Vista tips&tricks
Part One
1. Back up and Restore the Windows Vista registry
Several of the following tips require editing the Windows Vista registry, a storehouse of settings and configuration information not usually accessible through the main Windows Vista interface. Editing the registry can have dire consequences if the wrong values are changed, so it's always a good idea to make a backup of the registry first. This backup can be easily restored, allowing you to roll back any incorrect changes you made.
To backup the Windows Vista registry:
Open the 'start' menu and type 'regedit' in the search box.
Hit Enter.Highlight 'computer' in the left-hand pane.
Go to 'file\export'.
Choose a location on your computer to save the registry backup file.
The preferable location is either on removable storage like a USB drive, or on a separate physical disk from the Windows directory, but anywhere will do in a pinch. Give it an appropriate name like 'registrybackup08'.
To import this image of the registry (and erase any changes made since), follow the first few steps above to open regedit, then go to 'file\import' and load the file you just created.
2. How to edit the Windows Vista registry
Now that we've backed up the registry, let's look at how to edit it. As mentioned previously, several of the following tips require the registry to be changed, so it's a good idea to get to know the process now.
To edit the Windows Vista registry:Open the 'start' menu and type 'regedit' in the search box. Hit Enter.
This will open the Regedit program which we will use for any tips that require a registry edit. To navigate in Regedit, use the directory tree in the left hand pane.
The folders in this view are known as registry 'keys'. Keys can contain other 'subkeys' and sets of values which affect the function of Windows Vista. During this tips article we will be creating both new keys and new values.
To create a registry key: Right click on an empty area of the right-hand pane and choose 'new/key'. Give the newly created key the name specified in the tip. Note that no saving is necessary. Once a change is made to the registry, it's made.
To create a registry value: Though there are several types of registry values that can be created, the only one we are going to deal with in this article is the DWORD value type. To create one, navigate to the appropriate registry key and subkey as specified in the tip you are following, then right click on an empty area of the right-hand pane and choose 'new/DWORD value'. Give the new value the specified name, click 'ok', then double click on the newly created DWORD to edit it. Enter the value again as specified in the tip you are following. Click 'ok.'
3. Creating a system restore point in Windows Vista
Like Windows XP before it, Windows Vista includes the useful system restore utility. Under ideal conditions, this feature allows you to roll back the entire operating system (excepting personal data) to a previously created 'restore point' allowing you to undo errors caused by faulty programs or changes made to the system. Before we continue further with tweaks, it's a good idea to create one of these restore points and to understand how to return the operating system to a previously created restore point.To create a system restore point: Open the 'start' menu and right-click on 'computer'. Choose 'properties'.From the tasks pane on the left, click 'System Protection'.Click the 'create' button and give your new restore point an appropriate name like 'system before tweaks' and hit 'create'.To restore Windows Vista to a previously saved restore point: Open the 'start' menu and type 'system restore.' Click 'next'.Choose the restore point you wish to use by highlighting it and then hit 'next'.Make sure you have saved any documents, then click 'finish'. The system will restart and revert to the settings saved in the restore point.
4. Test the computer's RAM
It's always a good idea to test your memory periodically, especially if you have only just installed Vista, or if you are reading this article because you are having performance or stability issues with the operating system. Fortunately, Vista has a built in memory testing application which will do the job quite well. You will have to restart and leave the computer system alone for 30 minutes or so though.
To test your memory with the windows Vista memory testing tool:
Open the 'start' menu and type 'memory' in the search bar and hit Enter.
Choose the 'restart now and check for problems' option.
The computer will restart and run through a full memory test.
5. Turn off User Account Control (UAC)
User Account Control (UAC) is definitely the most maligned, misunderstood and most often mocked new 'feature' of Windows Vista. What is it? You know those little yes/no boxes that pop up when you try to run an installation program, or view device manager or anything else that Vista interprets as an 'administrator' level event? That's UAC.
What it does is attempt to prevent unauthorized changes to the Windows system settings by requiring a manual 'ok' from you, for each and every change. What it also tends to do is annoy people, especially since the popup window does not always appear in the foreground, leaving you to wonder why your installation has frozen. Fortunately, UAC can be easily disabled, though you should be aware that doing so strips Vista of a considerable extra layer of security against viruses and malware. Effectively, disabling UAC brings us back to XP territory in terms of security, but it makes Vista so much easier to use. If you are a computer novice, you should consider leaving UAC enabled for the time being. For the rest of you, to disable UAC in Windows Vista: Go to start/control panel/user accounts and family safety/user accounts.Click on 'turn user account control on or off' and select 'continue' when the UAC box appears.Uncheck the 'use user account control (UAC) to help protect your computer' option.Click 'ok'. Vista will require a restart, and following that you will be free of UAC nag windows. Note that this disables UAC only for the current user.
6. Set Automatic Updates to download only
By default, Windows Vista will automatically download and install any patches and updates that Microsoft considers crucial. This will often result in an automatic operating system restart, which can be canceled if you are at the keyboard, but it can play havoc with your torrent downloading if you are not.A better way to do things is to have Vista download the patches automatically, but wait for your permission to install them and restart the computer.To enable manual update installation: Go to 'start/control panel/security/turn automatic updating on or off'Select the 'download updates but let me choose whether to install them' option.Click 'OK'Windows Vista will now notify you when updates are available via an icon in the taskbar, but will not install them until told to. When you do choose to install the patches, you'll have the opportunity of scanning over the patches and deselecting any you feel are unnecessary.7. Learn to use the search bar as a Run command.
This is an essential tip for using Windows Vista, so if you haven't figured it out already, please pay attention: The search bar is your friend.While the lack of options and a Run command can seem a little disorienting for first-time Vista users, the search bar more than makes up for the other changes to the start menu. By default, the search bar will check all your personal folders, the program files and Windows directories and your Email and Internet history and favourites every time you enter something.What does that mean? It means that every document you've created, every web page you've recently visited and every program you've installed is going to be accessible with just a few keystrokes. Try this: Hit the Windows key once, type mail and press Enter. Convenient huh? Try again, this time with 'cmd'. Still missing the Run command? Didn't think so. Once you've added sites like Hotmail or Gmail to your favourites, you can access them from the search bar directly in the same fashion.
8. Disable automatic device driver searching and installation
By default, the Windows Vista update service will search for and download device drivers for your hardware. Trouble is, the drivers that it finds are not necessarily the best choices for your hardware, and in rare cases may cause their own problems.To disable automatic driver updates: Open the 'start' menu and right-click on 'computer'. Choose 'properties'.Click on 'advanced system settings' on the left-hand pane.Choose the 'hardware' tab and click 'Windows update driver settings'.Select the 'never check for drivers when I connect a device' option.Click 'ok'.
9. Use Windows Defender to disable startup programs
Windows Vista includes Windows Defender, which most people know as Microsoft's in-house anti-spyware application, and it's very good at that. Defender has a few other tricks up its sleeve though, including the handy ability to monitor and disable startup programs. Nothing slows down a computer like a few dozen application set to load when you boot Windows and then sit idle in the taskbar, so let's look at using Defender to clear these pesky parasites.To disable startup apps using Windows Defender: Go to 'start/all programs' then run 'Windows Defender' as administrator (see tip # for how to do this).Click on the 'tools' icon at the top of the screen.Click on 'software explorer'.The left hand pane show the programs that are set to load every time your computer starts up, sorted by the name of the company that created them. Clicking on an item brings up details in the right-hand pane.Note the 'remove', 'disable' and 'enable' buttons on the bottom right.Removing an application deletes it from the list entirely (though not from the whole computer, just the startup section). Disabling an application prevents it from running on startup, and the 'enable' button obviously re-enables a previously disabled program.We would not recommend disabling any of the Microsoft branded apps besides the sidebar.
10. Power options to high performance
By default, Windows Vista uses some fairly conservative power settings, which can be good for your laptop or for the environment, but maybe not for you if you want your computer running at its maximum speed and capability at all times. To remedy this, Microsoft included a third standard power option in the control panel, the 'high performance' setting. What this does is to disable virtually all power saving features (the hard disks will still spin down after 20 minutes if not accessed), allowing your computer to run at it's full rating even when left unattended. To set your Vista machine's power profile to 'high performance': Go to 'start/control panel'Click on 'classic view' in the left hand pane.Open 'power options'.Select the 'high performance' power plan.
Part Two
11. Update Vista!
Keep your Vista install current. Many of the patches and hotfixes that Microsoft has put out in the year since Vista's release increase performance, either by streamlining the functions of the OS or by fixing things that were broken. To squeeze the most speed out of your Vista system, it has to be kept current.
To update Vista, just open the 'start' menu and type 'update' in the search bar.
12. Run programs with administrator rights
Microsoft added a second layer of security to Windows Vista by ensuring that standard user accounts do not have full administrative privileges. This helps to protect the OS by ensuring that users cannot easily change some system settings but it also serves to annoy users who want to easily change some system settings. Fortunately, there's an easy fix. You may already know how to do this if you are Vista savvy, but if you are not, this is required to carry out many of the following tips.
To run a program with Administrative rights:
Type the name of the program in the 'start' menu searchbar.
Right click on the program's icon in the search results and choose 'run as administrator.'
13. Disable search indexing
The indexing service in Windows Vista is a lot better integrated into the operating system than it was with Windows XP, and a lot more useful, given the presence of the searchbar. It's still not essential though, and it still uses up hard disk and memory resources. Disabling the indexing service does not disable the search or search bar functions of Vista, but it will slow down the results a bit. Disabling it will speed the rest of your computer system up a bit, so the trade off is up to you.
To disable the Windows Vista Indexing service:
Open the 'start' menu and type 'services' in the searchbar. Hit Enter.
In the services window, scroll down until you reach the 'windows search' service. Right click it and hit 'properties'.
In the 'startup type' dropdown box, change the value to 'disabled', then click the 'stop' button below to stop the service immediately. Hit 'ok.'
14. Limit start menu search options
Once you've gotten used to it, The start menu search bar is an incredibly easy way to find and launch programs, files and other stuff. It can run into speed problems though, once the volume of data in your Windows Vista computer system increases. It can also give you a lot of extraneous results that you may not want, or want others to see. Let's look at some ways to customize the search bar to streamline and speed up searches.
To change start menu search bar options:
Right click on the 'start' button and select 'properties.'
Now click the 'customize' button.
Scroll down until you reach the 'search' entry.
The next five options control what the search bar will actually search for.
'Search' you are going to want to leave enabled unless you really dislike the search bar. You can
'Search communications' searches Windows Mail for contacts and emails. If you don't use Windows mail or don't plan to initiate emails from the start menu, you can disable this one.
'Search favourites and history' checks through Internet Explorer 7 for faves and recent web site visits. If you use Firefox or value your privacy, you might want to disable this one, though it does make navigating to a favourite page quick and easy.
'Search files' has three settings. By default it will search all files in your user directory, but not elsewhere on the computer. You can also set it to search all indexed files on your computer, or, for maximum search speed, disable file searching entirely.
'Search programs' enables and disables program searching, obviously. We'd recommend you leave this one alone, because it might make Microsoft developers cry if you disable it (also it's useful).
15. Remove remote differential compression
The remote differential compression feature of Vista was designed to streamline transfers of files to and from remote directories by keeping track of file changes and only transferring the changed parts of a file or document, rather than the whole thing. This is a great feature for offices that commonly store and access work on network drives, but not so much for home users, especially since the service can eat up system performance while it's working.
To disable remote differential compression:
Go to 'start/control panel/programs/uninstall a program'.
In the sidebar, click 'turn windows features on and off'.
Uncheck 'remote differential compression' and click 'ok.'
16. Boost external hard drive performance
If you use an external hard drive enclosure as secondary storage for your vista computer system, or if you regularly use a USB storage device for large amounts of file transfers, you will benefit from this tip. By changing the way Vista handles writing data to USB storage devices, we can considerably boost the access speed and data transfer rate of said device.
By default, Windows Vista does not use write caching on USB drives, meaning that all data you send to the drive is instantly transferred to the device. Write caching acts as a buffer between the slow mechanical hard drive and the fast system memory. In essence, your computer writes to the cache (another area of memory) which then transfers the data sequentially to the drive, freeing up the rest of your system to do other things.
By enabling write caching on USB drives, you can increase the apparent performance of your external hard disk greatly. Note that flash memory devices will see little to no performance increase with this tweak.
To enable Write Caching on an external drive:
With your external USB drive plugged in and connected, go to 'start\computer.'
Right click the external drive in the computer window and choose 'properties.'
Click on the 'hardware' tab.
Highlight your external drive in the list and click the 'properties' button.
Select the 'policies' tab.
Choose the second option marked 'optimize for performance.' Click ok.
Important:Note that in order to prevent data loss, you will now have to use the 'safely remove hardware' icon in the taskbar whenever you want to remove your external drive. This is not necessary when shutting down the computer system though.
17. Enable Readyboost on any flash memory device
If you've been paying attention, you'd have noticed that we have not included Readyboost as one of our performance tips. This is because PCSTATS tested this Vista feature extensively in a previous article and came to the conclusion that the performance gain it offers is minimal at best, unless you have very little memory available (512MB or less). Since DDR2 memory is so cheap, it invariably seems a better expense than buying and using the more expensive ReadyBoost certified flash devices.
However, if you already have a flash memory device or two around the house and want to play at ReadyBoost, but Vista is telling you your toys aren't fast enough to join, this tip could be for you.
To enable ReadyBoost on a 'slow' USB drive or flash memory card:
Insert the device and ignore the autoplay Window.
Open 'start\computer'. Right click on the flash memory device and choose 'properties.'
Go to the 'readyboost' tab and place a check next to 'do not retest this device'. Hit 'ok'.
Unplug your USB device.
Open Regedit (open 'start' menu and type 'regedit.')
Navigate to 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\EMDMgmt'
In this folder, there should be a folder corresponding to each USB storage device you have ever had attached to your computer. Find the one corresponding to your USB drive and open it.
Double-click on the 'DeviceStatus' value and change it to '2'.
Now replug your USB device. It will now be recognized as ReadyBoost capable.
18. Speed up SATA hard drives in Vista
In a similar mode to Tip # 24, Vista can also be tweaked to improve the performance of internal SATA (Serial ATA) hard drives. Vista's write cache has two levels, the more basic of which is enabled by default. To really enhance the performance of your SATA hard disks you can enable the 'advanced disk performance' mode.
It should be noted that this tip, like a couple of others in the guide, has the potential to damage your Vista installation. By extending write caching (data held in memory to be written eventually to hard drive) you extend the risk of damaging your system files in the event of a crash or power outage. That being said, you will experience an increase in drive performance, so balance the pros with the cons.
To enable advanced performance on a SATA internal drive:
Go to 'start\computer.'
Right click the SATA drive in the computer window and choose 'properties.'
Click on the 'hardware' tab.
Highlight your SATA drive in the list and click the 'properties' button.
Select the 'policies' tab.
Select the 'enable enhanced performance' option. Note the warning. Click OK.
19. Create shortcuts for running applications with certain CPU/Priority settings
If you've tried out the above two tips for assigning specific CPUs to processes and assigning priorities, you've no doubt noticed that all your setting disappear after reboot. How to make these permanent? Well, there's no real easy way, but there is a workaround you can do by creating a custom shortcut to the app you want to run with specific CPU or priority settings. Let's look at how to do this.
To create a shortcut to run an application with specific CPU affinity or priority settings:
First you will need to know the location of the application you want to run. The best way to find this is with the searchbar in the start menu. Say you wanted to find the executable file for the Vista Sidebar. Open the start menu and type 'sidebar' in the search box.
The first entry you get will be the Windows Vista Sidebar executable file. Right click on it and choose 'properties'. Click the 'open file location' button at the bottom of the next Window.
Make a note of the file path in the navigation bar at the top of the screen. For Sidebar, it's 'c:\program files\windows sidebar\sidebar.exe'.
Now, drop back to the desktop and create a new shortcut by right-clicking on the desktop and selecting 'new/shortcut.'
When the shortcut wizard appears, enter the following into the text box:
C:\WINDOWS\system32\cmd.exe /c start "(the name of the application you want to start, quotes necessary).exe" /(LOW, HIGH or REALTIME priority) /AFFINITY (1 or 2) "(the path to the file you want to run, from the previous step, quotes necessary)"
The brackets should be removed from the above once you substitute your own items, but all other formatting should remain.
Save the shortcut, then use it to start your app with the desired custom settings.
20. Disable unnecessary services in Windows Vista
There are a few services that Vista runs by default which it is very unlikely that a home user will ever need. You may as well disable these in order to save the small portion of system resources that they consume. Note that this list was designed with a home user and a home networking environment in mind.
If your computer is part of a larger business network, or you use a server-oriented (meaning domain controller, etc.) network at home, please do not make any changes to your existing Vista services.
To disable unnecessary services:
open the 'start' menu and type 'services' in the searchbar. Hit Enter.
In the services window, scroll down until you reach the service you want to disable. Right click it and hit 'properties'.
In the 'startup type' dropdown box, change the value to 'disabled', then click the 'stop' button below to stop the service immediately. Hit 'ok.' Alternatively, if you're unsure of an existing program or application using one of the following services we're suggesting be disabled, change the startup type to 'manual' instead, and then click the 'stop' button below to stop the service immediately. By selecting 'manual', if a program calls for this service it will startup instead of generating an error.
Here is a list of Vista services that are safe to disable, with the caveats we mentioned above. Note that not all of these services are present on all versions of Vista, so if you can't find one, don't panic.
Application experience
Application management
Distributed link tracking client
Offline files
Webclient
Tablet PC input service
TCP/IP NETBIOS helper
Restarting a Service: If you find one of these services was needed by software you use everyday, and want to restart it, go back into the Services control panel. Double click on the service you disabled and change 'startup type' back to 'automatic', click ok. Next, right click on the same Service and click "start" to initialize it right away. By setting 'startup type' to automatic, you're telling Vista to automatically start that service the next time the computer starts. If the service is disabled and stopped however, you need to manually re-start it.
Part Three
21. De-automate Windows Defender
By default, Windows Defender will run it's anti-spyware scan daily (albeit at a fairly unsociable hour if possible). Though it runs in the background, this can impact computer system performance the same way any full system file scan will. You may prefer to disable the automatic scanning completely and perform only occasional manual system scans at your discretion.
To de-automate Windows Defender system scans:
Open the 'start' menu and type 'defender.'
Click the 'tools' icon at the top of the window, then the 'options' selection.
Uncheck 'automatically scan my computer'. Click 'save'.
22. Disable superfetch for computers with less memory
The Vista Superfetch feature is an interesting one. In theory, your Vista PC will 'learn' your typical activities in terms of file and application access, then preconfigure the most commonly used apps in its memory on startup, making them much faster to access. In practice, this works very well on computers with 2GB or more of memory, but leads to a lot of disk thrashing and sluggishness on systems below the magic 2GB line. If you are not happy with the startup speed of your Vista machine, why not try disabling the Superfetch feature?
To stop and disable Vista Superfetch:
Go to the 'start' menu and type 'services' in the search bar. Hit Enter.
In the services window, scroll down until you reach the 'superfetch' service. Right click and choose 'properties.'
Change the 'startup type' dropdown box to 'disabled' and click the 'stop' button to stop the service.
Hit 'OK'.
23. Force 32-bit Windows Vista to use all your memory by enabling PAE
As we stated above, the 32-bit versions of Windows Vista will only recognize a maximum of a little more than 3GB of memory if you have 4GB of RAM physically installed. It is possible, however to gain access to the rest of your 4GB of memory by enabling Page Address Extension (PAE) mode within Vista.
This feature works with 64-bit Intel and AMD processors to add an extra memory address space over and above what is usually available to the operating system. This will not allow enough headroom to access much more than 4GB of physical memory, so you'll have to move to Vista 64 or Linux to go further, but for users who have 4GB and would like it all to be used by Vista, this tip is worth a try.
One caveat; the extra memory addresses added by PAE require some extra work by Vista in order to use them, so you need to balance the benefit of the extra memory compared to this extra overhead. When it comes to apps that are not really memory hungry, enabling PAE may only slow your computer down. Still, it's easy to enable and easy to remove again, so why not try?
To enable PAE mode in Windows Vista:
Open an administrative command prompt (see Tip #20 for instructions on doing this)
Type the following: 'bcdedit /set pae forceenable'. Restart the computer.
Vista should now see your full 4GB of memory.
If you find performance has not improved the way you would like, you can disable PAE again by opening the administrative command prompt and typing 'BCDedit /set PAE forcedisable' followed by a restart.
24. Used advanced disk cleanup tools to regain more space
The program behind Vista's disk cleanup tool is the 'cleanmgr.exe' file. If you access this file from the command prompt, you can enable several previously hidden options which give you more control in terms of what is removed from your computer when you run disk cleanup. Let's look at doing this.
To use the cleanmgr command to create custom drive cleaning options:
Open an administrative command prompt (open the start menu, type 'cmd' in the search box and press CTRL+SHIFT+ENTER).
Type 'cleanmgr /sagetset: 1' and hit Enter. This brings up a checklist of the items you can set diskcleanup to delete when it is run. You'll notice that there are several options here which are otherwise not available. Choose the options you prefer.
When you hit 'ok' you have saved a cleaning profile. To run that cleaning profile and remove the items you specified from all drives, just enter the following in the command prompt: 'cleanmgr /sagerun: 1'
25. Shut down operating system services faster, for a faster shutdown
When you shut down Windows Vista, all running services are shut down as part of the process (obviously). Now if one or more of these services are engaged in doing something or are hung, Windows will wait as long as 20 seconds before making the executive decision to close each of them down. One easy way to speed up your shutdown process is to shorten the amount of time that Windows will wait before putting the hammer down on errant processes.
To shorten the service shutdown grace period:
Open the 'start' menu, type 'regedit' and hit Enter.
Navigate to 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control'
Double click the 'WaitToKillServiceTimeout' DWORD value to edit it. Give it a value between 5000 (5 seconds) and 12000 depending on how conservative you are feeling.
Your computer should now shutdown faster.
26. Sidebar to low priority
So you like the Vista sidebar (and why not?) but you are worried about it consuming unnecessary resources while you are doing things with your computer that do not involve it? We have a solution for you.
What we are going to do is show you how to permanently set the sidebar to be a 'low priority' application for Vista, meaning that the operating system will not devote resources to sidebar apps when other full screen applications are demanding them.
To set the Windows Vista sidebar to low priority permanently:
First follow the steps in Tip #38 above to prevent the sidebar from starting when Vista starts.
Go to 'start/computer' and press 'ALT' to bring up the file menu taskbar.
Go to 'tools\folder options' and select the 'view' tab.
Under the 'hidden files and folders' section, select the 'show hidden files and folders' option. Click 'ok'.
Navigate to 'start\computer\c:\users\(your username)\appdata\roaming\microsoft\windows\start menu\programs\startup\'
Right click on the empty directory and choose 'new\shortcut.'
When the shortcut wizard appears, copy and paste the following:
C:\WINDOWS\system32\cmd.exe /c start "sidebar.exe" /LOW "C:\Program Files\windows sidebar\sidebar.exe"
And click 'ok' to save the shortcut. Now every time you start Windows Vista, the sidebar will be started also, but at low priority only.
27. Disable automatic backup/system restore
Microsoft's system restore feature has always been of dubious use. As most technicians will tell you, once your Windows system is corrupted enough to require system restore, it's usually too far gone to be worth saving. Boot from safe mode or a live CD, get your data off and reinstall. Since system restore for Vista doesn't contain any major updates over its Windows XP predecessor, we'd recommend disabling to save on disk space and false hopes.
Note that in no way are we not recommending BACKUPS, as you should always have your crucial personal and work data backed up onto a separate physical storage device. It's just that history has proven that there is very little point in backing up your OS's system files. By default, system restore can expand to use up to 15% of each of your drives, so there's a good reason to turn it off.
To disable system restore:
Open the 'start' menu and type 'backup'. Hit Enter.
In the left hand pane, click 'create a restore point or change settings.'
Under the 'available disks' heading, uncheck all entries. Confirm and hit 'ok'.
28. Disable hibernate on desktops
If you've got a desktop that's on most of the time, doing large amounts of non-critical applications in the background (read downloading), you probably want to disable the hibernation and hybrid-sleep functions of Vista. Doing so will save you a chunk of disk space the size of your physical RAM.
To turn off hibernation in Windows Vista:
Open the 'start menu' and type 'cmd' in the search bar but do not press Enter. Right click on the 'cmd' shortcut where it appears in the search results and choose 'run as administrator'.
In the command prompt, type 'powercfg h off'.
29. Stop scheduled disk defragmentation
Microsoft has considerably simplified the disk defragmentation interface in Windows Vista, and made it an automatic process, figuring (probably accurately) that 99% of their user base does not know what disk defragmentation is and would not do it anyhow.
By default, Windows Vista will run a disk defragmentation process (essentially making sure that all the files on your drive occupy contiguous drive space and are not scattered all over the surface of the physical disk) every Wednesday morning at 1AM. If you happen to be up gaming at 1AM on Wednesday morning, this will play havoc with your frame rates. It's probably better to disable the automatic defragmentation process and do it manually once every 3-6 months.
To disable automatic disk defragmentation in Windows Vista:
Open the 'start' menu and type 'defrag' in the search bar. Hit 'Enter'.
Uncheck the 'run on a schedule' check box.
Click 'ok'.
30. Move the Vista paging file for better performance
The page file is an area of hard disk space reserved by Windows for use as additional memory. By default, Windows manages and resizes this file dynamically to suit its needs. Vista does a very good job of optimizing the page file on its own, but there is one tweak you may be able to make which will considerably increase its performance. If you have more than one physical hard disk drive installed in your computer, you can move the page file onto the physical drive that does NOT have Windows Vista installed on it. Since most page file hits are related to Windows system operations, this will considerably reduce disk access on your OS drive, speeding everything up.
To move the Windows Vista Page file:
Click on the 'start' menu and right click on 'computer'. Choose 'properties'.
In the left-hand pane, choose 'advanced system settings'.
Click the 'advanced' tab, then under the 'performance' heading choose 'settings...'
Choose the 'advanced' tab again, then under the 'virtual memory' heading click 'change...'
Uncheck the 'automatically manage paging file size for all drives' checkbox.
In the window that shows the list of partitions (C:, D:, etc.) choose a partition that resides on the physical hard drive that does not have Windows installed and highlight it. Select the 'system managed size' option then click the 'set' button. This will create a paging file on the hard disk in question.
You will notice that the 'paging file size' for the highlighted drive now reads 'system managed'
Now highlight your C: partition (assuming that this is where Windows Vista is installed). Select the 'no paging file' option and click 'set'.
Your paging file has now been offloaded.
