NBR Vista Tips and Tweaks Guide

No, no, a thousand times no. USB thumbdrives used with Vista are NOT used as RAM. The ReadyBoost function uses the thumbdrive as a cache for the hard drive. Now having said that they DO allow machines with less memory to run a bit quicker. But make no mistake about it, they are NOT giving you more RAM.

Gary

 

vista basic vs aero theme!

does vista basic theme save more battery life than aero theme?

flamenko, any benchmarks?

 

I've released an executable file to fix the screen flash. You can find it in the thread in my signature, if you want to add a link to this thread.

 

Just wanted to say awesome write-up!

Keep up the great work!

 

open office is awesome!

 

Microsoft features explained incl. ReadyBoost----http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/features/details/readyboost.mspx

Does this mean superfetch HAS to be on for ReadyBoost to work?

CHECK THIS DEMO OUT... http://www.metacafe.com/watch/566444/windows_vista_ready_boost/

Vista tips and tricks too--- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NNsRNwG0og&mode=related&search=

Awesome office trick or trick your IT guy!!-- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ML84g1V2kPU&mode=related&search=

 

DITTO!!!

 

Somebody has sticky fingers: http://keznews.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11633

At least you got credit here: http://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=587800

I found ANOTHER: http://forum.ultravnc.info/viewtopic.php?p=42197

Funny thing is that I'm not even searching for them. I'm trying to research TuneXP.

 

Yes it appears plaigerism (Is that how you spell it?) is rampid on the net. I wouldn't mind so much if someone actually linked and gave credit where it was due.

Gotta hate seeing others taking credit for it but ahhh well...

 

Just email the mods or admins of those sites, they'll take them down.

 

According to the official Vista team blog, aero consumes around 1 - 4% more power compared to the regular basic theme. Not much of a difference but if you want to conserve every last drop of battery life, then might be worth disabling on battery.
http://windowsvistablog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2007/05/14/aero-and-battery-life.aspx

 

Flamenko, have you seen this?

How to create a custom Vista Boot Screen Image

 

I wanted to add something to this awesome guide, but it already includes most of the known Vista tweaks, so here is a new one. It only makes sense when you use a multi-core CPU so don't bother with anything before c2d.

This helped me with a little app I use for raid drive maintenance (obviously it wasn't really multi-core optimized), as it was running damn slow.

Now to the tweak, it allows you to set an app to run off exclusively one processor core. ctrl+alt+del and start up the task manager, find the appropriate app.exe in the list, right click it and select set affinity. Then just untick all cores, except one.

After I did this, my raid maintenance was done as fast as usual with no more slowdown. So maybe if you have an app that's really sluggish this can help you to improve it's performance.

Keep up the great work flamenko.

 

I applied this IE & Firefox tweak and found it useful.....See if hv to add it to the tweaks list..

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=179393

 

I'll respond when i get a chance accordingly folks but, am in the middle of shifts right now and trying to work on an SSD matter as well.

Thanks for the posts.

 

Actually i have a program tweak of my own. I'll pm it to you later on when i, and you have time.

 

When I try to disable Vista Search Indexing I get this message 'Error Applying Attributes'...then it says 'Ignore' 'Ignore All' 'Try Again' and 'Cancel'

 

Ignore All. It wont affect the individual files use or attributes.

 

hey thanks... also when I try to disable a lot of programs from running when I start up I always get a message telling me that there are i have blocked programs on startup

 

if you're using msconfig to disable start-up programs, the next boot a message will pop up (from msconfig) saying changes were made etc. if you have uac turned on, it will block msconfig from showing this message, thus saying that it has blocked a program on startup.

EDIT: you can still view the message. click on the icon in the lower right corner and click "run blocked programs". uac will prompt you for permission to continue and then the msconfig message will appear.

 

Why im not allowed to enter this Folders with that Little icon ??

 

You should be able to enter them, but since your in your user folder i think it may be the computer restricting you access because it thinks your going to do something wrong and mess it up. It happened to me in XP, never found a fix besides restarting though. =\

 

Because those are not really folders at all. They are what is called junction points. They are only there to redirect old prgrams to the new location of this stuff under Vista. For example "Application Data" is now stored in "AppData".

I am not sure why Windows explorer doesn't just go ahead and redirect you to the proper place when you doubel click them. After all that is what the junction does for an application that tries to find the "Application Data" folder.

For more see:
Junction Point

Gary

 

Sorry but...

Wahoo!!!!! 50000 Reads!!!!!

 

Heheh I can see that in the number of green thingies near your Rep Power

By the way thanks very much & rep up (I think I already did that but if not I'll do it now) for the guide! I used it in my own quick guide for ASUS Vista optimization (hopefully giving you the proper credit for it): http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=179315

 

Hey Flamenko, I have a new Alienware 9750 with Vista. Learning about your tweaks (and Vista for the first time). The first one Im trying it the TuneXp one.
But when I install this program (v1.5), I get an error during installation that says "failed to get data for start" but it seems to install. Then when I open it, it says "failed to get data for "disablePagingExecutive"". But then it opens.Im a little paranoid though getting these errors to do anything. What do you think??

 

They are fine and I believe described somewhere in the thread. Just ensure that the only thing checked off is the Ultra Boot option.

Sequoia ended up with an Alienware...from one Dell to another heheh.


Oh and...make sure you do a backup or at least have system restore on for now until your comfortable with all you are doing.

 

k i disabled the tmm thing, but the startup screen still check for external monitor and flashes off then on (or atleast i think its looking for a monitor)

edit: also i get this error now in tunexp 1.5 (it worked fine when i first downloaded it)

edit2: nevermind im blind and didnt see two post above me >.>

 

The only flash is for the monitor and i would advise to go in and check it again.

 

i checked again and it disabled, but i guess it fine since its like a milasecond that it flashes. Any idea on the tunexp problem?

edit: fixed small typo and heres an ss

 

Nope...in every case, tunexp works fine when done exactly as the instructions state.

 

im still cann't accses the "Local Settings" folder or the Internet Temporary folder ,what to do guys ?

 

go to computer/c:/users/Leito 5920G and attack it from that angle. Ensure you have unhidden what you are looking for.

 

I have a little problem I am not sure how to fix. I thought Startup Inspector sounded neat so I tried it. Well it seemed pretty effective and did what I expected, but now I can't find the startup items that I deactivated. Startup Inspector doesn't list them and neither does msconfig. Any thoughts on getting these items back? Can I find them in the registry or somewhere?

 

Don't go to the registry and what did you deactivate?

EDIT: There is no backup for what you did. Do you have system restore turned on by chance? You could then restore to before doing this. Other than that, let me know what files you deleted and we will fix it up.

 

Well I deactivated lots of the bloatware that companies install when you install their software and drivers. I have a HP dv2500t and had just done a clean install but as I installed more software and drivers I used the utility to keep the bloat down. I was not careless with what I deactivated but right now I have one thing, the green button on my remote, it does not start up MCE as it used to. I remember one of the startup items controls that but without seeing it I can't remember which one.

I do have system restore turned on as well as several drive images taken at various points of progress. The thing is I hate to roll everything back because I can't remember what startup item controls the green button on my remote.

 

AH-HA!! I am smarter than I think I am! Before I deactivated items, I saved a profile under "more tasks". I only vaguely remember doing it. A bunch of stuff that needs to be deactivated was in there so it seems like it is everything. I am rebooting now so we shall see.

 

when i do the work with vista OS then i feel thet it really so attractive and advance it also decreased my computer boot up time about 30 seconds.
so i will say that thanks so much.

 

Hey flamenko, thanks for the info. I just couldnt read 69 pages of posts without knowing the info was even in there for my error.

Do you know is that Startup Inspector useable with Vista? It doesnt look like its been updated for use with Vista yet.

Also, there seems to be a Vista program called Windows Defender with a "startup programs" section where you enable and disable startup programs. Would you recommend using Startup Inspector to get the info and then doing the disable in Windows Defender?


Yeah, I got this new Alienware, but Ive already been through one that had to get scrapped (DOA) and Im on my 2nd now and still trying to work out a problem with the BIOS - but I seem to be a unique incident. The laptop is fantastic - but Im not on it full time yet till these problems get worked out. But Im trying to optimize it and learn Vista.

 

Startup Inspector works great with Vista. Just remember, before making changes save your present startup file for backup in the program.

 

You could also turn on multi-core startup in msconfig. Here is link to my youtube video on how to do it :<object width='425' height='355'><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/q6KLZyouH9M&rel=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/q6KLZyouH9M&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width='425' height='355'></embed></object>

 

That option ONLY applies to machines with multiple CPU's not CPU's with multiple cores. Mutiple core use durring boot up is automatic in Vista.

The "tweak" you mentioned applies to servers and other desktop machines which have motherboards that have more than one actual CPU chip.

Gary

 

I haven't seen this in the top tweaks, but I think it's pretty important (and please excuse me if this has already been posted).

I found out that on my Dell Inspiron Laptop, Vista was set to defragment my hard drive once a week. This was really annoying me as my HD was in constant use with low CPU usage. If you go to Start > Accessories > System Tools and the Disk Defragmenter tool - unclick the scheduled defragmentations. Alternatively, you could put them on once a month, which is much more efficient in terms of battery life on a laptop.

Tell me if it helps out.

 

The links for the one tweak that sets start-up information at the "top" of the hard drive doesnt work (the 1 that is supposed to cut boot up time in half). Anyone have a new link/instructions? Does it still work? Won't mess my comp up?

 

I have done some of the tweaks my startup time is really fast but I seem to be having alot of problems with the system shutting down, it just sits there saying shutting down but won't so I have to hold the power button until it shuts off or take out the battery and unplug the notebook, I am not sure of what is causing this, any help would be appreciated, tia

 

I have a question about indexing. When reformatting a computer with vista, is it better to allow all files to be indexed right after reformatting, and then disabling indexing? This way, indexing wouldnt be spinning the HDD in the future, and windows search would still have the files that were indexed to quickly find them

 

I could be wrong but I don't think it matters because, when you turn off indexing, it changes the attributes of all the files in any case so they are not in use.

 

so how long does it take people with vista to startup/shutdown laptops after using these tweaks? (with some sort of antivirus so approx 50 proccesses -/+ 5 ) ?? and specs on laptop / rpm/ssd ??

props to your post too. my shutdown time went from 37 secs to about 15 secs. cheers

still needa work on bootup time, but i haven't had time to do startup yet on the run heh.

 

and also, does changing boot to start harddrive first actually speed up the boot time? or does it come along with bad side effects :S

 

If it was set to defrag once a week, then that would not account for "my HD was in constant use with low CPU usage." It's debatable whether doing it once a month versus once a week, would not result in MORE work for it to do.

Gary