Tutorials to help speed up your XP, Vista or Windows 7 computer
There are plenty of things you can do to help improve the performance of your computer. Most of us know a few of the different methods to accomplish this, but it is always nice to have access to a whole list of these methods all in one place. Below are links to three “Master” tutorial to help you improve the operating speed of your computer(s).
Enjoy!
Transform Windows XP into Windows Vista without using Customization Pack
The most interesting thing in Windows Vista is its look, new icons, cursors, theme, sounds, login screen, boot screen, etc.
If you are still using Windows XP but want to enjoy the new Windows Vista look, then this tutorial will definitely help you.
After following this tutorial, you’ll get the same Windows Vista look in your Windows XP. Following is a list of things which are going to change after following this tutorial:
- Windows Theme or Visual Style
- Boot Screen
- Login Screen or Welcome Screen
- Sounds
- Cursors
- Icons
- Progress dialog box
- Shutdown/Log off dialog box
- About Windows box
- System Properties dialog box
- A few other mods
To view the tutorial visit Tweaking with Vishal: Transform Windows XP into Windows Vista without using Customization Pack
Transform Windows Vista into Windows 7 without using Customization Pack
I found this awesome tutorial for Transforming Windows Vista to look and feel like Windows 7 on Tweaking with Vishal. Here is a description of what this tutorial will help you do:
Windows 7 provides lots of new features along with a newly designed interface. It looks very similar to Windows Vista but there are many GUI changes like redesigned taskbar, Explorer, new boot screen and login screen, etc.
If you are still using Windows Vista but want to enjoy the new Windows 7 look, then this tutorial will definitely help you.
Here is a list of things that this tutorial covers:
- Windows Theme or Visual Style
- Boot Screen
- Login Screen or Welcome Screen
- Taskbar
- Wallpapers, Sounds & Icons
- About Windows Box
- Extras like “Aero Shake“, “Aero Snap“, “Aero Peek“, “Calculator” and “Paint“
- A Few Other Mods…
To view the tutorial visit Tweaking with Vishal: Transform Windows Vista into Windows 7 without using Customization Pack
Windows 7 vs. Windows Vista
Windows 7 is the latest brainchild of Computer billionaire Bill Gates. It was made for a specific reason, which is to replace the enormous faults of Windows vista such as speed, usage of ram, space taken and the cost.
First let’s tackle speed. At any test, windows 7 has bested windows vista based on speed. Vista has had problems including reducing the performance of the computer since its beginning. For example windows vista mainly requires at least a 1 GB ram to function properly, while Windows 7 has only a 756 Mb ram necessity. I have tested windows 7 beta version in a laptop which has a 756 Mb ram and it still works perfectly, while in the same computer vista was lagging quite a bit.
The Space required for vista and the space required for windows 7 is almost the same. This region has a slight improvement but not greatly.
Installing Windows 7 from a USB Drive: Newbie Guide
There have been a lot of installing Vista/Win7 via USB articles in the recent past, all using different types of methods. Now with Windows 7 round the corner and with the RC version being a success people have started to tryout Windows 7 and I’ve received a lot of mail, some stating it works and for some it doesn’t. Mainly there are responses about these methods being not easy to follow unless you have a fair knowledge about these stuff.
So in this tutorial I have used the easiest way to create a bootable USB that you can use to install Windows 7 (or Vista) and this will probably be the final post as well.
Creating the bootable USB drive:
Requirements
- An ISO Image of Windows 7 (any version)
- UltraISO (not free, but a trial version would do)
- A USB drive consisting more than 2.5GB (4GB drive is more than enough)
How to Install Windows 7 using a USB Hard disk
Earlier I wrote a tutorial on how to install Vista from a USB flash drive, the method given in that post worked for some and did not work for certain drives. Recently I tried to install Windows 7 the same way using a USB Hard disk but it didn’t work. So here’s a tutorial on how to use a USB hard disk to install windows 7 (its similar to Nam’s post a while ago) .
Why use a USB drive to install Windows 7?…
- Its faster than installing from a DVD
- Can be used without a DVD drive
- It does not require a blank DVD for every O/S version released.
Even though I used a USB HDD it should work on USB FDD’s as well. Also there will be the occasion when this method doesn’t work, then check the other method I have mentioned above.
Requirements
# A copy of windows 7
# A USB drive
How to
1. Right click Computer, select Manage, and Disk Management.
How to Boot/Install Vista from a USB Flash drive
There’s already an article about this on the site but since its not complete I’ll be writing this tutorial on how to create a bootable Vista installation USB flash drive.
Requirements
- A 4GB flash drive (I’ll be using a much lesser one here as I don’t have one)
- A Vista Installation DVD
- The bios must support booting with usb devices and it must be enabled. And boot priority must be set so that the Flash drive boots before the Fixed HDD
- A x86 usb bootable drive can only be created within a x86 operating system
- A x64 usb bootable drive can only be created within a x64 operating system
Important:Backup the USB flash drive as this will delete everything in it.
Instructions: Create bootable Flash drive
1. Plug the USB drive in
2. Open a command prompt window with administrator privileges.
3. Type diskpart and press enter
Stop RACAgent from hogging your pc resources
This is not common but if RACAgent keeps starting up at regular intervals using up your CPU resources to the max then do follow these steps to stop RACAgent from running. Now if you don’t know what this its a Microsoft Reliability Analysis task used to gather information for the Reliability Monitor in Vista. So to acquire info it launches from time to time stalling your pc.
Windows Vista SP2 RC Released to public
Original Site Description
Windows Vista introduces a breakthrough user experience and is designed to help you feel confident in your ability to view, find, and organize information and to control your computing experience. The visual sophistication of Windows Vista helps streamline your computing experience by refining common window elements so you can better focus on the content on the screen rather than on how to access it. The desktop experience is more informative, intuitive, and helpful. And new tools bring better clarity to the information on your computer, so you can see what your files contain without opening them, find applications and files instantly, navigate efficiently among open windows, and use wizards and dialog boxes more confidently.
Windows Server 2008 SP2/Windows Vista SP2 RC is prerelease code offered to the public through our Customer Preview Program. Please see the Windows Server SP2/Windows Vista SP2 Customer Preview Program page on TechNet/MSDN for additional details, documentation, and forums.
Windows Server 2008/Windows Vista SP2 RC apply to people, organizations, and technical enthusiasts who are comfortable evaluating prerelease software. This prerelease software is provided for testing only. Installation of Service Pack 2 Beta will result in Microsoft collecting information about the installation process, even if the installation is not completed. We do not recommend installing this software on primary or mission-critical systems. We recommend that you have a backup of your data before you install any prerelease software.
Vista Transformation Pack 9.0.1
There’s nothing much to be said about this except that the error caused in the earlier version has been fixed and is working properly. Check below for the original description from the author himself.
After announcement of 9.0, ViSplore’s unstability and bugs in ViOrb cause trouble everywhere. Since it’s the first beta build so we couldn’t help much but sigh… Version 9.0.1 will solve incompatibilities with Windows XP Service Pack 3, stability issues in installation and some fixes in the system and some 3rd-party applications.
