How To Make Vista more responsive and faster

Information
Many people are having a problem in regards to either a slow boot up, or that windows is slow to load Programs.
I am using a SATA RAID 0 config, and even with 4GB of ram This can result in heavy fragmentation over two drives, and a slow system- especially after recording tv on MCE or any other activity that writes large files to disk.

Deframenting speeds up the system dramatically, BUT using the default defragmenter setting doesn't defrag files bigger than 64MB or even include them in the fragmentation statistics.



So here are two steps to a faster system:
1. Do a full defrag- all files
Start>All Programs>Acessories>Right Click Command Prompt>"Run as Administrator">at command prompt, copy and paste the following>hit "Enter":

defrag c: -w

2. Check disk for errors
Start>Computer>Right Click "C" drive>Click Properties>Tools>Error Checking-Click "Check Now">Under Check Disk Options click "Automatically fix file system errors" and "Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors"> Restart Computer

(note-substitute "c" for the drive letter you want to defrag/check for errors)

NOTE
When the computer restarts after check disk, you will notice that the system is much faster and more responsive.


What this does:
"defrag" is the command prompt
"C:" is the drive to perfom the command on
"-w" performs full defrag, attempts to consolidate all file fragments, regardless of their size

"defrag c: -w" is the entire command to defrag all files on the c drive regardless of size

(default defrag does not attempt to consolidate fragments bigger than 64mb, or even include them in the fragmentation statistics)

Essentially, When you run a program on a disk that is fragmented the pieces must all be retrieved. This slows down overall performance especially if the files are scattered all over the hard drive.
Running a full defrag with the command prompt puts all the "pieces" together, and has the effect of faster access to files/programs and less seeking on the drive itself...in other words, a system that responds 2-3 times faster at boot and program loading.[/I]

 

jkdefrag does this and further optimizes the location of files on your HD.

Check it out!
http://www.kessels.com/Jkdefrag/

 

I been reading about issues that arise in Vista after 3rd part Defragmenters/Optimizers are used, also the above performance boost is done within Vista and doesnt require any other dubious "optimizers", and I dont have to worry about compatibility issues.

 

You may want to check this out if you haven't already...it's a GEM:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=166532

 

Interesting,
except I dont wish to disable what I currently have running, Ready boost is useless with 4GB of ram, I would never shut off UAC as it is the most important antimalware feature in Vista, I want indexing to run as it makes things easier to find, SATA write caching is not a problem, Areo is sweet, System restore, security notifications are important, video drivers are up to date...

Full defrag and disk check are all I need.

If someone was of the mind to check Windows performance look here to see where the problem areas are:

VISTA RELIABILITY SCORE
1.Open the Start Menu.
2. In the white line (Start Search) area, type perfmon and press Enter.click Reliability Monitor
note- pay special attention to any Hardware Failures

 

Thanks reve. I defrag my harddrive everyday. It's become a habit.

 

Me too. Do you do a full disk defrag from command prompt?
RoswellCrew... at Alienware what exactly is that?

 

Roswell is the good part of the tech support from AW. Basically, they help people pretty well from what I've heard and they actually know what they are talking about.

 

Thats good to hear. Everytime I called them for a problem (Alienware Tech Support), I ended up having to walk the "tech" through the troubleshooting process. If I could have solved it by reading the online support pages I wouldnt have had to call them in the first place. They seemed to not know much- as though they were outsourced support reading through a check list.
The thing that got me most though is their lack of tech knowledge-i.e., I called tech support regarding Blu-ray optical drive firmware, and had to explain what profile 1.0 was, as the tech didnt know.

 

I have an idea for slow bootups. Use suspend or hibernate. Macs have been doing this for years. Its about time ya'll old folks get in the game.

 

Ah, but did you know Vista SP1 corrupts Hibernation?

I am fan of hibernation, and if your BCD store contains incorrect information for the "Resume from Hibernate" entry here is how to fix it!
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=269377

 

What does the "-w" part mean in the defrag command prompt text that you type?

 

Type in DEFRAG /? (actually most commands accept the /? switch) to see the options available for that command

 

I believe it's a file consolidation switch.

AKA Move the files to the "beginning" of the drive.

IMO, not necessary. the file system is a complex beast, and things are required to be accessed at different speeds, so, for example, a DVD video file (Max Required speed of 8000kbps or 1MBps) can be stored in a slower portion of the disk... same with audio files (MP3s have a max throughput of 320kbps).. saving area of the disk that is slightly faster (near the beginning, or centre of the drive), for more intensive files, like game data stores and Windows Executables...

While some may argue that these things are already there on the disk (at the start that is), there's always windows update, which may change their size, adding code, or adding an entire subsystem to the OS at any time... which would then ( after Defrag -w) be FORCED (due to available space) to a slower portion of the disk, slowing down overall system performance.

But each system is unique, and please make up your own mind.

Kudos to you for even asking the question.

 

Yes! They are amazing don't even waste your time with the other CS, its like talking to monkeys Also there are some CS agents on this forum that are pretty good

 

" defrag" is the command prompt
" C:" is the drive to perfom the command on
" -w" performs full defrag, attempts to consolidate all file fragments, regardless of their size

" defrag c: -w" is the entire command to defrag all files on the c drive regardless of size

(default defrag does not attempt to consolidate fragments bigger than 64mb, or even include them in the fragmentation statistics)

Essentially, When you run a program on a disk that is fragmented the pieces must all be retrieved. This slows down overall performance especially if the files are scattered all over the hard drive.
Running a full defrag with the command prompt puts all the "pieces" together, and has the effect of faster access to files/programs and less seeking on the drive itself...in other words, a system that responds 2-3 times faster at boot and program loading.

 

Reg RAID 0 and fragmentation, just a quick note: NTFS does not see the drives as two separate drives; that is the function of the RAID controller. NTFS sees only the single 'logical' drive. The Windows file system is totally unaware of the physical layout of the storage subsystem.

Moving files to the 'fastest' portion of the disk etc is just a waste of time, even if it can be done (which i doubt). Just stick an automatic defragmenter on the system, and let it handle all the defrag duty. Forget about wasting time scheduling daily defrags and such; instead actually use your computer for work/entertainment/gaming etc

 

2 Days Ago
vfxdudeman
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Join Date: Jul 2008
Vista Home Premium x64
Posts: 3



Re: How To Make Vista more responsive and faster

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Hey!
I tried both of those out and I am definitely seeing a difference. Usually what I would do is just run the standard defragmentation and error checker. With my 4GB of RAM and lovely Q6600 processor, things were already running smoothly. But after doing that full defrag, it's even better! Thanks a lot!



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5 Hours Ago
vfxdudeman
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Join Date: Jul 2008
Vista Home Premium x64
Posts: 3



Re: How To Make Vista more responsive and faster

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Hey! I got another reason to be grateful for you putting this out lol

I'm checking my hard drive space, see how much I'm using and there was 50GB less used space! I'm thinking "Alright, that was either the most awesome defrag ever or I'm missing stuff" lol Being as I wasn't missing anything, I conclude that the command prompt defrag is the most awesome ever lol

The one thing that's especially crazy about this though is that the standard defrag didn't pick up that 50GB worth of frag that I had! And I would have to defrag around 2-3 times a week because things would keep slowing down! Could this have been because of that files bigger than 64MB deal? If it is then Microsoft really needs to get on that cause that was just retarded lol I mean, 50GB OF FRAG! And the standard defrag did not pick any of that up, it would just give me that green circle with the check mark "No defrag for you, biatch" lol

I think the ONLY way to defrag on Vista is to go with that full defrag until they fix the standard defrag cause after this, I definitely don't trust it anymore lol

So, once again, thanks a lot and I think everyone out there on Vista needs to know about this!

 

Vista's defragger ignores file fragments smaller than 25MB.