NBR Vista Tips and Tweaks Guide

Glad to help, fonduekid. Hopefully everything works out!

 

No Crash, in fact nothing seemed amiss or strange or whatever. Infact Gary' program seems to be so good and I in fact did the Vista builtin defrag, and then did Gary' defrag and everything is just fine I must say that everything I did with Gary' optimizer and Les' initial guide has been spot on and perfect. I would recommend anyone to follow this up to have a clean, well behaved system, and everytime I do this, I personally think of you guys and I can only see myself having a nice smile on my face in appreciation of all your efforts Thanks.

 

Aw shucks you're gonna make me blush. Thanks for the kudos. Just trying to "pay it forward".

Gary

 

;-) I have a tendency to make men blush!! ;-) Just kidding.

Seriously though, This time I have another doubt - regarding easy cleaner (as recommended by Les) I have done this thing, but I see that its failing to delete 'all' the files since they might be in use. I checked what files there are, and 95% of them are files connect to symantec. Again I checked up on google and stuff, but could not lay my eyes on something. There were, for instance now, 2500 files and I chose to delete all, but not everything was deleted. 44 of them were left back, but these 44 (mostly from symantec) put together had a pretty huge size... Anyway, how do we get rid of these? Or is it possible that its not being deleted because its being in use and that means probably I need it for my system?

 

Yep, I did this, and it works So, this time I basically compressed my C: and let it complete... And then I decompressed it by unchecking the box, and let it run again without disrupting it, and now its all back in the base. Thanks.

 

Thanks a lot, fonduekid!

Great, glad that worked!

 

First off, why are you running Symantec? Seriously, check the free antivirus thread for better options.

I don't use Easy Cleaner so I can't help you much there. However, I will say that you shouldn't worry too much about registry cleaners. They probably won't improve the performance of your comp by any noticeable amount and they can potentially cause problems.

 

Thanks @ Crash... I have a Norton 3 year subscription which I got as a upgrade for lesser price. The services running are as follows: Symantec Core LC, Symantec Event Manager, Symantec Lic NetConnect Service, Symantec settings manager, Symantec Event Notification Service. So I guess may be easycleaner could not touch these files because they are running. SO, one thing I can try doing is, change these services to manual startup type or disable, But I guess I'd wait for the experts to tell me what to do...Cheers.

 

Ok, another issue :-( (I'm sure its because I messed up something) I am using Vista Ultimate 32bit SP1... today I have been having a sudden problem with resizing windows. The problem is they don't resize according to what my mouse does... For example I open a PDF file, and I drag it from the corner to make a bit bigger (but not maximise to fill the screen), they don't stop where I stop my cursor.. INSTEAD, the window becomes bigger or smaller going out of range of my screen... Any idea what might be the problem?

Thanks in advance people.. looking forward to hearing the solution soon... this is kinda annoying :-( particularly when working with lots of windows open and I move them around to look at another folder but they dont move where I move them :-( Thanks again for any help.

 

Okie, narrowing down on the specifics of the problem

It doesnt seem to happen with all the windows!!!!!!!! For example, firefox, my computer etc can be opened and resized or moved around the desktop without any problem. BUT, application windows like acrobat reader, coreldraw, are not responding to the drags or resize from the corners!!!!

Any ideas people? Thanks in advance.

 

Is it because of the mouse or dragging beyond a certain limit or something like that? I am using an HID-compliant mouse. Checked for the drivers, they are up-to-date!!!

 

Fonduekid,

Please don't double post. You already have a thread started about this topic so there is no need to discuss it here as well. It really has nothing to do with tips and tweaks, so it should not be here at all.

Gary

 

Oopps sorry.. I was not getting any reply in the original, so I thought it was possible for people to see it in an extablised thread where they would visit more frequently and help me out. Sorry anyways!

 

The tweaks are worked on my laptop! Especially the battery plan, Ha Ha. I often use power saver plan last time, but after i changed to performance plan, it runs smoothly, startup faster, and very good performance.

 

just found this one http://www.hackosis.com/index.php/2008/06/23/windows-quick-way-to-boost-vista-boot-time/

try that for increase boot time.
cheers
tom

 

Did you read the "EDIT" in red at the top of the article?

Never mind, I'll just quote it for you...

 

Thanks OP for the great guide!

Now, I just have figure out how the heck to get my wireless card to work w/ Vista 64

suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

 

Uuups - sorry , haven't seen this. my fault.

cheers
tom

 

Hehe no biggy.

 

Ok i tried reading through these threads but there r just 2 many. So my question has to do with CCleaner. I just installed it but i dont want to run or delete anything i'm not suppose to. I'm not very good with computers so what is the best option to run on CCleaner. For example if i click on Cleaner/Analyze and it completes and i hit run cleaner what exactly does that do? I'm not going to mess with registry right now since it is a new comp. but will when i get home on my 5 yr old desktop that has been naglected worse than a red headed step child

 

I didn't see this anywhere else on this thread, but allowing your pagefile to have between x and y values tends to frag the everloving crap out of your hard drive.

For example, if your pagefile min is 512Mb and the max is 1024Mb, and right after you start up your computer you save a document to the hard drive (and it happens to save it right after the pagefile) and then go play with AutoCAD or a game (something that uses a lot of RAM,) your pagefile will increase, but it'll be fragmented because of the document. This continues to happen (quite frequently might I add, because of how much Windows writes to the HDD) and the next thing you know your pagefile is split into over 1000 pieces.

If you're gonna have a pagefile, set the min and max values to the same thing, so that the computer starts up with that space allocated already. That way it can't get smaller and larger while you're reading/writing files to the hard drive and then it won't frag your files (and the pagefile itself - potentially a HUGE performance problem!)

I learned this trick in my early days of XP. Defragging the hard drive became necessary once every 6 months instead of once a week. It's really that big of a deal.

 

I just got my new tx2500z today an im lookin for some easy starter tips to optimize vista (home premium). I came across this thread an I was wondering if any one could let me know if all those tips/tweaks were still accurate since it was originally written back in 07, but i did see that it was updated on 03-01-2008. I just wana make sure its all still good an that i didn't miss any thing big in all of the 150some pages of comments thanks (also if any one knows some other great vista optimizing guides that would be great)

 

yes, these are current...the Mighty Les would not have it any other way

...you probably won't need to worry about finding another optimization guide; Les, with the help of many others has gone to great lengths to make sure this guide is both comprehensive, and reasonable.

There are many tweaks out the that many claim "tweak Vista" that are not included here, but most offer no proof for such performance increase, and often cause problems down the road.

With that, get tweaking!

 

thanks meetloaf13 for the help

 

No problemo...I see you are new to the forums. Don't forget to Rep Les for this sweet thread...you do that by clicking on the little scales underneath his name.

It is common practice to spread the love when someone helps out.

Welcome!

 

But wait until you have at least 1 rep power

 

this is a great thread, thanks a lot for your advice/tweaks. will surely save batt life

 

bloody amazing stuff, thank you mate

 

Hey Les,

Re: the registry shutdown kill time tweak.

I've set mine to 7s long ago. Do you know if things like automatic update or driver installation temporarily overrides this so that tasks/updates can be completed at shutdown? Or would it be wise to increase the kill-time manually to make sure we aren't killing important updates/installations before they are complete?

Just wondering if you knew (or anyone else for that matter).

Thanks!

 

Page file fragmentation seldom affects performance.

 

Pagefile fragmentation leads directly to other file fragmentation, which can affect performance quite a lot.

 

Really? Care to explain exactly how that works?

Gary

 

....hehehe.

Scud Scud he's our man! If he can't do it...!!!!!

 

Thanks alot

 

Consider this example. We'll use a 10u (unit) hard drive, and for simplicity, ignore the fact that the OS and programs take space on the drive, as well as the idea that the computer has any RAM. We'll also set the PF's min to 2u and PF max to 5u. We'll use P to indicate the PF, F to indicate the file, and 0 to indicate free space.

1. Start the computer
HDD looks like: PP00000000
2. Run application
HDD looks like: PPP0000000
3. Save 1mb file
HDD looks like: PPPF000000
4. Make 1mb file larger w/out saving
HDD looks like: PPPFP00000
5. Save 1mb file again
HDD looks like: PPPFPF0000
5. Make 1mb file larger again
HDD looks like: PPPFPFP000

If you don't think this happens constantly on your hard drive, think again. Autosave occurs frequently on desktop applications, and games constantly save information to the hard drive. Also, when your pagefile shrinks and there's empty space between those files, that leaves room for even more file fragmentation.

Fragmentation can have an ugly cascade effect, especially when the pagefile (the only file I can think of that constantly changes sizes in the hundreds of MBs) isn't set to a specific size. I can't for the life of me understand why Microsoft chose to allow the pagefile to change sizes in the first place.

 

I am very much aware of fragmentation and how it occurs, the point I was questioning is how the pagefile, as you put it, "leads directly to other file fragmentation". It is no more a culprit than any other transient file.

Gary

 

Except that the pagefile increases and decreases in size thousands of times more than your average file, and the size at which it increases and decreases is thousands of times more than your average file. Unless you tell it to stay put.

 

If I'm not mistaken, I think his reasoning is that since it is such a large file, it more quickly fragments and causes fragmentation than a smaller file? Correct me if that wasn't your point, kaseykrehbiel.

EDIT: Oops, I see you replied already

 

Oh, I understood his premise. I just don't think it holds true. If this were such an issue, I don't think the concept of a dynamic pagefile would have lasted very long.

Here is a link to some discussions on this topic by some folks who know a lot more than I do about it.

http://episteme.arstechnica.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/99609816/m/925003762931

Gary

 

That's basically it. I set the pagefile min and max to the same figure in Windows XP when I saw that suggestion online several years ago. Before, when I went to defrag my hard drive once a month, it was pretty heavily fragmented and took a couple of hours to complete. Now I look at it once every couple of months and it takes 15-20 minutes. When I reformat that computer I'll put JkDefrag on a scheduler so I won't ever have to look at it

The common recommendation used to be to set the pagefile's min and max size equal to the amount of RAM you have. I'd contend, though, that if you have 3 or 4GB of RAM and you don't run an Oracle server (or something crazy like that) you can probably safely set the pagefile to zero. I have 32-bit Vista so I only see like 3.12somethingGB of my RAM, and I turned off the pagefile, and this thing runs like a dream. If you turn yours off, and your system complains that it's low on memory, you can just turn it back on and restart. Finding a figure that works for you shouldn't be too difficult; I would just recommend the min and max being the same.

 

If M$ cared about disk fragmentation, don't you think they would have included a better disk defragmentation program?.. or even included one at all on Windows 2000? It makes more financial sense to let the files fragment.

The more fragmented your hard drive becomes, the more your hard drive has to seek to read a single file, the faster the hardware wears out, and when most peoples' "computers" (they wouldn't know the difference between the CPU and a hard drive) putter out, they buy another one, which means more money for M$ through another OS sale. They might even toss a perfectly good system because of the performance loss caused by the fragmentation. It isn't an issue that's readily visible to the average user (most of them, in fact wouldn't even know what defrag is), so M$ can safely ignore it, and continue raking in the little bit of extra cash it provides them.

And it's not like we (enthusiasts, bloggers) are actively crying about it. We have our own defrag programs and workarounds, so we sit happy and shut up.

 

I don't know much about the details of the pagefile, but is it possible that Windows "blocks off" a portion of the HDD equal to your pagefile max as a sort of cache so that the file doesn't become fragmented and instead has a place to dump data when it needs to? Again, I'm just speculating as I have no real knowledge of this.

 

It does that if you set your pagefile's min and max to the same value. If you don't do that, then no, there's no block of space allocated for the pagefile's max size. It won't move other bytes out of the way, either. It'll just find free space somewhere else, which is what causes the problem.

 

What about the min size then? If your max and min aren't far apart, then there is little space that can cause fragmentation. Obviously, I understand what you're saying about setting the max and min equal, but if by default the max and min are close, then little fragmenting would occur.

 

It would be less of an issue if they were closer apart, that's true, but even if you set them close, you still face the possible issue of the pagefile's frequency of size increases/decreases. It's not common to have a file consistently increase and decrease in size. That's pretty much a characteristic of RAM (and the extension of RAM that is the pagefile.) Even if they are only 1MB apart, that 1MB can make a lot of difference if it's consistently being allocated and unallocated. The benefit of setting the sizes the same will depend on your use of the computer, of course.

 

Ok thanks for the info. I don't think a 1 MB difference would make that much of a difference in file fragmentation, but I see your point.

 

This is probably one of the best threads i've read in a long time, its not due to the tips...thx les, much appreciation, but mainly to the debates that happen inside. I could read this Sh** all day long. I think i have learned more from that then actually getting into the registry. I know things get heated a bit here, but belive me...it helps people like me who know alot, but soon realize we know alot less than we though by comparison.

 

Ditto. I've been into computers since the Atari PC. Programming, fixing, enhancing, researching, etc. Not only is it my job but it's my favorite (favorite favorite) thing to do. Nonetheless, I learn something new every time I turn the computer on, thanks to people who spend their valuable time and money on providing free advice through forums such as these. I owe it to em to give a little back!

I've held off on Vista as long as I could. Now I have a notebook without manufacturer-provided XP drivers (NBR has them though) and although I could figure out how to make it work with XP with a little effort, I think there's enough of a wealth of info out there about Vista that I can begrudgingly move on from XP... so far anyway. Ask me again in a month.

 

I found a wonderful site with a ton of wonderful tips, tricks, tweaking programs, optimizers, cleaners, etc. and it's all freeware... check out this site:
http://www.techsupportalert.com/
Next to "Show me everything!" there's a Summary Index link. Check it out. You can do everything on your PC you ever dreamed of without spending a cent on software!
On that site, they compare different registry cleaners, disk erasers, defragmenters, tweaking programs, productivity suites, CD rippers, antivirus, antispyware, antitrojan, media players, graphics editors, etc. etc. and come up with their opinion on which is the best one. They document whether they work with XP/Vista 32/64 and have a summary of differences between most of the programs. It's a real gem if you're looking for to save a lot of money on software. I switched over to Thunderbird from Outlook '03, and now I have my ISP and Hotmail accounts (with an addon to Thunderbird) on Thunderbird. I switched from ZoneAlarm to AVG, Comodo, etc. The only software on my new Vista machine that I paid for with my own money (minus Vista itself) is the games I bought through Steam, thanks to techsupportalert.com.

 

While I'm sure you know of them, we have a Best Free Software for Windows thread and a best free antivirus/firewall/antispyware programs thread. While they're not as detailed as the site you linked, they include much of the same software and if you have questions about choosing one of the programs on the list, a quick post in the appropriate forum usually yields you a quick answer.