BOOT CAMP 495 (25/09/07) – Vista Tuning Tips part 4
In the concluding part of
this short series on how to perk up your Vista PC we will be looking at some
simple tweaks that together can make a significant difference to the
performance, especially on slower, low-spec machines.
The Vista Search facility
helps you find things on your computer really quickly – much faster then XP
Search -- the only problem is behind the scenes Windows is constantly trawling
through your hard drive(s) looking for new files, and changes to old files,
which means it’s using valuable resources and slowing your machine down.
Switching off Vista’s Indexing system can help speed things up and you
shouldn’t notice any change in Search speed if you only use it occasionally. Go
to Start > Computer, right-click your C: drive, select Properties and on the
General Tab uncheck ‘Index this drive…’ You will be asked for permission, click
OK, follow the prompts and when asked select the option to ‘Include Folders and
Sub Folders’. Depending on the size of your drive this could take a few
minutes.
This next tweak – also available in XP -- can
make processor-hungry applications, like multimedia programs, video editors and
so on run more smoothly. Windows gives all running programs the same priority
when it comes to CPU usage but you can give selected programs a boost by
opening Task Manager (Ctrl +Alt + Delete or right-click Task Bar). Select the
Applications tab, right click your selected program and click Priority. This
displays the Processes tab with your program highlighted. Right-click on it and
select Set Priority. The safest options are Above Normal and High, do not
choose Real Time as this will give it priority over Windows and probably result
in a crash.
The visual effects built into Vista look very
pretty but they gobble up memory and CPU resources. Switching some of them off
will make programs open quicker and run faster. Press Winkey + Break (or
right-click Computer on the Start menu and select Properties), select Advanced
System Settings then click the Settings button under Performance and select the
Visual Effect tab. Check the ‘Adjust for Best performance’ option, which
switches everything off and see how you get on with that. If you find you are
missing a particularly whizzy feature go back into the Visual Effects dialogue
box and switch it back on.
Vista’s fancy Aero Glass display also consumes
a fair amount of your PC’s resources and the worst offender is the Transparency
option. Switch it off, I promise you won’t miss it. Right-click on the desktop
and select Personalize then Select Window Color and Appearance and uncheck
‘Enable transparency’ then OK.
Do you use Vista’s automatic Hibernation
feature? If not, disable it as it’s constantly running in the background. Don’t
worry; you can still put your PC into Hibernation mode manually. Go to Start
> Control Panel > Power Options and select ‘Change when the computer
sleeps’; on the ‘Put the computer to sleep’ drop down menus for Battery and Plugged
in select Never and click Save Changes.
Here’s a couple of quick and easy ones to try
if you don’t regularly use a network to move files around, and you don’t
connect your computer to a Tablet PC. Go to Start > Control Panel >
Programs and Features and click ‘Turn Windows Features on and off. On the list
that appears uncheck Remote Differential Compression and Tablet PC Optional
Components, click OK and it’s done.
I have never been very keen on
Vista’s Sidebar Gadgets, mainly because the get in the way of the Taskbar,
which I prefer to have on the right side of the screen (freeing up space for
documents and web pages at the bottom of the screen). They are also a drain on
your PC’s resources, some more than others, so my advice is keep them to an absolute
minimum, or better still, turn the Sidebar off. Right-click into the Sidebar
and click Close. If for some reason you want them back click the Sidebar icon
in the System Tray, or type ‘sidebar’ in Search on the Start menu.
The last two tips concern memory
and there is no doubt whatsoever that Vista needs at least 1Gb of RAM to run
comfortably and works best with 2Gb; some systems may benefit from as much as
4Gb but more than that is a waste of money, unless you are running the 64-bit
version. If you have less than 1Gb upgrade immediately!
The second memory tip is to take
advantage of Vista’s Ready Boost feature. This uses a USB flash drive to
provide Vista with some extra memory, for temporarily storing files and data
needed by running programs. It’s similar to ‘virtual memory’, which does the
same sort of thing, using spare capacity on your hard drive, but USB memory is
much faster and many applications will run faster when it is in use. All you
have to do is plug in a USB flash drive (preferably one marked as Ready Boost
compatible), and it should be between 1 and 2 GB to do any good. Go to Computer
and right-click on your USB drive icon. Select Properties then the Ready Boost
tab and select ‘Use this device’. The more space you can allocate on the drive
the more effective it will be.
Next Week – Ten uses for an old PC
JARGON FILTER
AERO GLASS
Eye-catching graphics
system used in Windows Vista to create translucent dialogue boxes, animated
effects and so on
GADGETS
Collection of small
programs, displays and interactive elements displayed on the Vista desktop
TABLET PC
Compact mobile computer,
usually with a touch-sensitive screen instead of a separate keyboard and mouse
TOP TIP
Over the years software
engineers at Microsoft have developed tools and utilities to change the way
Windows looks and works. Initially they were for internal use but since Windows
95 they have been publicly available (but not officially supported) as
‘PowerToys’, the most famous of which is Tweak UI. We are still waiting for
Tweak UI for Vista but in the meantime there’s a freeware alternative, called Tweak VI
with scores of hidden settings and performance and optimisation adjustments to
play around with.
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© R. Maybury 2007, 1909
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