Thread: Rev Up Vista on Your Own

SERVICE PACK 1 may not give your system much more oomph, but you have other ways to speed Vista up. Spending a few minutes (or a few rupees) optimizing your Vista PC can help it get its groove on.

Getflashy: If you have an extra USB flash drive that you don't use for much else, Vista can cache disk reads on it, thereby boosting perfor¬mance beyond what you'd get from your hard disk alone. Simply insert the flash drive into an available USB
2.0 slot. If the drive is fast enough, a Vista do the rest to improve performance.
prompt will appear, asking whether you want to open the folder for the drive or use it to 'Speed up my system using Windows ReadyBoost' (see the screen shot above right). Choose the latter option, and follow the remaining prompts. When you're calculating how much space to set aside for ReadyBoost to use, Microsoft recommends that you let ReadyBoost use one to three times the amount of RAM on your system.

Play your cards right: USB thumb drives aren't the only way to boost sys¬tem performance-fortunately, since USB memory sticks protruding from a computer (particularly a laptop) are easy to dislodge, and they can be a pain to remove and stow for traveling. If your PC has a reader for SO Card or CompactFlash media, you can use either of those cards in place of a USB stick to handle your ReadyBoost needs.

Seize control: Speeding up Vista isn't enough; you need to prevent the OS from slowing you down. The annoying Vista pop-ups that ask you to 'Allow' or 'Deny' many actions are examples of Vista's User Account Control at work. The process makes you safer, but your productivity may suffer if you must constantly respond to UAC's demands. See if your hardware is slowing you down: In Explorer, right-click Computer and choose Properties. Next to 'Rating', click Windows Expe¬rience Index. The item with the lowest score is the big¬gest drain on your getting a better Vista experience. For example, if the lowest score is attributed to Graphics, it may be time to invest in a new graphics card.

SidelineSidebar: If you don't need the little "gadget" doo- dads in Vista's Sidebar, get rid ofthem. Right-click the Windows Sidebar icon in the taskbar tray and choose Exit. Then open the Control Panel and launch Windows Sidebar Properties in the 'Appearance and Personalization' category. Uncheck Start Sidebar when Windows starts and click OK What would Windows do? If you have an older or less capable video card, click Start, type systempropertiesperformance, and press <Enter>. Click Continue if prompted by User Account Control. Select Adjust flr best peifOrmance. Or cherry-pick the options you can't live without. (Fewer check marks mean bet¬ter performance.) Click OK.

Dis-Serviceyourself: Don't let unneed¬ed software components waste memory or put a ball-and-chain on your Win¬dows startup. Click Start, type msconfig, and press <Enter>. Confirm if prompted by User Account Control. But be care¬ful! Click the Services tab, and uncheck only the services you're certain you don't need. To be safe, uncheck one, reboot, and see if everything still works fine before moving on to another. Do your homework via online help or a Web search before experimenting!
Here are some services that you might be able to do without: If you don't work interactively with a remote computer, don't run programs from a server, and don't need Remote Desk¬top, uncheck Terminal Services. If you can live without Windows diagnostic and troubleshooting services, uncheck Diagnostic Poliry Service, Diagnostic Ser¬vice Host, and Diagnostic System Host. If you don't want Windows to index your files for searching, uncheck Windows Search. Other Services options to consider disabling include 'Fax', 'amine Files', 'Smart Card', 'Smart Card Removal
Policy', 'Themes', and 'Windows Error Reporting Service'.



Keepyour disk in shape: The same advice you've heard for years is true for Vista, too: Delete the useless clutter on your hard disk and defragment it. To do the former, click Stan, type Cleanup, and press <Enter>. Specify the drive and files to clean and click OK. You may need to repeat the steps for multiple drives. To defrag your drives, click Stan, type Defragmenter, and press <Enter>. Use this dialog box to set up the utility to defrag your disk regularly at a time when you are away from your system. Vista has an automatic de fragmenting feature that may kick in at inopportune moments; scheduling your defrags will help ensure that these operations don't occur while you're working.

Be a power pig: If you don't mind spending more, you can boost your system's perfor¬mance by adjusting its power options. In the Control Panel, launch Power Options in the 'System and Mainte- nance' category. Select High PeifiJrmance, close the dialog box (see the screen shot above), and prepare your¬self for a higher electric bill. Keep on tweaking: For still more per¬formance tweaks, check out my article "Shift Any Version of Windows Into High Gear"