Windows Vista is a great looking operating system with some awesome features, but it can be slow, 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 are the 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)
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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Written by Jason on July 6th, 2008 with no comments.
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You invested in dead bolts and alarm systems to protect your business from theft of merchandise and equipment. But a cyber thief does not need access through the front door to steal the information you store on your PCs. Client credit card and bank account numbers, employee data and other confidential files are all at risk in a cyber attack.
Implementing sound security measures can greatly reduce your vulnerability to phishing (a type of Internet-based scam designed to steal your identity), spyware, and other malicious software used to steal or otherwise compromise business data. The good news is that built-in security features in Windows Vista Ultimate make it much easier to safeguard your PCs. Here are three you should know about:
1. Windows Defender
You or your employees may get tricked into downloading spyware to your business’s PCs through e-mail messages or from “spoof” Web sites. (Spyware refers to an array of software that can be installed on a PC inadvertently, or without the user’s consent.) Windows Defender, shown below, helps protect your PCs against security threats caused by spyware.
Windows Defender does three key things to protect your PCs from spyware:
• It scans for spyware on your PC and presents you with options for ignoring, allowing, or deleting any potential threats it has quarantined.
• It monitors the common entry points for spyware on your PC in real time.
• It stays current on what the latest spyware threats are so it can scan for them.
Because Windows Defender takes advantage of many of the Windows Vista platform enhancements, including improved caching technology, scans run quickly. And most of the work is done in the background without requiring your intervention or attention. Windows Defender will only alert you to serious issues that require immediate action. You will stay busy and productive with the confidence that your PCs have enhanced protection while you work.
Note: Windows Vista does not include real-time virus protection. The features discussed in this article complement antivirus software but are not a substitute for third-party antivirus software.
2. User Account Control
In Microsoft Windows XP, a user must be an “administrator” to accomplish certain day-to-day tasks like changing power settings on a portable computer or installing and updating software. One of the purposes of requiring administrator privileges is to help protect PCs from harmful downloads of malicious software - or malware. Malware refers to unwanted software including worms, viruses, adware, and spyware that could delete or steal files and information from the PC.
While this scenario keeps your PCs safer, it also limits productivity because each time a standard user needs to change a basic setting or install software, the user has to locate someone with administrator privileges to help.
Windows Vista Ultimate changes all this by offering User Account Control (UAC), a feature that makes it easier to use a PC with standard user privileges. You can create separate accounts for yourself and your employees and easily set up security parameters on each account to control which Web sites and programs each user can access and install-all without additional IT support. In addition, even when you use an administrator account, you will still benefit from increased security. Most programs run with standard user permissions by default, even when you are logged in as an administrator, which limits potential damage from malware.
3. Internet Explorer 7
To help protect against cyber attacks, businesses need a higher level of protection when employees use the Web. That is why the Internet Explorer 7 browser, included with Windows Vista Ultimate, features a number of security enhancements such as stronger safeguarding of personal data and protection against malware.
A key feature of Internet Explorer 7 is the Microsoft Phishing Filter designed to keep confidential data safer. Shown below, the Phishing Filter helps protect you from attacks that occur when you enter sensitive data, such as credit card numbers, into a Web site form that looks legitimate, but is actually designed to steal confidential information.
The Phishing Filter helps protect your business by:
• Comparing the sites you visit to addresses of reported legitimate sites
• Analysing the sites you visit for phishing characteristics
• Sending the addresses of the sites you visit to an online service that keeps a database of known phishing sites
If a site you visit has been confirmed as a phishing site, you will be warned of its threat level and automatically redirected to a safer page. The online database of known phishing sites is an opt-in service. If desired (though not recommended), the Phishing Filter can be deactivated with a single click. Used in combination with Windows Defender, Internet Explorer 7 helps keep your PCs and data safe.
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Written by Jason on May 30th, 2008 with no comments.
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At the beginning of May, security company PC Tools revealed that Windows Vista “is not so immune.” And in this attempt to wrap the obvious together with statistics from a limited pool of users and serve the result as a revelation, the security outfit went on to claim that “Windows Vista is more susceptible to malware than the eight year old Windows 2000 operating system, and only 37% more secure than Windows XP”. Apparently, PC Tolls had detected 639 unique threats per 1,000 Vista machines, in comparison to just 586 for Windows 2000, 478 for Windows Server 2003, and 1,021 for XP. The conclusion is, of course, nothing short of obvious and was stated as clear as possible, with a challenge to Vista’s malware immunity.
Now, the fact is that citing data from over 450 million computers, in respect to PC Tools’ just 1.4 million machines, Microsoft disputed the findings, and continued to claim that Windows Vista is the safest Windows operating system on the market. Microsoft has repeated this refrain since Vista was launched, and provided ample proof, from the data collected through the Malicious Software Removal Tool to vulnerability counting games involving the main platforms.
But one thing that Microsoft has never done is claim that Windows Vista is immune to malware. In this regard, the position of Simon Clausen, Chief Executive Officer - PC Tools, is expressed through the following: “Vista is not immune from online threats. Further research and analysis has confirmed our contention that additional third-party protection is absolutely necessary for all Windows Vista users”.
Since the advent of Windows Vista, the Redmond company has urged users to follow a set of best practices in terms of security from enabling the User Account Control, to not executing email attachments in messages from untrusted sources, and to running antivirus software. Vista is not and will never be immune to malicious code, neither will Vista Service Pack 1, Windows 7 or any other Windows operating system. As a matter of fact, all silver bullet solutions for security are nothing more than myths…
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Written by Jason on May 21st, 2008 with no comments.
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Are you getting User Account Control popups in Windows Vista asking you always for permission to proceed to do simple tasks? Lets Disable it with these easy steps.
Watch my video tutorials for details:
Alternative way to disable these notifications:
Alternately, you can run the System Configuration Utility (a.k.a. msconfig) by typing msconfig at the command line or search box. When the tool runs, click the Tools tab and scroll down until you see Disable UAC. Highlight it and click the Launch button, then reboot. To turn it back on again, follow the same steps and choose Enable UAC.
If you're a fan of the Registry, you can also disable UAC using the Registry Editor. Launch the Registry Editor by typing regedit at the Start Search box or a command prompt and pressing Enter. Go to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System\EnableLUA
and give it a value of 0. You will need to reboot in order for the change to take effect.
UAC is also the culprit for another nagging Windows Vista annoyance. When you run some commands from the command prompt, you're told that you don't have administrative rights to run them, even if you're currently logged in as an administrator.
That's because UAC requires you to run the command prompt as an administrator -- what's called running an elevated command prompt. Simply being logged in as an administrator isn't good enough; you still have to run an elevated command prompt.
One way to do it is to type cmd into the Search box on the Start menu, right-click the command prompt icon that appears at the top of the Start menu, then select Run as administrator.
But if you don't want to go about doing that each time you run a command prompt, there's a simpler way. You can create a desktop shortcut for an elevated prompt, or pin the elevated prompt to the Start menu.
To create a shortcut on the desktop:
1. Right-click the desktop, and select New > Shortcut.
2. In the text box of the Create Shortcut dialog box that appears, type cmd and then click Next.
3. On the next screen, type a name for the shortcut -- for example, Elevated Command Prompt. Then click Finish.
4. Right-click on the shortcut you just created and select Properties.
5. Select the Shortcut tab and click the Advanced button.
6. Check the box titled Run as administrator. Click OK and OK again.
Now, when you want to run an elevated command prompt, simply double-click the shortcut.
If you'd like the elevated command prompt to appear on the Start menu, drag it from the Desktop to the Start button and place it where you would like it to be.
Other Tips Users have watched
Written by PCWizKid on February 13th, 2008 with comments disabled.
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As per experience and user reviews which I have read till now ,UAC (User Account Control) has been the most annoying feature which got bundled automatically with windows vista.
But some times there are cases when you may want UAC to enabled for one user but at the same time disabled for another user.
So , you can explicitly enable UAC for the specific user by following the procedure below.
- Open Start>>Control Panel (more…)
Written by Jason on January 20th, 2008 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on UAC and User Account Control and Windows Vista and windows.