Laptop running slow

6. Disable Vista Search Indexing

All versions of Vista have Search Indexing enabled by default which is an unneeded resource for most. Its function is to continuously update files on your system so that they can be made available for faster searching. Unfortunately, this takes its toll on system performance which is why its listed in several tweaking programs as a top tweak; I agree totally.

To disable Windows indexing:

1. Click Start, then computer; 2. Right click on Local Disk ‘C:’ 3. Left click on Properties; 4. Uncheck ‘Index this Drive for Faster Searching’; 5. Let it complete and select ‘Include subfolders and files’ in any subsequent dialog box

EDIT: From here we will go one step further and turn off Windows Search in your services as per Trebuins recommendation. I was going to wait and shut all useless services down at once but, he is right and, this does pertain strictly to this so…

1. Click on start/run and type in ‘MSConfig’ and hit ok; 2. Click on Services tab and find Windows Search 3. Uncheck/Apply and Ok…Your done!!!

Voila!! Its funny eh, a feature that is supposed to speed up searching that is one of the worst reasons for system slowdown.

7. Disable Excess Windows Processes at Boot! (TY and Pls Rep Trebuin)

Im going to give a bit of a background to this as it is probably the one tweak that can really screw anyone up if they make the wrong move. I think its better to walk through slowly and make sure we are all clear then to jump into and have someone go into a panic if they do something wrong. Windows Vista starts somewhere just short of a hundred processes running each and every time you boot into Vista, many of these being unneeded. Their are four options that describe how each process is started, these being manual (start), automatic, automatic delayed and disabled. Having said that, you dont want to disable something your not sure of, it could prevent you from getting into Vista again.

Trebuin has been kind enough to make a chart of very safe changes we can make in Vista. It is here: Trebuin Safe Process Changes I would suggest you start with his values as they are proven.

There are two ways to affect these changes, the first of which is by typing ‘services.msc’ into the run command which should be on your Vista Menu. (If its not rt click on the Vista Orb lower left/properties/start menu-customize and check Run).

The second is to simply enable or disable services by typing ‘msconfig’ into the Run bar or:

Press Start/Control Panel/Administrative Tools/System Configuration and Services.

There…I have taught you just enough to really hurt yourself (lol) and a good acrobat has a safety net just in case so….

If you make a mistake, this link will allow you to reset your services back to the original Vista Values, no matter what version of Vista: http://www.speedyvista.com/registry.html

A safe idea would be to actually copy and save the bat file that applies to you, on a disk, so you can get to it if you need it. Myself, I was fooling around one day and found that my Internet wouldn’t work as I disabled the wrong service; it creates a bit more wrk.

For those wanting to venture even further, I am going to promote a site (www.blackviper.com) and include this link which will enable you to not only learn about each and every process, but also, explore his ideas on safe settings, his choices as well as bare bones settings. I have personally used his choice settings without a problem. Blackviper Service Configurations

8. Turn Off Unused Windows Features (Tx and Rep LIVEFRMNYC)

This tweak is actually a ‘two in one’ as it saves disk space by turning off unneeded windows features as well as improving performance by shutting down Remote Differential Compression (RDC). Briefly RDC monitors changes in files in order to transfer them with minimum compression over a network, thus eliminating the transfer of an entire file which has been already moved. This checking and rechecking can hinder system performance. With respect to the other features that I will suggest shutting off, I myself only leave Games, Ultimate Extras (both self explanatory) and Tablet PC. I choose to leave tablet PC as it enables a little feature called Snipping Tool which I absolutely love. Anyone who hasn’t used it, type ‘snipping tool’ in the ‘Run’ box and enjoy.

In anycase, the tweak is as follows:

1. Press Start/Control Panel/Classic View and select Programs and Features; 2. Choose ‘Turn Windows Features On and Off; 3. You can safely unselect ‘Indexing Service, Remote Differential Compression, Tablet PC Optional Components (if you don’t want Snipping Tool), Windows DFS Replication Service, Windows Fax & Scan (unless you use Fax through a modem) and Windows Meeting Space.

Oh and if you want to be real smart, DFS Replication duplicates files for use among multiple PCs in a network and keeps them in sync. Its not very useful on a stand alone.

9. Get a Flash Drive and Use ReadyBoost!!!

To start, this does not apply to us SSD users as there is no significant access time increase from the SSD and the USB storage drive.

For the rest, lucky you!! You can literally add memory to your system by popping in a USB storage drive and enabling ReadyBoost on that drive. For systems with limited RAM, Vista has a file on the hard drive called pagefile.sys. When it gets low on ram, it uses pagefile to store and retrieve files accessed most often. If you can imagine, this results in a huge performance drop as accessing the hard drive for ram is exactly what we do not want to do.

Vista now enables us to pop in a USB drive and create a disk cache through the added memory which in some systems can be a huge step up, especially when 2Gb storage drives are so common now.

First, if your going to buy a drive, it has to have the following specifications:

1. It must be USB 2.0 compatible; 2. It must be at least 64mb in size; and 3. It must be able to read at 3.5mb/sec and write at 2.5mb/sec which all pretty much are in any case.

Next… How do we do it???

1. Plug in the USB storage drive; 2. Press Start/Computer and right click on the new drive; 3. If the drive is compatible there will be a tab for ReadyBoost, click on it; 4. Select ‘Use this Device’ and select the amount of space you want to use.

Now, there is no need for restarting the system and the effects occur instantaneously. It is nice to know that when you restart with this drive again, it automatically defaults to ReadyBoost again. I would expect those running Vista with 512mb will see a huge difference by sticking a 2Gb drive in performance where those with 1Gb will still visibly see the difference.

Wanna learn more about ReadyBoost or any other new windows feature for that fact??? Just Click on the word!!

10. Turn on Write Caching for Better SATA Disk Performance!!!!

This tweak speeds up the performance of your hard disk by enabling write caching. There is a danger to this, if you have no backup power supply, as a loss of power would result in loss of any information within the cache at the time of the outage. So…. make sure to continually backup your files in data programs such as Word, Excel, and so on…

To enable write caching:

1. Press Vista Orb/Computer/right click on ‘C’/Properties; 2. Click on Hardware and double click on your hard drive; 3. Go to Policies and check ‘Enable Write caching on the Disk’ 4. You can go one step further by checking ‘Enable Advanced performance’ but pay attention to the underlying warning.

This option isn’t available to all. Newer systems are automatically set to run in AHCI mode through the BIOS and utilize a program called the ‘Intel Matrix Storage Manager’. Together, these already enably higher performance of your system and prevent you from ‘Enhancing Write Caching’ on your own. You may be able to check it off but when you exit and return, its unchecked again. Don’t panic!!! Thats just the way it presently works.

11. Ensure Your Video Drivers are Up To Date!!!! (NVidia Drivers only)

To start, I know that some of you are going to read this and realize you never had a clue that you should update your video drivers!! To a great extent, if the driver you are using works for you, why stick a fly in the ointment right? For many however, video driver updates can, not only improve upon performance but also, fix problems associated with the older drivers in use. You need to read the driver information to, not only ensure it is compatible with your graphics adapter, but also to recognize that the updates and fixes will help you in some way.

Many of the most recent fixes have this little issue solved which has been recognized in so many trouble posts here at NBR:

“The display is corrupt or there is no display upon resume from sleep mode” ISSUE RESOLVED

So..first off go here for the latest video driver update: LaptopVideo2Go You will see on the left, your choices first which you need to make sure are correct. If you are using Vista as a 32Bit environment, select it. Also, if you have updated previously, the latest and greatest drivers are listed on the right.

As far as updating simply find the latest driver and double click on the exact file number you want. It is in the version column. DONT CLICK ON THE DOWN ARROW!! This will bring you to the screen where you can verify all the information I mentioned above.

Now, once in this screen, I want you to click on the driver as well as modded inf. Download them both to the same location on your computer; the desktop is simplest. Look at that…there is even a quickstart guide to help you along if your hesitant or unsure!!! You can browse this and even look through the pictures for reference but PLEASE…follow my directions exactly to ensure this works for you.

Next double click on the downloaded driver file to extract it. It will create a folder with tons of files in it. Once thats done, I need you to click on the modded inf file, hold the clicker down, and drag that file into the new folder. It will ask you and I want you to replace the ‘inf’ file from the driver with the ‘modded inf’ file.

IF YOU DO NOT, you may get some silly message later that says that your system is not compatible with the driver.

All that is required now is to find the file entitled ‘Setup’ inside the folder and double click on it.

Once the process starts, you will get a red warning label that says ‘Windows can’t verify the publisher of this driver software’ Install the driver software anyway.

Thats it!! Restart your system and enjoy.

As for cleanup, you can now delete the original compressed file, any modded inf file still there, as well as the newly extracted folder that was created. They are all no longer of any use.

12. Increase Performance by Adjusting Vista Visual Effects and Performance Properties!!!!

I’m going to take the time to really let you control your system through visual and performance effects right now.

Change your Power Setting

I’ll start first with a simple trick that most will laugh once they learn. Have you ever wondered why sometimes your system runs very slow, expecially after plug in from battery power with Vista???

To help you in controlling performance and battery power, Vista has a new option that lets you decide at what level you want your system to perform. You simply ‘left click’ on the battery icon in your system tray and decide whether you want your system running in balanced, power saver or high performance mode. It as easy as that.

Yes…I know… this is really a cheat tweak that many know already but, its really a reminder for all that will be a performance increase at some point. How many times have we wondered why our system was running slow only to go into the power option and see that we are still on power saver mode?

Now… on to the real tweak!!!!! Dum Dum Dum Dum du Dum. okok not quite yet… another mini-cheat tweak.

Enable or Disable Vista Aero

Vista uses up alot of resources to allow it to look great, some of which slow the system down just for the visual effect. There is a simple way to decide, as far as the desktop goes, what exactly you want and don’t want.

1. Right click on the desktop background and select ‘Personalize’ and ‘Windows Colour and Appearance’. 2. Experiment with turning off Vista Aero by checking and unchecking ‘Enable Transparency’.

This, along with others I will cover shortly, results in a performance increase because, each time you click on new windows, that window has to be rendered as the system is set up. So… if you don’t need Aero, uncheck the box and the system does not have to work that much harder every time you open a new window.

Change your Vista Colour Scheme

We can actually carry this a step further. Click on ‘Open Classic Appearance Properties for More Colour Options’. Here, you will find that you can adjust your colour scheme which results in a less demanding appearance.

For example, Windows Vista Basic is much less demanding than Windows Aero and similarly Windows Standard is less demanding than Vista Basic. One can see this by simply clicking on the menu selection. Play around and make the system your own and how you want it.

Adjust Vista Visual Effects

Now, lets get to the meat and gravy shall we? (or soya for those vegetarians)

1. Click Start/Control Panel/Classic View/Performance information and Effects/Adjust Visual Effects

Here you can play around with each and every little setting that you choose to make your system speedier and more in tune with what you want.

Want an example?

One of the boxes you can select or deselect is ‘ Use a background image for Each Folder type’ If you deselect it, your folders (ie. picture folders) won’t have to take the time to put a picture on its face every time you select it. This can be particularly obvious with systems with lesser memory and no graphics card.

Personally, I leave every boxed checked, but then again Im running with a dual 2 core processor,4Gb RAM and in 64 Bit mode. Life is great!

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