Improve Vista's performance a little or a lot

Vista won't win any popularity contests, but even with its faults, I'll take the most recent version of Windows over any of the predecessors. My biggest beef with Vista is that it's slow. At least the OS makes it easy to optimize your system for peak performance. Here's a quick recap of my three favorite Vista speedup tips.

Put indexing on permanent hold
I've been using Vista for a good 18 months now, and you can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times I've used Windows' built-in search feature. I described how to tweak Vista's indexing settings in a previous post, but there's a simpler way to disable all indexing.

Press the Windows key, type Performance Information, and press Enter to open the Performance Information and Tools applet. Click "Adjust indexing settings" in the left pane, choose the Modify button, select Show All Locations, uncheck everything, and click OK > Done.

You'll still be able to use Windows' search feature, though it will take longer to find the files you're looking for. For me, it's fastest to remember where I put the files I need myself rather than counting on Windows to find them for me.

Send Aero packing
One of the biggest knocks against Vista is that if you do away with the transparencies, sliding menus, and other features of the Aero interface, the operating system looks just like earlier versions of Windows. I like the Aero effects as much as the next guy--if the next guy's blind.

No, I don't really mean that. Aero's definitely has more eye-appeal than anything XP's interface has to offer, but ultimately I had to ask myself: Do I want to spend my time admiring the shiny surfaces and faux-3D buttons as Vista spins it wheels, or would I rather get my work done?

It took all of about two minutes for me to get used to working in Vista without Aero. To make the change, return to the Performance Information and Tools applet as described above and click "Adjust visual effects" in the left pane. Under the Visual Effects tab, select "Adjust for best performance" and click OK.

Winnow your roster of autostart apps
In a post last spring, I described how to use Vista's Software Explorer to disable the autostart programs that you don't need to open automatically when Windows loads. Dang if I didn't revisit Software Explorer the other day only to find new entries for more programs I don't need running all the time. I don't know how exactly they got there, but I know they're off the list now, and my boot time is the better for it.

It just goes to show you that the job of squeezing every available CPU cycle out of your PC is never done.

[cuban_cigar]

Note: Windows still fails to offer the simplest, most basic necessary things to run a computer.

1) See the running processes? Dream on!
The process manager shows you a fraction of the running processes, and only the ones they deam that you should see. Viruses and worms frequently compromise this further, and legit programs can even prevent you from shutting them down. Totally f'ing unacceptable.

Want to kill a process? Good luck that doesn't work either.


2) See incoming and outgoing connections. NO WAY, it simply has no capability to do anything as basic and needed as that for troubleshooting. So you want to run a windows server, then prepare to suffer fool!

[catch23]

You obviously don't use Windows. Task manager does everything you say it can't... there are some critical processes it won't let you kill, but those are few (and I don't like that you can't kill them either)
Also, there is also Process Monitor (http://tinyurl.com/2okfn9) that will give you more info then you ever wanted to know about what is running, and Process Explorer (http://tinyurl.com/ys2zq2) which is kind of a supercharged Task Manager.
Please stop blaming MS for your lack of understanding either the tools available or how to use them. 'Average' users will barely fire up task manager (or understand what it is trying to tell them). For advanced users, there is a lot out there. Try google, it is your friend

[Imalittleteapot]

These things are simple if you know how. MS needs to make them simpler for everyone.

[Shankland]

Not that this is much help for ordinary folks, but downloading and installing PowerShell gives you pretty fine control over processes. For example, see

http://www.myitforum.com/articles/40/view.asp?id=10097

[ulric2]

type 'netstat' at the command line to see all the IP connections your Windows computers has
you can see all the windows network connection in the network applet of the control panel.

the vista task manager does show you all the processes and services that are running, nothing is hidden.
the ones you can't end task on are the ones running under the Service account (i.e "root"), which you must shut down through services.

[wlau]

Another idiot who doesn't know what he is talking about. Everything he mentioned is available in Vista... In fact, Vista gives more information than Linux in many cases. Stop bashing Vista when you clearly don't know much about computers in general. Just because you may not be familiar with a UI to locate it, can't accuse the feature isn't there.

[JustinUtah79]

THANK YOU cuban_cigar for the good laugh!

Your comment was so silly that I literally fell over my chair.

You go to love the newbies....

[JustinUtah79]

Oh come now guys... cuban_cigar is clearly a "forum troll"... And you all were baited.

I just re-read it and I am still laughing....

[blueonionsoftware]

I would be very skeptical of these types of recommendations. I've tried all of the tweaks here and frankly they make zero difference. My laptop scores a 3.2 on the Vista benchmarks so I'm not running hot hardware. Of course if you look at the task manager it will say you're using less memory but does that really improve the speed? Do programs actually open quicker? Where are the numbers to support this? Honestly, I tried all the tweaks and could not "feel" any difference in speed or responsiveness. I believe the author's intentions here are good, but I would not waste my time doing this or expect any material gains. YMMV

[doreilly]

I noticed a clear difference in the responsiveness and startup speed of my Vista laptop. I don't pay much attention to that Vista benchmark. I go by my own experience. Your system may be better equipped to handle Aero and other Vista defaults.

Dennis

[rmva]

I agree with blueonion. I've had Vista for 18 months and hardly ever used Windows Search, mostly to find a Vista applet. So I was gungho to try these tweaks. Apparantly my hardware doesn't have the same sluggishness that Dennis sees, because nothing changed that I could tell. Maybe these tweaks only work for certain hardware.

[mjconver]

Uhhhh, if you do all these things, haven't you basically just turned Vista into XP?

[inachu]

No.
Even with all the extra stuff disabled it was still slower than XP and My pc has dual channel 4 gig of ram!
With XP my pc was a speed demon but with Vista installed even world of warcraft had lots of lag.

[doreilly]

Just the interface. All the new Vista features, such as the search box on the Start menu, are still there. Feature for feature, Vista tops XP. The problem is performance. These simple tweaks are intended to improve your system's speed by freeing up memory and resources for your applications.

Dennis

[smithj_33]

blue and rmva, if you guys have 4GB of RAM then these will probably make little difference. My laptop has 2GB. Turning off indexing is a nice improvement and everyone on any Windows OS should disable most autostart apps. Most people should see a difference. Just turning Indexing off should, if nothing else, should prolong the life of your hard drive. Look at your HD light while Indexing is on. That read head is constantly moving, searching for files to index. Most people don't need Acrobat, Quicktime, Realplayer, Instant Messengers, ect.... starting at startup.

[blueonionsoftware]

My laptop has 2 GB. It's also a slow processor. Turning off indexing or Aero makes little sense. The is no perceivable difference. Hard drives run for just about forever these days so wear is not a big issue either. Startup programs are a personal choice so there's no argument there.

[srhoda]

Turn Aero off etc and the result is just a bloated version of XP.

[doreilly]

As I mentioned above, just in terms of the interface. Feature-for-feature, Vista beats XP, in my book. Yes, they screwed up the way to change your folder view and other settings, but overall, I'll take Vista, even without Aero.

Dennis

[Imalittleteapot]

I disagree with these. Remember that indexing finishes eventually. Just turn off indexing on the folders you don't intend to search in. For example my music and videos aren't indexed. They're binary. It doesn't help as much on them. However, remember that it isn't the size of the files that matter. It is how many files. You're just trying to make it finish early.

What you want to index is your quasi-text files. Emails, html documents, Word documents, spread sheets, or source code. Things the indexer can look inside and get some info from. I index the contents of my emails and office files, only the properties of my photos, and then nothing else. For videos or music you can always do a full search or use the Media Player library feature. But on my system indexing didn't seem to be the problem.

What was causing the disk thrashing on my system was SuperFetch. That program predicts what program you'll start next and preloads it for a faster boot assuming it predicts your patterns correctly. If not then that means program files are constantly being read from disk that you don't need. It also keeps your ram full. That means more disk swaps. Also, on a reboot it has to re-fetch everything. Since I shutdown SuperFetch wasn't right for me. It may be right for say an office where you start Excel everyday at the same time though, but in my opinion it is just generally buggy and doesn't work well. It needs a patch I think.

Turning off SuperFetch brought my disk activity down considerably at boot up. Then a driver update for my SATA controller made my system whisper quiet. Make sure you check for driver updates. The initial Vista drivers were very bad.Also, never forget about apps that boot up at start. These have been the number one performance problem for Windows since 95 at least.

If you're going to turn off indexing and Aero you may as well just use XP. If you run Vista get a computer where you can really enjoy the home media experience of Vista. It does have that. In the work place it still doesn't have much going for it though.

[ppgreat]

"Vista won't win any popularity contests, but even with its faults, I'll take the most recent version of Windows over any of the predecessors. My biggest beef with Vista is that it's slow."

Um, but even with its "faults"? Such as? And the only way you can kind of get it to work at a reasonable speed is by disabling features that supposedly are selling points for migration to Vista in the first place?

But you'll stick with it anyway? I think this is what makes you a cubicle dweller.

[doreilly]

As I mentioned above, just in terms of the interface. You still get Vista's features. And I like my cubicle! (It's right next to our little kitchenette, so I get to smell what everyone's having for lunch.)

Dennis

[dixonpete]

I understand that this post is about Vista and performance but I fell compelled to make the obligatory Linux boosting post. Get PCLOS' MiniMe 2008 and do a 3 minute install and you'll have a beautiful fast operating system. The only caveat would be if you absolutely need to be in the Microsoft eco-system of proprietary file formats. Works better, the future is far brighter and it's free.

[ulric2]

turning off Windows Search is probably more of a placebo effect, it doesn't change anything in performance. The first question you have to ask people is, what is it that they find slow, then you look into that. Is it starting applications? is it a timeout in Windows Explorer? Each individual problem needs to be looked individually, there is no 'make go fast' switch in Windows.

[wynand32]

Actually, I'm using Vista on a wide range of systems--from a Dell Latitude XT with a U7600 ULV 1.2GHz, to a white box Intel Celeron 2GHz with 1GB of RAM, to a pair of Dell XPS 420 desktops with Q6600 2.4GHz quad-cores--and I simply am not experiencing the performance issues that would warrant such tweaking. Certainly, most of my systems have 2GB RAM, but RAM's cheap and I wouldn't be caught dead with less (except for the Celeron, but machine just doesn't need it). I don't get hesitations, pauses, or any other clues that background processes are eating up the cycles I need to get my work (or play) done.

I keep indexing on for a variety of reasons. I write a fair amount of copy in my marketing job, and I can't remember every single piece that references one or more of our products or customers. And then there's email... Vista's built-in search is outstanding, and I can't imagine turning indexing off.

On my desktops, I keep Aero running, although I'm not as married to it. On my notebooks, I run an application that turns Aero off, but to improve battery life, not to increase performance.

To this day, I remain amazed that so many people are so convinced that Vista is such a terrible operating system. I must just be very, very lucky on the six systems of mine that currently run Vista. Not a single one is experiencing any show-stopper issues that are unique to Vista, and my MacBook Pro isn't any more (or less) stable than any of them.

Incidentally, I run Linux in virtual machines, mostly to play with open source content management systems like Drupal and Joomla. I gave up on trying to use Linux for my day-to-day work when I needed to drop down to a command line to get wireless working with Ubunto 8.04. For me, the command line should be a geek's luxury item, not a necessity, and with Linux, things aren't where they need to be. OS X is a much better model for that, I think.

[Wworld]

Vista is great!!!!
as an advanced user, i have used Vista SP1 on a few machines. with 2 gigs of ram they all run fast!
get 3-4gigs of ram if you are a heavy user. Vista is super stable. no problems what so ever. you all need more ram. minimum of 2 gigs and remember if your hard drive is over 75% full get an external drive that is at least 7200 rpm with the largest cache/buffer memory of 16mg or 32mg.
defrag monthly at least.

I maintain 10 computers with the following setup for 4 years not one problem.
Run CCleaner daily and Advanced Windows Care weekly. Run the registry cleaners 2-4x a month or after any install or uninstall of a program. Auslogics Hard Drive and Registry Defrag monthly at least.

I use Avant Browser just keep the pop up blocker on! and Firefox as a backup. Use Free 'Key Scrambler' as it encypts as you type in browsers for extra security!!! http://www.qfxsoftware.com
AVG 8 antivirus, with either Threatfire or Spyware Terminator. SuperAntispyware or Adaware (you dont need both) as secondary spyware scanner.
Autoruns to turn off the bloat at startup. Monthly maintain cleanup disk and scan error check your drives.
Happy Puting! Vista is great!

[goodspeed8701]

vista is flawless to me.

[t182]

I like vista. I bought a second computer with vista on it, and I haven't had one problem with either one. I've found it interesting that everyone is saying how much it sucks and how it's the worst ever... maybe people that upgraded old computers have had all the problems. The two I've had I've really enjoyed.

[Dalmatian28]

Time to UPGRADEEEEEE hardware!!!!!!!!!!!!
I do tech support for living, all the complains that I get about Vista is from people that are to cheep to upgrade their hardware and add some RAM. Stop beaching about Microsoft and dump your stone-age hardware! Buy Core Two Duo with 2 Gb or RAM and it will work! Over 90% of the calls are from people that are using old Pentiums and Celeron processors. Nehalem processor are about to come out and they are 3 Generations away from Pentium and Celerons....that should tell you how old your junk is!

[Imalittleteapot]

Yeah, and if you're too poor to buy new stuff or you don't want to spend any money on a new machine then don't run Vista! Stay away from Vista until you have the power to run it! If you don't want new hardware just stick to using to using XP! If the hardware you got already does everything you need it to then you don't need Vista anyway!

Wait a minute. Wasn't that exactly what the Vista lovers were complaining about? Everybody wanting to stick to XP because they didn't want to buy new stuff? Ooopss. lol.

[Dalmatian28]

Time to UPGRADEEEEEE hardware!!!!!!!!!!!!
I do tech support for living, all the complains that I get about Vista is from people that are to cheep to upgrade their hardware and add some RAM. Stop beaching about Microsoft and dump your stone-age hardware! Buy Core Two Duo with 2 Gb or RAM and it will work! Over 90% of the calls are from people that are using old Pentiums and Celeron processors. Nehalem processor are about to come out and they are 3 Generations away from Pentium and Celerons....that should tell you how old your junk is!

[sting7k]

I would try some of these things, if I had any problems with Vista's performance. Since Vista runs very well for me I don't see it. Not having 40 programs auto start every time is a no brainer, that will slow any machine down not just Vista machines.