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The flash of polish of Windows Vista seduced you, but performance isn't what you'd hoped -- the visual effects are dragging you down.
Keep in mind though, that, while these tips can help you speed up Windows and recover hard drive space, you aren't going to see the sort of speed boost you'd get from upgrading your hardware.
If you're unhappy, for instance, with the speed of Vista on a machine where XP used to scream, while these tips will help, you might want to consider a new graphics card, more RAM and perhaps even a faster processor.
== Use ReadyBoost ==
ReadyBoost is one of the more appealing features in Vista. Put simply it uses a solid state memory disk as a extra disk memory cache.
To take advantage of ReadyBoost find the fastest USB flash drive you can find and plug it in. AutoPlay will pop up a dialog offering to use it for ReadyBoost, just enable it and you're done.
Microsoft suggests that you use a USB drive roughly the same size as the amount of RAM you have.
ReadyBoost data is encrypted, so if someone snatches your flash drive they won't be able to read your data.
Don't expect miracles from ReadyBoost and keep in mind that it isn't an alternative to a memory upgrade -- it won't help if you're short on RAM -- rather it caches disk reads on the fly and can often speed up data access.
== Defragment Your Hard Drive ==
Once the go-to solution for all speed problems in Windows, Vista actually defragments your drive automatically in the background. By default the system is configured to defrag your hard drive once a week.
The problem with Vista's defragmentation routine is that unless you frequently install and uninstall programs and constantly move files around, once a week is probably overkill and when Vista is defragmenting you'll see a performance hit. We suggest turning off the scheduler and doing it by hand.
Fragmentation happens when the computer writes files to disk without keeping everything together in one spot. Thus if you just saved a large image you've been working on in Photoshop, part of it might be near the middle of the disk and part of it might be at the end, which means it takes longer for the disk to find it.
Bring those separate parts together is what's known as defragmenting.
To defragment your boot drive open My Computer and right-click the disk you want to defragment. Select Properties and then click the Tools tab where you'll see the Defragment Now option. Just click Defragment and wait for the process to finish.
You'll may notice that Vista did away with many of the nicer features in XP's defragmenting program. If you'd like more advanced feedback try out the free [http://www.auslogics.com/en/software/disk-defrag/download Disk Defrag] from Auslogics, which gives you a nice drive map and other advanced features.
== Clean House ==
Part of what slows Vista down is the number of secondary applications running in the background and hogging RAM. The first place to start speeding up Vista is getting rid of the things you don't need.
=== Turn Off Unnecessary Services ===
Services are background processes that run silently without you ever knowing about them. Because Vista takes the everything-and-the-kitchen-sink approach there's likely to be some unnecessary services running in the background.
To get rid of them go to Start >> Run, type "services.msc" and hit return. Double-click on the service you want to get rid of and change the startup type to Disable.
Here's some examples of services you may not need: Secondary Logon, Remote Registry, Computer Browser, Windows Error Reporting, Tablet PC Input Service and Distributed Link Tracking Client. There are dozens more you sift through to see if you need them.
=== Improve Startup Times ===
Whenever Windows starts it automatically loads a number of programs, many of which you may not need. The System Configuration Utility and Windows Defender can both be used to control what programs auto-start in Vista.
To disabling auto-start applications with the System Configuration Utility
# Open up msconfig (use the Vista Start Menu’s Instant Search feature: just press the Windows key and type 'System' and the hit return).
# Select the Startup tab.
# Uncheck any items that you do not want to auto-load and click OK.
To disabling auto-start applications with Windows Defender
# Open Windows Defender
# Click on the Tools in the top menu bar.
# Click on Software Explorer.
# Hit Show for All Users.
# Select an application and then click either Remove or Disable.
== Speed Up Vista on Older Machines ==
Vista's snazzy UI design is easy on the eye but hard on the processor and consequently older machines may lag, but there's no need to rush out and buy new hardware. Give these tips a try first and see if they improve your Vista experience.
# Get rid of Aero -- The Aero interface is nice but it has demanding graphics requirements. Vista will disable it by default if your graphics card isn't up to snuff, but even if it is, you might find the speed tradeoff unacceptable. Head to the Window Color and Appearance panel (right click the desktop and choose personalize) and click the link to "Open classic appearance properties for more color options." Select an option other than Aero and you're done. For a less radical option just turn off the "glass transparency" setting which seems to be the source of much of Aero's memory usage.
# Disable the Sidebar -- widgets are memory hogs and getting rid of them will help speed up Vista.
== Declutter your Drive ==
Like most people you probably have a number of files and programs you don't need that are eating up dard drive space. When it comes to files it's your call, but for getting rid of programs we recommend the free application [http://www.ccleaner.com/ CCleaner] which is faster and much more thorough than the default Add/Remove application provided with Windows.
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