Vista tuning guide by Microsoft

Microsoft has released a guide that includes tips on how to tweak its settings like visual effects, services, startup items..etc. So what this guide does is improve the overall performance of Vista. This is very helpful for the basic users who want maximum performance out of their operating system. And for the advanced users, well you probably know all these by now but its a goo read so if you want you can check it out as its given in PDF/XPI format and also free.

the below list is what they have mainly included in their guide:

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Advanced Disk Management in Vista

Over the past months I have seen how people spend a fortune on Disk Management tools like Acronis DiskDirector, Partition Magic etc. but most people often forget that Windows Vista Has an advanced disk and partition management utility built in.

Here is how to use it.

How to Delete and Extend a Partition with Disk Management in Vista

STEP ONE:
To Delete a Partition :
1. Open the Control Panel. (Classic View)
A) Click on the Administrative Tools icon.
B) Click on Computer Management.
2. Click the Continue button in the UAC prompt.
3. In the left pane, click on Disk Management under Storage. (See screenshot below)
4. Right click on the volume (EX: E:\ ) your want to delete and click Delete Volume.
NOTE: If your hard disk is currently set up as a single partition, then you cannot delete it. You also cannot delete the system partition, boot partition, or any partition that contains the virtual memory paging file, because Vista needs this information to start correctly. You will have to use the Vista installation disk to delete it.

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Make Vista Remember the Folder View Settings Like XP

Unfortunately Vista does not remember the folder view settings, therefore lot of people complained about this issue, so i thought of making this fix for it.

1. Copy the reg file to desktop and and merge it to the registry.
2. Close all windows before merging
3. Open folder options and apply the view settings to all like you do in XP.

DOWNLOAD – folder_setting_savefix.reg

Fine Tune SuperFetch

Windows SuperFetch enables programs and files to load much faster than they would on Windows XP?based PCs.

When you’re not actively using your computer, background tasks?including automatic backup programs and antivirus scans?run when they will least disturb you. These background tasks can take up system memory space that your programs had been using. On Windows XP?based PCs, this can slow progress to a crawl when you attempt to resume work.

SuperFetch monitors which applications you use the most and preloads these into your system memory so they’ll be ready when you need them. Windows Vista also runs background programs, like disk defragmenting and Windows Defender, at low priority so that they can do their job but your work always comes first.

But unfortunately superfetch has some issues:

1. It slows down games
2. Lot of people say its a resource hog (people who run vista with 512MB Ram)
3. Considerable amount of HDD thrashing which leads to overheated HDDs

but superfetch is a wonderful thing, which is a huge improvement of xp prefetch.

so instead of complaining you can fine tune How your superfetch works, using a registry hack

1. Goto: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters
2. you should see two keys called enable superfetch and enable prefetch, both having the default values of 3.
3. change both the values according to the below info and your preference.

1: Caches Boot files only.
2: Caches Boot files and Programfiles (this is the best setting for most systems, gives maximum performance with minimum resource hog)
3: Caches all files (Default setting, takes maximum resources)

so taking the above info into consideration, It would be wise to change the setting of superfetch and prefetch keys to the value of 2 or just merge the Regkey provided. superfetch_tuner.reg

How To Fix Problems Copying and Moving Large Files In Windows Vista

Although windows vista is a major improvement over Windows XP, there is one particular bug that has really upset me which is how slowly it moves or deletes files. In XP there were no problems moving big files. However, with Windows Vista if you move big files even on the same drive there is a long pause while it calculates how long it will take and the actual move takes forever, whereas on XP it is instanteneous.

Luckily, the How To Geek has discovered what the problem is and has come up with the solution for moving and copying large files in Vista. The problem is because of the new auto-tuning network. Once Vista is auto-tuning network is turned off, then the issue of moving files goes away.

To Turn off Auto-Tuning:

1. press Ctrl+Shift+Enter to open the Command Prompt. Choose run as admin
type in: netsh int tcp set global autotuninglevel=disabled

2. Reboot

If you have any problems, then to turn auto-tuning back on type the following in Command Prompt:

netsh int tcp set global autotuninglevel=normal

Speed Up Your Messenger

Is your Windows Live Messenger PROBLEMATIC? Is it slow?
Here is a list of tricks to speed up Windows Live Messenger:

1. Do not use programs plus and additional messenger utilities like, Messenger discovery, plug stuff … etc;
2. Of course, if you use the plus try to keep the scripts minimum;
3. Show only in the main window contacts online;
4. Show contacts online with the preview avatar;
5. avoid using emoticons as much as possible in conversations, or use those smaller ones;
6. Remove the offers;
7. Remove cards;
8. Use the basic skin;
9. Disable the Windows Live Today on startup;
10. Do not use P2P programs that slow down the sending of files
11. Do not use too many programs at once;
12. remove ads which slow down the messenger using mess patch (if you like);

these are not rules, but you can try these if your messenger is unberably slow.

Tips to boost Vista performance

Vista can be a performance hog, but there are many ways you can tweak the OS components to speed it up. See what actions you can take to remove bottlenecks and optimise Vista.

Windows Vista is packed with cool eye candy, handy new features, and improved security. But all this comes at a price ? and many new Vista users are paying that price in the form of decreased performance as compared to Windows XP. Performance issues are the most common complaint I hear from readers who?ve just installed Vista or bought a new Vista machine, and my own experience shows that the concerns are valid.

Vista Ultimate runs great on my primary desktop computer, a fast Dell XPS with 4GB of RAM. No noticeable performance problems there. So I expected the same when I bought a new laptop. I loved my little Sony TX model with XP, so I looked to replace it with an almost identical model running Vista Business Edition. It came with 1GB of RAM (the XP machine has 512MB), which I thought would be enough. However, I noticed from the beginning that the new computer took minutes to boot up instead of seconds, and running more than a couple of applications at a time slowed things down to an unacceptable level. Running Vista became the hurry up and wait experience that I?d heard about from other users.

I bought another 512MB of RAM for it, maxing out its memory capacity, and got a 4GB USB drive optimised for ReadyBoost. All that helped some, but it was still significantly slower than its XP counterpart.

That?s when I went looking for more ways to improve the performance of my laptop. Here?s a look at some of the things that worked ? and some that didn?t.

Turn off the bling
One obvious way to make Vista run more like XP is to, well, make Vista more like XP. Turning off the fancy Aero interface, turning off the sidebar, and otherwise disabling the features that make Vista look and feel unique will help speed up performance. But for most of us, that?s not exactly the solution we were looking for.

Identify your bottlenecks
The first step in fixing a problem is to find out exactly what?s broken. Vista includes a number of tools that help you pinpoint the cause of performance problems.

Performance Monitor
Vista, like its business-oriented predecessors (XP Professional, Windows 2000, and NT Workstation), includes a performance monitoring tool that allows you to do detailed monitoring of various counters relating to both software and hardware components.

You?ll find the tool under a new name, Reliability And Performance Monitor, on the Administrative Tools menu in Control Panel. Figure A shows the Performance Monitor, monitoring % Processor Time and Memory Pages/Second.

Figure A

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A New Look for Vista

After fiddling around with Aero a little bit and after some usage, u will want to switch to a new look or as commonly known as a new theme. Well there is a problem, well vista does not support unsigned themes, since most themes are unsigned (signing by Microsoft costs a lot of money for authors), u will need to patch your theme UI files using VistaGlazz.

You will want to switch to a new theme for the following reasons.

1. a transparency disabled aero sucks, with its light blue ugly look, so definitely u need to switch.
2. u want to disable aero and get a faster performance.
3. u are sick of transparency and want a new look.
4. your video card suffers a lot due to aero.

Here is a theme I know for SURE works with most programs without any problems. so I took the liberty of testing it with most of the applications and its wonderful. (look at the screenshot above)

Get More Good Looking Vista Themes (I have not tested these, so do not complain)

Open a Command Window Inside a Folder – Built Right Into Vista

Well this below function is a common necessity among users, that is to open a command prompt window inside a folder they are in, well at first glance you might think Microsoft has missed this and you will have to wait for a PowerToy like in XP, but the good news is they have not forgotten it, the function simply hides in the context menu

So how to do it then?

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VistaGlazz – take transparency to the next level

A brief history

Late january 2007, Microsoft released Windows Vista. A new operating system in the Windows Family in which some parts have been rebuilt from scratch. Quite noticable to new users is the Windows Aero interface. Just like the Windows XP styling system it has some limitations. VistaGlazz provides a userfriendly workaround.

Transparency stays when maximized

If your video hardware is DX9 certified and Windows Aero is activated you?ll notice the new transparency look. Normally in Windows Vista, the transparency only lasts until you maximize a window. VistaGlazz ensures transparency, even when your windows are maximized.

Custom visual styles

The new Desktop Windows Manager (WDM) in Windows Vista only allows visual styles signed by Microsoft. Windows XP contained a similar protection which was patched by the UxTheme Patcher. VistaGlazz delivers the same patch to Windows Vista, allowing you to use your own visual styles.