Optimize your Windows....

Part Four

31. Set a fixed paging file size

If you want to optimize your Vista system's use of its page file as much as possible, consider setting up a static paging file. Normally, the operating system dynamically resizes the page file as it sees fit, but this resizing operation imposes an overhead on page file operations as well as being unpredictable in terms of the size it takes up on the disk. By setting a static file size, Vista is relieved of the need to manage the paging file which leads to more efficient operation.

To set a fixed paging file size: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 'automatically manage paging file size for all drives' at the top.

Highlight the drive that contains your paging file. Select the 'custom' size option below.

Now enter in an appropriate amount of space in the minimum and maximum boxes. A good guideline would be 1.5 x the amount of physical memory in your system, so set a 3GB page file for a system with 2GB of system memory.

Click 'set' and 'ok'.

32. Rebuild the paging file to optimize performance

If you have noticed that game performance has diminished or that applications are loading slower than they once did on your Vista system, you may want to give this tip a try. By default, Vista does not clear the contents of the paging file (the area of the hard disk Vista reserves to act as extra RAM memory). Over time it can become fragmented and less efficient. One solution is to reset this file every so often, ensuring a fresh start for your applications and games.

To reset 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 'automatically manage paging file size for all drives' at the top.

Highlight the drive that contains your paging file. Select the 'custom' size option below.Change the minimum and maximum page file size to '0' and click set. Restart the computer.

Reopen the paging file properties window and highlight the drive that contained your page file. Choose the 'system managed size' option and click 'set'. Confirm the overwrite and click 'ok'.

33. Move search index to another physical drive

Much like the paging file in Tip #44, you can move the search index to a separate physical hard drive to save overhead on the system drive and boost performance. Note that this tip does require rebuilding the index file, so performance may slow initially until it reaches a useful size again.

To move the search index to another physical drive:

Open the 'start' menu and type 'index' in the search bar. Hit Enter.

Click the 'advanced' button.

Click 'select new' at the bottom of the page. Choose a new location on a different physical hard drive.

Hit 'ok'.

34. Disable the low disk space check

If you've got a second hard drive that is filling up, or a partition that's getting near its space limit, Vista will warn you... And warn you... And warn you, with little pop-up notifications appearing in the taskbar every little while. This can get annoying fast, especially when you see that the system is polling the disks every few minutes to bring you this important warning. It's quite easy to disable though, with a quick registry hack doing the job. One caveat: Having a decent amount of free disk space IS important if the partition in question is your C: drive where Windows resides. If you want to disable this warning, pay occasional attention to the state of your file space please.

To disable the low disk space check/notification:

Open the 'start' menu, type 'regedit' and hit Enter.

Navigate to 'HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies'

If you have a registry key named 'Explorer' at this location, click on it to open it. If not, create one by right clicking on the right hand pane and selecting 'new/key.' Call the new key 'Explorer.'

Navigate to Explorer and create a new DWORD value named 'NoLowDiskSpaceChecks' and give it a value of '1'.

Disk checks will now be disabled.

35. Disable 8.3 name creation for files

The 8.3 namespace is a method of naming files used in DOS and Windows 3.1 (for example myfile83.exe). This naming standard has not been necessary since Windows 95 hit stores some 12 years ago. To maintain some illusion of backward compatibility the feature has been kept, and if you do happen to use a DOS-based 16-bit application that can only recognize 8.3 character file names, you will need it. Otherwise, as Microsoft itself says:"The creation of 8.3 filenames and directories for all long filenames and directories on NTFS partitions may decrease directory enumeration performance."...In other words, it's slowing you down.

To disable 8.3 name creation in Windows Vista:Open the 'start' menu, type 'regedit' and hit Enter.

Navigate to 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem'

Change the value of the 'NtfsDisable8dot3NameCreation' DWORD to '1'.

36. Disable last access file update

By default, any Windows installation that is using the NTFS file system (that is, almost any installation of Windows 2000 or later) updates each file with a date stamp every time it is accessed. If you don't think this feature is useful, save yourself some unnecessary disk access by disabling it. Note that this is not the same feature as the 'file last modified on:' information that appears when you bring up the properties of a file in Explorer, so disabling last access update will not disable that information.

To disable last access file updating:Open the 'start' menu, type 'regedit' and hit Enter.

Navigate to 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem'

Change the value of the 'NtfsDisableLastAccessUpdate' DWORD to '1'.

37. Check bootup and shutdown times with the Windows Vista Event viewer

The Windows Vista Event Viewer is not a tool most Vista users will find themselves checking often, but it has a few handy uses. One thing you can do with the event viewer is check your bootup and shutdown times and compare them to your system's previous times. If starting your computer has recently become painfully slow, this is the way to track when the rot started.

To check Vista's boot and shutdown times:

Open the 'start' menu and type 'event' in the search bar. Hit Enter.Navigate to the following path: 'application and service log\microsoft\diagnostics-performance\' and double click the 'operational' log.

The interface is a little less-than-obvious at first, but here's the key; log entries numbered from 100-199 deal with startups and startup events. 200-299 are shutdown related, and 400-499 are system performance entries. Click on a '100' item, go to the 'details' tab and select 'friendly view' .

Here you are shown the time (measured in ms) to complete the boot process, as well as the various steps along the way. You can compare this to previous '100' items on the log to check whether your boot time has sped up or slowed down with the changes you have made to your system. The same can be done for '200' shutdown events.

38. Check your computer system's health in 60 seconds or less

Another feature Microsoft added to Vista as part of the performance and reliability monitor upgrade is the system health report generator. This will analyze your system using the various hardware and software monitoring tools available to the OS and give you a one page breakdown of your systems current health, with links to more additional information than you could ever want. The system health report will give you a quick idea on what, if anything is causing problems with your system's performance.

To run the System Health Report Generator:Oen the 'start' menu and type 'perform info' in the search bar and hit Enter.Now click 'advanced tools' in the left-hand pane.

At the bottom of this window, click 'generate a system health report' to run the report generator.

You now have a snapshot of what Vista thinks of your computer and its own configuration. Read and enjoy!

39. Disable mandatory thumbnail previews

By default, Windows Vista renders nearly every directory in thumbnails, which can be a good thing, but can also be a pain if you've got a lot of files and little memory. If you'd like to go back to the XP-centric explorer where thumbs where an option not a mandate, it's easy enough to do, fortunately.

To disable automatic thumbnail previews:Go to 'start/computer.'open the 'organize' menu and choose 'folder and search options.'

Choose the view tab and place a check next to the 'always show icons, never thumbnails' option at the top. Hit 'ok.'

40. Remove unnecessary Windows Vista features

Like most Microsoft operating systems, Vista uses the 'kitchen sink' approach, bundling more software and applications than you are ever likely to use. Let's look at streamlining your Vista PC a bit and saving some drive space by removing some of these unnecessary applications.

To remove unwanted Vista components:

Go to 'start/control panel/programs/uninstall a program'.In the sidebar, click 'turn windows features on and off'.

The checkboxes list optional features that can be added or disabled. Good options for removal include games, DFS file replication service, windows meeting space and tablet tools.

Part Five

41. Run sidebar gadgets without the sidebar

This tip falls under the category of "why did I not notice this before?". You do not need the physical space of the sidebar to run Microsoft sidebar gadgets. Click your favourite gadget and drag it out of the sidebar onto the desktop and voila! Now you can close the bar, reserve your real-estate and still keep the use of your favourite gadget(s). It's important to note that when you carry out this tip and close the sidebar, it remains resident in memory and is required to keep the gadget running. Unfortunately this means you can't disable the sidebar completely as in Tip #38 and still keep your fave gadget on the desktop.

42. Backup your entire computer with Vista Backup and restore (Vista Business and Ultimate only)

If you have a removable USB or eSATA hard drive enclosure, consider this tip once you have your Vista install set up just the way you like it. Vista Business and Ultimate editions allow you to create a backup image of your entire computer, data, applications and all. It does take up a lot of space as you might imagine, so you will pretty much need to dedicate an entire hard drive to it, but it's worth it for the peace of mind it offers. PCSTATS recommends separating your data and system partitions, making an image of your system partitions and then regularly backing up your data partitions to a source that is not inside your computer.

To make a backup image of your entire system: Open the 'start' menu and type 'backup' in the search bar. Hit Enter.

Click 'backup computer'.

You can backup either to a separate hard disk partition or to DVD media. You'll end up using at least 5-10 DVDs for a standard Vista install, so that's not really an option. Once you've indicated which partition you would like to backup to, just hit 'ok' and follow the prompts to create your backup image.

43. Essential hotkey shortcuts for Vista

Here's a quick list of some essential hotkeys that will make working with Vista much faster:

WIN+ (1-10): corresponds to the first ten items in the quicklaunch bar. This means that WIN+1 will minimize everything to desktop, which is handy.

WIN+SPACE: brings the Vista sidebar to the front.WIN+G: Cycle through Sidebar gadgets

WINKEY+TAB: Flip 3D interface

CTRL+WINKEY+TAB: persistent Flip 3DALT+TAB: Jump between all open windows quickly, or back and forth between the last two accessed.

ALT+Print Screen: Take a screen capture of just the window in focus (the active window), as opposed to the entire desktop.We can't forget the good old standby's:

CTRL+A: select all,

CTRL+C: copy,

CTRL+V: paste... it's amazing how these three with ALT+Tab can accelerate data manipulation between different windows or documents. Note that most of Windows XP keyboard shortcuts continue to apply in Windows Vista. These are just some of the new ones unique to the OS.

44. Using the new 'resource overview' monitor in Windows Vista

The Windows performance monitor has received a considerable facelift with the release of Vista, and now offers a whole host of monitoring information about your computer, once you've learned how to configure it for easy use. The most obvious and useful new feature is the resource overview window. This screen handily centralizes your CPU, memory, network and hard disk % at use information and allows you to track which files and processes are using your system resources in real-time. Let's take a look at how to use it.

To open the resource overview screen:

Open the 'start' menu and type 'monitor' in the search box and hit Enter.

Welcome to the new and improved resource overview screen. As you can see, the four windows correspond to the four major hardware areas of your system, and show you essentially how hard they are working over the last 60 seconds of time. Now, let's dig a little deeper.

If you double click on any of the four displays, you'll notice that the corresponding heading on the lower part of the screen will expand, offering you more information. For the CPU, we can see exactly which processes have been taking up CPU time over the last minute, and what percentage. For the hard drive, the files that have been read from and written to and how much. For the network which processes are accessing network connections and how much data are they transferring (very useful for identifying possible spyware/trojan virus problems), and for the memory you can see how much memory each running process is consuming and what percentage of that can be shared with other applications or is fully reserved. All-in-all a very useful overview of the activities of your entire computer system right at your fingertips.
45. Disable warning sounds and add visual cues

If you are fed up with the audio prompts and alerts in Windows Vista, you can easily switch them out for visual cues, making your Vista experience more intuitive without headphones or speakers.

To disable audio warning for visual warnings:

Open the 'start' menu and type 'ease' in the search bar. Hit Enter.

Scroll down and click 'use text or visual alternatives for sound.'

Check 'turn on visual notifications for sound (sound sentry)' And choose the visual cue you would like from the list below.

46. Create desktop shutdown and reboot icons
If you're fed up with the arcane operations of the new Vista start menu shutdown dialog and want a simple way to restart your system, consider creating shutdown and restart icons right on the desktop.

To do this:

Right click on an empty area of the desktop and select 'new\shortcut'.In the location text box, type 'Shutdown.exe -s -t 00' for a shutdown icon or ' Shutdown.exe -r -t 00' for a restart icon. Hit 'next' and give the new shortcut an appropriate name like "shutdown".

47. Disable security notifications

If you've made one or two of the changes in this article, like disabling UAC for example, and are getting fed up with the Windows security center notifications popping up in the taskbar and nagging you about what you've done, here's how to disable them.

To disable Windows Vista Security Center notification:

Open the 'start' menu and type 'service.msc' in the search bar. Do not press Enter.

Mouse up to the 'services.msc' search result, right-click it and choose 'run as administrator' (this is assuming you have not already disabled UAC as per tip#11, in which case the run-as is not necessary).

In the services window, scroll down to the 'Security Center' 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.'

48. Add administrator account to welcome screen

Vista is designed so that using the default administrator account is not necessary. Unfortunately, the lever for doing this is the ever-intrusive UAC (User Access Control) which we have already talked about. If you would rather go directly to the source to make your changes and use the administrator account, you might be baffled since this account is inactive by default. Let's look at making the default administrator account one of your login options on the welcome screen, so it's available when needed.To make the administrator account appear on the login screen we need to do two operations; add a password to the administrator account and make it active.

To add a password to the administrator account and activate it:

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 'Net user administrator (password)' where (password) is the password you want to apply to the administrator account. Do not include the brackets. Hit Enter.

In the same command prompt, type 'Net user administrator /active:yes' and press Enter.

The administrator account will now appear on the welcome screen and can be used.

49. Reveal Vista's hidden context menu power tools

The right-click context menu in Vista has a few hidden surprises if you press and hold the SHIFT key while you bring it up.

When used on a file, the SHIFT key adds the options to pin the file in question to the start menu, add it to the Quicklaunch bar or save its name and directory location as a text path for pasting into documents.

When used on a folder, the copy as text path option is added, along with the handy ability to pop-up a command prompt window in the folder in question.

50. Enable more simultaneous downloads in Internet Explorer 7

As was the case with Windows XP, the version of Internet Explorer bundled with Windows Vista is limited to just two simultaneous connections to the same Internet server. This is generally fine, but it can mean that large complicated websites can take longer to open than they should, and it also means that you cannot download more than two files simultaneously from the same location. Fortunately this is easy enough to change.

To increase the number of simultaneous downloads in IE 7:

Open Regedit and navigate to 'HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings'Create a new Dword value called 'MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server' and give it a decimal value between 3 and 5.

Create another new Dword called 'MaxConnectionsPerServer' and give it an identical decimal value.

Close Regedit and restart IE to take better advantage of your bandwidth.