So you want your Windows Vista installation to run quicker do you? Well you’ve come to the right place. Below you will find several tips and the occasional trick on how to make your Windows Vista installation run quicker, so without further adieu:

Tip 1: RAM (2GB minimum, 3GB recommended)

Explanation of ram and how Windows Vista utilizes it:

Ram, random access memory, is an extremely fast form of memory. The only downside to it is that when the power is turn off all data contained within it is lost. That is why we have hard drives that utilize magnetism to permanently store your data.

When you start your computer up and Windows begins to start it loads itself from your hard drive, the slowest part of your computer, into ram. The same thing happens when you load a program. By loading the Operating system and programs into ram we are able to utilize them properly.

 

In Windows Vista Microsoft implemented an advanced pre-fetch system called SuperFetch. This little program is quite useful. It learns from you. After Vista has finished loading itself SuperFetch kicks in and begins to load the programs that you use most often into the free ram on your system so that those programs will start quicker for you. Vista will use about half the available ram in your system to “pre-load” various programs for you. But what if you need that ram that has pre-loaded data in it? Don’t worry, Vista will release the ram to be used by the application quicker than you can say Acer guy.

By now you can probably figure out that the more ram that you have the more programs you can have open at once without your computer slowing to a grinding halt. Windows Vista operates best with 2 GB of ram or more. When Windows Vista first came out a majority of computers shipped with only 1 GB of ram. This severely limits the ability of the owner of such a computer to run basic applications without it slowing down significantly.

Tip 2: Start Up Programs (the fewer the better)

By default many programs like to tell Windows that they should be started at the same time as you start the computer up. This is largely unnecessary as it causes your computer to take eons to start up and they take up ram and don’t give it up if you need it! Vista has a built in program called “msconfig”. This is a more technical interface and if you aren’t sure what’s what in your computer then I recommend using Advanced Windows Care v.3 which is available to download for free at www.iobit.com .This program also scans for spyware and helps optimize your computer but for now we are concerned with the Startup Manager found under “Admin Tools” in the “Utilities” section of the program.  From this menu you can disable or enable programs from starting when Windows boots. If you aren’t sure what an item is you can right click on it and choose the “open directory” option to access an online database that will tell you what a particular program is.(a favourite feature of mine in this program)

Once there you are provided with a list of programs that are starting at the same time that Windows is. We want to minimize the number of programs that do this. The following things are completely safe to not have loading at startup.

  1. Manufacturer’s programs (such as Acer’s Empowering programs)
  2. Wireless assistants (usually a part of a manufacturer’s suite of programs)
  3. Video card programs (Nvidia, ATI, or Intel graphics programs)
  4. Software for your mouse or keyboard (if you don’t use any special functions or buttons)
  5. QuickTime, MSN, file sharing programs, etc, and other non-system critical programs
  6. Vista sidebar (if you don’t use it)

You will still be able to access any of these programs whenever you would like to. By disabling the programs from loading at start up it prevents them from taking up ram when you’re not using them. Just remember not to disable your anti-virus!

Tip 3: ReadyBoost and Hard Drive Tweaks

ReadyBoost is another nice little feature in Vista that allows us to improve the overall responsiveness of your computer. It isn’t going to add anything to your benchmark scores, but what it will do is add to the responsiveness of your computer. ReadyBoost works by using flash memory, either a USB key or a flash memory card to, as an additional memory cache. Since flash memory is much faster than your hard drive SuperFetch is able to use the flash memory to hold more data that you commonly use so that you can access it quicker.  So use that empty memory card reader or USB port to speed up your computer!

This next little tweak is only useful if you have a UPS, or uninterruptible power supply, or are willing to take the slightly larger risk involved.

If you have a SATA hard drive then you have the option to enable write caching. This is buried deep within the “Device Manager” panel. To get to “Device Manager” :

  1. Click on your “Start Menu” and then right click on “Computer” and go to properties 
  2. In the “System” window that pops up you will find “Device Manager” in the upper left corner of the window. 
  3. Click on the “Disk Drives” option and right click on your hard drive and go to properties.
  4. Under the “Policies” tab you will see the option to enable write caching on disk. 
  5. Read the warnings and decide if you want to enable it. (If you have a UPS then enable it)

Tip 4: Services (and the disabling of them)

Windows ships with many services enabled so that you can plug just about anything into your computer and it will work. It also takes up more memory! How much? Well not a whole lot actually. I have gone from meticulously disabling services that I knew I would never use to not bothering. I have seen no appreciable difference in system performance from when I disabled services to when I left them enabled. Security hole services like “Messenger” are disabled by default in Vista so there is no longer any need to worry about that anymore.

Though, if you would like to check out the different services running on your Vista machine type “services” into the search bar in the Vista Start menu and it will pop up for you. Click on it and you’re off and away.

You can find a comprehensive list of what services are safe to disable at:

http://www.blackviper.com/WinVista/servicecfg.htm

Just remember that if you disable a service do remember what you have disabled if you suddenly find a device that will not work .

Tip 5: See tip #1 (yes it’s that important)

This sums up the best things you can do to speed up your Windows Vista installation. When the above tweaks are applied Windows Vista can become a very responsive and fast operating system.

One of the things that I didn’t cover in here was anti-virus software.  Some can take up a lot of system resources and can slow your computer down even if you do all of the above!  So until I get that article out do the best you can with what you’ve got.