. DFS Replication
6. Distributed Link Tracking
7. IKE and auth IP IPSec Keying Modules
8. IPSec Policy Agent
9. KtmRm for Distributed Transaction Coordinator
10. Offline Files
11. Remote Registry
12. Secondary Logon
13. Security Center
14. SSDP Discovery
15. Windows Defender
16. Windows Error Reporting Service
17. Windows Search
Clean up Prefetch folder
Over time, Prefetch gets filled with obsolete files, and that slows boot performance. The solution is to periodically cleanup the Prefetch directory:
Click Start Orb
Enter Prefetch
Delete all contents
Increase SATA Disk Drive Performance
Improve SATA hard disk performance by enabling write caching. Note, there is an increased risk for data loss/corruption should a power loss be experienced - this risk is less in a laptop because of its battery:
Click the Start Orb
Run Device Manager
Expand Disk Drives.
Right-click on your hard disk drives and select Properties.
On the Policies tab, check Enable Advanced Performance.
Click OK and close Device Manager.
Disable the Sidebar
The new Windows Vista Sidebar uses between 12MB and 20MB of RAM with the default 3 Gadgets and no news headline feed.
Locate the Windows Sidebar icon in the System Tray (lower right, near the clock display)
Show hidden icons if it is not displayed
Right click the icon to bring up the context menu
Select Properties
Uncheck Start Sidebar when Windows starts
Select the Ok button to apply the settings
Remove Remote Assistance and ensure Remote Desktop is disabled.
Take Note: Remote Desktop is not available on Vista Home or Vista Home Premium, so the option will not be there.
Head to Start
Select Control Panel
Select System and Maintenance
Select System
Select Remote settings (on the left side)
Select the Continue button (if UAC is active)
Uncheck "Allow Remote Assistance connections to this computer” option
Ensure "Don't allow connections to this computer" option is checked
Select the Ok button to apply the settings
Clean System Restore and Eliminate Shadow Copies
By default, System Restore will save a copy of your current desktop on regularly scheduled intervals, whenever something new is installed and also if an error or update occurs with the system. The results in needless backups remaining for no reason. Also, shadow copies of programs are created on expansion after installation, many of which remain their needlessly.
Click Start Orb
Click Computer
Right-click on C
Select Properties
Select More Options tab
Select System Restore and Shadow Copies [Clean Up…]
Disable System Sounds
Often not required, go to control panel, sounds and from the drop down menu select “No Sounds” and save.
Interface Speed up
• Disable Aero and Transparency Effects
• Disable System sounds
• Disable System Restore (Presuming you take other backups)
• Use Ready Boost
• Disable UAC (Home Only)
Latest Drivers and Updates
Keeping your system drives up to date can also helps improve things.
This includes.
• Graphics Driver Usually www.nvidia.com www.ati.com
• Bios Check the manufacturers website
• Chipset Driver Usually www.intel.com www.ati.com www.nvidia.com
• LAN Driver Check the manufacturers website
• Windows Updates windowsupdate.microsoft.com
System Care & Applications
I also recommend the below software which I use on many systems with no problems. There are very lightweight and help keep everything running well.
CCleaner - Remove Temp files, Startup apps and registry cleaner
Defraggler - Defragments system files
AVG Free - Reliable Antivirus solution and doesn’t hog system resources
Firefox - Apparently more secure (I have never had a problem) but notably faster than Internet Explorer
Spybot - Does a good job of getting rid of spyware
I know there are loads of good applications thats just the ones I use and find good..
If anyone is unhappy with something or I have broken some forum rules and has good reason I will remove it, I cant see anything else like this on here for Vista so here goes....
Enjoy
Hopefully this is a useful posts. Its basically a collection of all the Windows Visa tweaks to speed it up.
I would say it works well for me but im not responsible for breaking your system... Now I got that in...
Its in no particular order and some make only a small difference but combined it can make quite some difference. Probably plenty of typo's and spelling mistakes but enjoy...
Adjust File Indexing
How often do you use search? If you don’t very often then you can turn this off in Programs and Features or simply disable the service.
If you do then you can tweak it for better performance in Control Panel.
Turn off file types you don’t want indexed or point it at only places you want indexed.
To disable Windows indexing:
Click Start Orb
Click Computer
Right-click on Local Disk C:
Left click on Properties
Uncheck Index this Drive for Faster Searching
Let it complete and select Include subfolders and files in any subsequent dialog box
Click on Start Orb and enter MSConfig
Click on Services tab and find Windows Search
Uncheck, Apply and OK
Configure Page File
Vista manages this well but if you have added a newer faster disk put the page file on this instead.
Cleanup Startup
Remove all startup applications except for the Antivirus entries.
Click Start Orb
Run
Type Regedit
Go to
HKEY_Current_User\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Run
HKEY_Local_Machine\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Run
Speed Up Boot Process
By default, Windows Vista waits 30 seconds during the startup process before loading the operating system. This delay can be decreased considerably, speeding up Vista boot time.
Click the Start Orb
Right-click Computer
Click Properties
Click Advanced System settings
In the Advanced Tab, Start and Recovery, click Settings
In the Time to display operating systems list setting, set a 5 second value instead of 30.
Click Apply
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
Select Program Features
Choose Turn Windows features on and off
Scroll down and uncheck Remote Differential Compression
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 0
Click Apply
Speed Up Shutdown
By default, there is a 20 second delay in shutdown of Vista, a process that vista has set in order to allow software to shutdown correctly. You can adjust this to a much shorter time, thus significantly reducing the total time it takes to shutdown your computer.
Open Regedit
Expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE|SYSTEM|CurrentControlSet|Control
Select Control
Right-click WaitToKillServiceTimeout and select Modify
The default value is 20000. Set to a lower 4 digit value, say 5000
The 20000 signifies a 20 second delay whereas 5000 signifies a 5 second delay. You may want to remain at the 5000 mark as Vista does need time to shut software down. If this is not enough, come back and increase the size.
Get Quicker Internet Confirmation (Home PC/Non-Networked PC)
The last item to load on some systems is the internet connection. It may take as much as 10-15 seconds for Vista to confirm the connection. To change:
Run services.msc
Scroll to Workstation
Double-click to open and disable it
Reboot
NOTE: This tweak is a great enhancement for standalone systems that use wired or wireless internet. Do not use it in a LAN environment!
Disable Non-Required services
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 Orb
Open Control Panel
Select Administrative Tools
Choose System Configuration
Click the Services Tab
You can safely deselect if using Vista at Home:
1. Offline Files (unless you’re using Offline File Sync)
2. Tablet PC Input Service (unless you have a tablet PC)
3. Terminal Services
4. Fax (unless you’re using a fax modem)
5. DFS Replication
6. Distributed Link Tracking
7. IKE and auth IP IPSec Keying Modules
8. IPSec Policy Agent
9. KtmRm for Distributed Transaction Coordinator
10. Offline Files
11. Remote Registry
12. Secondary Logon
13. Security Center
14. SSDP Discovery
15. Windows Defender
16. Windows Error Reporting Service
17. Windows Search
Clean up Prefetch folder
Over time, Prefetch gets filled with obsolete files, and that slows boot performance. The solution is to periodically cleanup the Prefetch directory:
Click Start Orb
Enter Prefetch
Delete all contents
Increase SATA Disk Drive Performance
Improve SATA hard disk performance by enabling write caching. Note, there is an increased risk for data loss/corruption should a power loss be experienced - this risk is less in a laptop because of its battery:
Click the Start Orb
Run Device Manager
Expand Disk Drives.
Right-click on your hard disk drives and select Properties.
On the Policies tab, check Enable Advanced Performance.
Click OK and close Device Manager.
Disable the Sidebar
The new Windows Vista Sidebar uses between 12MB and 20MB of RAM with the default 3 Gadgets and no news headline feed.
Locate the Windows Sidebar icon in the System Tray (lower right, near the clock display)
Show hidden icons if it is not displayed
Right click the icon to bring up the context menu
Select Properties
Uncheck Start Sidebar when Windows starts
Select the Ok button to apply the settings
Remove Remote Assistance and ensure Remote Desktop is disabled.
Take Note: Remote Desktop is not available on Vista Home or Vista Home Premium, so the option will not be there.
Head to Start
Select Control Panel
Select System and Maintenance
Select System
Select Remote settings (on the left side)
Select the Continue button (if UAC is active)
Uncheck "Allow Remote Assistance connections to this computer” option
Ensure "Don't allow connections to this computer" option is checked
Select the Ok button to apply the settings
Clean System Restore and Eliminate Shadow Copies
By default, System Restore will save a copy of your current desktop on regularly scheduled intervals, whenever something new is installed and also if an error or update occurs with the system. The results in needless backups remaining for no reason. Also, shadow copies of programs are created on expansion after installation, many of which remain their needlessly.
Click Start Orb
Click Computer
Right-click on C
Select Properties
Select More Options tab
Select System Restore and Shadow Copies [Clean Up…]
Disable System Sounds
Often not required, go to control panel, sounds and from the drop down menu select “No Sounds” and save.
Interface Speed up
• Disable Aero and Transparency Effects
• Disable System sounds
• Disable System Restore (Presuming you take other backups)
• Use Ready Boost
• Disable UAC (Home Only)
Latest Drivers and Updates
Keeping your system drives up to date can also helps improve things.
This includes.
• Graphics Driver Usually www.nvidia.com www.ati.com
• Bios Check the manufacturers website
• Chipset Driver Usually www.intel.com www.ati.com www.nvidia.com
• LAN Driver Check the manufacturers website
• Windows Updates windowsupdate.microsoft.com
System Care & Applications
I also recommend the below software which I use on many systems with no problems. There are very lightweight and help keep everything running well.
CCleaner - Remove Temp files, Startup apps and registry cleaner
Defraggler - Defragments system files
AVG Free - Reliable Antivirus solution and doesn’t hog system resources
Firefox - Apparently more secure (I have never had a problem) but notably faster than Internet Explorer
Spybot - Does a good job of getting rid of spyware
I know there are loads of good applications thats just the ones I use and find good..
If anyone is unhappy with something or I have broken some forum rules and has good reason I will remove it, I cant see anything else like this on here for Vista so here goes....
Enjoy
Last edited:
