Vista Guide - Tips, Tweaks and advice.

This guide is going to be made up of information from multiple sites, some of my own information.

Most of these tips will be Performance Based.

Tips and Tweaks are different.

D: = Difficulty rating: 1 Extremely Easy - 5 More Difficult

Contents

1 - Disable Welcome Centre [D: 1/5]
2 - Boost Your Performance With ReadyBoost [D: 3/5]
3 - Disable Network Printer Search [D: 2/5]
4 - Enhance SATA Disk Speed [D: 2/5]
5 - Increase max IE7 downloads Get Firefox.
6 - Increase network performance when playing media [D: 3/5]
7 - Quick Aero Speed Tip [D: 1/5]
8 - Performance Monitor [D: 1/5]
9 - Aero Speed Boost [D: 2/5]
10 - Speed up external hard drives [D: 2/5]
11 - Speed up start menu search [D: 2/5]
12 - Stop auto-startup items [D: 2/5]
13 - Tweak Indexing Options for More Performance [D: 2/5]
14 - Change desktop icons size [D: 1/5]
15 - Speed up Flip3D [D: 2/5]
16 - Partition drives in Vista [D: 3/5]
17 - Turn off unneeded Windows features [D: 2/5]
18 - Enable Aero mouse pointers [D: 1/5]
19 - Disable Shortcut Icon Arrow Overlay in Windows Vista [D: 2/5]
20 - User Account Control [D: 1/5]
21 - Windows Sidebar [D: 2/5]
22 - Services [D: 2/5]
23 - Turn off Remote Differential Compression [D: 2/5]
24 - Turn off Automatic Windows Defender Operation [D: 2/5]
25 - Turn off Automatic Disk Defragmentation [D: 1/5]
26 - Turn off Windows Hibernation [D: 2/5]
27 - Turn off System Restore [D: 2/5]
28 - Add an elevated Command Prompt [D: 2/5]



1-Disable Welcome Centre

Open Run dialogue box (Windows Key + R) and type 'regedit' without the quotes. Hit Enter.

Expand HKEY_CURRENT_USER, Software, Microsoft, Windows, CurrentVersion, Run.

Right click on the WindowsWelcomeCenter and delete the file.

2 - Boost Your Performance With ReadyBoost

Plug your USB device in and navigate to Computer, right click on the removable storage device and select Properties.

Only if your device is compatible you will see a ReadyBoost Tab, click that.

Select Use this device and select the amount of space on it you want to dedicate for the ReadyBoost system file.

Click OK and you're done.



3 - Disable Network Printer Search

Hit Alt to bring up the menubar if it is not already on the screen. Click on Tools and select Folder Options.

On the View Tab, uncheck Automatically search for network printers.


4 - Enhance SATA Disk Speed

Click on the Start Button and key in Device Manager and hit Enter.

Expand Disk Drives.

Right click on your hard drive and select Properties.

On the Policies tab, check Enable advanced performance.

Hit OK and close Device Manager.


6 - Increase network performance when playing media

Open regedit (Windows Key + R then type 'regedit' with no quotes and hit enter)

Navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Multimedia\SystemProfile

Select NetworkThrottlingIndexValue

You can set NetworkThrottlingIndexValue between 1 and 70. If you want to disable set the hexadecimal value to FFFFFFFF.

Microsoft warns that if you increase the value above 10 you may experience playback quality issues. Depending on your network setup, it is worth experimenting.

After making any changes a restart is needed.


7 - Quick Aero Speed Tip

Click on the desktop and select Personalize.

Select Windows Color and Appearance.

Uncheck Enable Transparency.

8 - Performance Monitor

Click on the Start Button.

Key in Performance Monitor.

Hit Enter.


9 - Aero Speed Boost

Open the start menu, and type in SystemPropertiesPerformance. Hit enter.

Here you can adjust your system for best visuals or performance. I have mine all unchecked with
Use visual styles of windows and buttons
Smooth edges of screen fonts
Show thumbnails instead of icons
Checked.

10 - Speed up external hard drives

Click on the start button, then right click on Computer and select Manage.

Click on Device Manager on the side menu.

Expand Disk drives and locate your external drive from the list.

Right click on the drive and select Properties.

On the Policies tab, select Optimize for performance.

Next, check Enable write caching on the disk and Enable advanced
performance as shown below.



Hit OK, and reboot.

11 - Speed up start menu search

Prevent Start Menu Searches from searching the File index:

Open Registry Editor (regedit).

Navigate through HKEY_CURRENT_USER, Software, Microsoft, Windows, CurrentVersion, Explorer and finally Advanced.

Find and right click on Start_SearchFiles and select Modify.

Set the Value to 0.

Restart the Explorer.exe process or just reboot your computer.


12 - Stop auto-startup items

Disabling auto-start applications with the System Configuration Utility

Click on the Start Button and key in msconfig and hit Enter.

Click on the Startup tab.

Remove the check next to any items that you do not want to startup and click OK.

Disabling auto-start applications with Windows Defender

Click on the Start Button and type in Windows Defender and hit Enter.
Click on the Tools from the top menu bar.
Click on Software Explorer.
Hit Show for All Users.
Select an application and then click either Remove or Disable.

13 - Tweak Indexing Options for More Performance

Follow these steps to tweak the indexing locations:

Click on the Start Button and key in Indexing Options and hit Enter. Indexing Options will now load.



Hit the Modify button.

Next, click on Show all locations.

Scroll through the tree-view and uncheck any folders you do not want to be indexed. When you are finished, click OK.

If you want to change advanced indexing settings such as what file types are indexed click on the Advanced button. Otherwise hit Close.


14 - Change desktop icons size

Click and empty space on your desktop, hold Ctrl and scroll your mouse wheel to increase/decrease the icon sizes.


15 - Speed up Flip3D

Click on the Start Button, type regedit in the Search bar, and press Enter.

Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER, Software, Microsoft, Windows, and DWM.

Create a new DWORD and call it Max3DWindows.

Set the value of this to something between four and nine (“4” and “9&#8221 depending on the performance of your card (a higher number requires more video card power). You should then feel free to experiment to find the best value for your computer. Restart your PC to finalize the change.


16 - Partition drives in Vista

Right-click My Computer, select Manage, and click on Disk Management. You will see all of your volumes listed.

Right-click whatever volume you want to shrink, and click “Shrink Volume.” (You can also extend volumes as well.)

Type in the size of the partition, then click Shrink. After a few seconds, the partition will be shrunk, and you’ll now have a whole lot of unallocated space.

Right-click it and select “New Simple Volume.” We fooled around with this utility, both shrinking and expanding volumes that had data on them and i experienced no data loss or problems whatsoever.


17 - Turn off unneeded Windows features

Click Start, Control Panel, then under Programs at the bottom click “Uninstall a Program.” In the left-hand pane you’ll see “Turn Windows Features on or off.”

Uncheck whatever you don’t need.


18 - Enable Aero mouse pointers

To enable the new mouse pointers and animations, right-click the desktop, select Personalize, then Mouse Pointers.

Click on the drop-down box under the word Scheme, and select Windows Aero (system scheme). Click OK.


19 - Disable Shortcut Icon Arrow Overlay in Windows Vista

Link


20 - User Account Control

Head to Start
Select Control Panel
Select System and Maintenance
Select Administrative Tools
Select the System Configuration button
Select the Continue button (if UAC is active)
Select the Tools Tab
Select "Disable UAC"
Select the Launch button
Select the Ok button to close the panel

You will have to reboot for the setting to take effect.


21 - Windows Sidebar

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

You can disable the Sidebar also by:

Right click on an unused area of the Sidebar (between Gadgets or at the bottom) to bring up the context menu
Select Properties
Uncheck Start Sidebar when Windows starts
Select the Ok button to apply the settings

If you wish to close the Sidebar now:

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 Exit

or:

Right click on an unused area of the Sidebar (between Gadgets or at the bottom) to bring up the context menu
Select Exit



22 - Services

Head to Start
Select Control Panel
Select System and Maintenance
Select Administrative Tools
Select Services
Select a service to adjust by double-clicking
In the General tab, Startup type section, select Automatic (Delayed Start), Automatic, Manual or Disabled.

If you like, you can also do: Start --> All Programs --> Accessories --> Run --> type in services.msc --> Select OK.

After configuring all services that you desire to change, reboot to see the effects of your tweaking.

23 - Turn off Remote Differential Compression

Open Control Panel
Switch to Classic View
Select Program Features
Choose Turn Windows features on and off
Scroll down and uncheck Remote Differential Compression

24 - Turn off Automatic Windows Defender Operation

Open Control Panel
Select Windows Defender
Choose Tools from the top menu
Select Options
Uncheck Auto Start at the bottom of the window



25 - Turn off Automatic Disk Defragmentation

Click Start then Computer
Right Click the C: Drive
Click on Properties
Select the Tools Tab
Click on Defragment Now
Uncheck Run on a schedule



26 - Turn off Windows 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


27 - Turn off System Restore

Control Panel > System
Click System Protection on the left panel
Uncheck the main system drive
Agree to the confirmation

28 - Add an elevated Command Prompt

Click Start and type cmd in the Search box. This should produce a list consisting of one entry: the shortcut to the Windows Command Processor, cmd.
Right-click the cmd shortcut and choose Pin to Start Menu.
Click Start again. Right-click the Command Prompt shortcut you just added to the Start menu and choose Properties.
Click the Advanced button and click to select the Run as administrator checkbox.
Click OK to save your changes.







That's all for now, i hope this guide was useful in some way.

Please remember, some guides are not mine, nor do I take credit for them. Picture source (tweakvista.com)

 

Thanks for posting. Accepted.

 

No problems Eric, will most likely write a Pt.2 some other day, i like Vista

 

Should be called: How to turn Vista into XP.

Also, you should include not to use the search bar in the start menu, as it starts a new thread for every character. Typing "photoshop", then deleting "shop" starts 23 CPU threads.

 

Nothing like turning it to XP

and i will add the search thing in part 2.

Thanks Darby

 

That is a nice guide must of took some time. Thanks for posting.

 

Thanks for taking the time to write this. Once again yet another well written and useful guide.

 

Taken bits and bobs from this, thank you.

 

good guide, nice and informational

 

nice useful guide, in your opinion which is a better system vista or xp?

 

nice guide