NBR Vista Tips and Tweaks Guide

The difference is that many Windows users frequently use safe and well-known programs that require root priveleges. UAC will only be useful when the majority of programs that people use are made to be compliant with this new (for Windows at least) type of security feature.

 

Thanks for the link to This website, it is very helpful.

 

I cannot turn indexing off by unchecking the INDEX box when I right click on C:

I get an access denied message for files such as 'c:/boot/something'. I can click 'ignore' but I keep getting messages for more files.

 

Thanks for the tips, got my boot time down to ~30 seconds.

 

Noxxle99...

I am not aware of why this would occur unless, UAC is preventing it if its on. Anyone???

 

Yeah, I get the same problem as noxxle. Will post back if I can fix it...

 

I had it too, Noxxle99 and sleey0.....I think mine was on page 26 or so.

 

Has anyone solved it yet? the only thing i can figure is because UAC was on or you turned it off and then turned indexing off before your reboot to clear UAC.

 

What do you mean clear UAC? When you turn it off you don't delete the settings that programs have created upon install (or save game, etc.) no?

...I'm thinking of reinstalling Vista later and immediately turning UAC off and then starting from there...

 

Thats the best option. From what Ive learned from my two experts here, if you have been gaming and turn UAC off, the game files saved remain ijn the virtual folder which is now not visible to Vista and, therefore, inaccessible.

If you turn it on, its possible access is there but also possible that the file has been fragmented and is unusable.

 

from cold boot ~30 secs to desktop screen. ~55 secs to load up IE and start browsing. This is on a laptop.

thanks for the tips!

 

I followed all your steps for the Defraging and I cannot see the Defrag files in Processes, even when clicking "Show processes from all users". It says tunexp.exe is running..what am I doing wrong?

 

If you follow the tweak exactly and pull up task manager, go to processes/click on Image name to make them alhabetical...defrag.exe and ntfsdfrg.exe will be there. You only shut the computer down when they are done.

I dont know what to say except this is what happens for all.

 

I reinstalled it and it is working now...thanks

 

with ready boost usb, if i use a 2GB flashdrive, will i gain basically

 

2GB of RAM yes.
Hey , why not put a ''frequently asked questions section?''
REP to you raven you gave me the idea because alot of people dont know exactly what ready boost gives you in RAM the added size of the USB drive or partialy.

 

Nope, it is not anything like adding 2GB of RAM, sorry. It's like adding a 2GB flash cache to your HDD.

 

For the defrag tweak, mine has been going on for over 2 hours now I think..

Defrag.exe and DfrgNtfs.exe are still running by the looks of it..clearly this has gone on much longer than it is suppose to..anyone have any suggestions?

 

hypothetically it is but your right its like turbo memory basically but we use the term ''RAM'' so we dont have to type this out.
J/K

 

No, it's not even hypothetically like adding 2GB of RAM. The ready boost memory (whether turbo memory or flash memory) does not act as system memory.

 

but the system can store data from programs on it....like RAM
thats agreed right

 

would doing this benefit game playing

 

No i doubt it Raven

 

Nope, ready boost (like hard drive speed) will only affect load times, not the actual 3d performance of the game.

 

We better check into this then.. My reading has shown that the ReadyBoost will take excess files that would have been used in pagefile.sys. So lets say you have 2Gb of ram and, for some reason the system requires 1Gb of pagefile. With ReadyBoost, that pagefile is lessened and the ram taken from the flash drive which of course has a much faster access speed.
I dont believe it will give you a gain in gaming applications however.

As much as Im not a Wikipedia lover, a supporting article is best explained here...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ReadyBoost

 

The kind of data stored on it is the data usually stored in a page file, which 99.9% of the time resides on your hard drive, so no, not like RAM. If you got an additional 2GB of RAM, you could use it to store your page file, but if you got 2GB of readyboost you couldn't use it for data like you could with the RAM.

ReadyBoost essentially acts like a secondary hard drive cache. And don't believe everything on that wiki article, as it has some definite inaccuracies.

 

My reading is not just Wiki though. Until you, I had never heard anyone state that Readyboost would only affect start times and not the system during operation. In fact, I had never heard that before and wonder about it because, essentially when you shut your system down, the flash ReadyBoost cache is cleared which wouldnt provide for speeding up start time at all.

And I have read many of your posts and enjoyed them, thus I respect your view; just hoping to clarify is all.

This is probably the best explanation and I think I will throw this on the first page:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/features/details/readyboost.mspx

 

Sorry, if I implied that it would only affect start times, that's not what I meant (as it's not true). I meant it would only really affect load times, when you're reading something off the hard drive, not system startup times.

 

edited 09-15-07

 

One thing I found very helpful: the snipping tool

thanks

 

Readyboost is a spinup delay reducer for the hard drive. This means you're trying to gain the performance of a .8ms delay (about) from a disk that has a 5ms delay. I see an improvement on loading of files, but that is about all that it will do. Flamenko will see no improvement due to the fact that his steady state drive does not have a 5ms delay, unlike spinning disks.

 

so load times could improve, thank you!

 

No Prob. Readyboost is supposed to help boot time as well, but I have never seen this improvement...probably because the drivers don't load soon enough and the drive doesn't recognize soon enough to help.

 

Why can they just invent External RAM?

 

There's a function within Readyboost, called Readyboot. It's the one that will improve the boot time.
I used to disable readyboost as I'm not using any external flash drive, and my boot time was 3 minutes and 15 seconds. Once I enabled readyboost back, my boot time is 2 minutes. I could not remember if the improvement occured instantly, but there's an article that mentions Readyboot would trace and optimize the boot process using several traces (so based on several boots) every few days.
I also left the computer idle for several nights as the optimizisation is an idle process, and occurs every few days.
I no longer leave my laptop idle though as I already got 2 minutes boot time.

 

Thanks Valkyrie for the input. I am going to do a bit of background on this. Repped ya buddy!!

 

Two slight corrections:
1. "game files saved remain ijn the virtual folder which is now not visible to Vista". They are not visible to the GAME. Vista can still find them.

2. The second sentence is wrong. Once you turn UAC back on the files will be usable. They will be no less and no more fragmented than when they were initially created.

Gary

 

U're welcomed flamenko, this is a great post ^^

 

Nice thread. Disabeling services really helps speeding up your computer.
I'm not sure about boot times though. I had boot times of around 40 seconds and they didn't really change after the tweaks. RAM usage lowered of course.

 

This is a very long nice thread ... (newbie post warning) ... lots of information.

I was looking at removing the Internet Print Client as something else to uninstall. Thoughts? I print via the LAN but use TCP/IP Network. I suppose I could experiment (the whole week ...

TIA for your thoughts.

 

Flamenko, "OEM04Mon.exe" is part of the Creative webcam utility (the webcam built-in to your LED monitor).

 

"If you are comfortable with computers...turn UAC off as it is probably the worst thing in Vista. Press Start, click on your picture...turn UAC off and restart."

I strongly disagree. I am quite comfortable with computers, but it's nice to know that no drive-by can infect my system. It is certainly not "the worst thing in Vista", IMHO, and if you generally run your office apps all day, you will likely not be bothered by UAC prompts; only when you tinker or install/uninstall apps do you come across them. Honestly, if it irks you so much, turn it off when you do your initial install, then, once you're up and running, turn it back on to stay safe. That's my 2 cents.

 

Are you sure that it it's a 20 second delay? My shutdown time prior to this tweak, is probably right in that ballpark, and that's without any add-on hardware.

I though that IF there was a stuck process, this time limit is the max amount to allow itself before forcibly terminating the processes and shut the computer. If all of your processes unload in good time (under 1 second), then there would be no need for this tweak.


Also, Readyboost does not allow you to "literally add RAM" as you claim. Just because it may use the fast cache RAM instead of the slower HDD-bsaed pagefile, does not mean that it is equivalent to adding RAM into the system. For one simple reason, as an example, to use Readyboost, Windows still must manage the overhead of "What do I clear out into from M swap/RB" and what do I leave in RAM. Whereas if you had actual RAM, Windows would just use it, no swapping necessary.


Thanks for the tips.

 

Regarding OEM04Mon.exe, thank you.

Regarding UAC, it is the most annoying feature that Vista has implemented and the view has been supported by several sources since the release of Vista. It is also a substantial performance decrease for the average user that does more than just turn a program on or off... To think, you need to give yourself permission to access a feature in your own Vista...lol

And regarding the adding of RAM in ReadyBoost, we all know its not RAM or everyone would just go and grab 4Gb for that extra boost. The term is used as the easiest description for the laymen as, in essence, it is correct in theory of what it does.

Thanks anyway...any tweaks you would like to contribute that would assist the forum?

 

Excellent work Flamenko. The first one is just one of those perfect tweaks : it makes a great difference with simply no loss (for those who don't have or manually start an external monitor). Thanks!

 

Thank you...

I use a 22" Dell widescreen and, as long as I shut my system down while using it, it reboots exactly the same.

If I come back and reattach it after being down stairs, I just hit Fn-F8 once and Im back to my 22" with an extended screen.

For the most part, TMM is for an automatic identification of the screen on plug in. For some reason, I could never get that working properly in any case with NVidia.

Tx Again!!

 

Actually even with RAM, Windows still has to manage the overhead. It has to decide what can be paged out to the pagefile. But you are absolutely correct in pointing out that folks need to understand that Readyboost is not the same thing as adding RAM. Readyboost does not directly interact with the pagefile system either. It is used as a disk cache. I am not certain if the pagefile I/O will go through that disk cache or not. I have yet to see any definitive info on that.

It might be the easiest description, but it is wrong. It is most assuredly NOT correct in theory because ReadyBoost has nothing to do with RAM at all. This does a disservice to users by further confusing the issue. To really help "the laymen" you should give them an accurate description otherwise they get the wrong impression of what Readyboost REALLY is. Readyboost is a disk cache. It improves the APPARENT performance of the disk drive. From wikipedia:

Gary

 

Fixed....changed RAM to memory and pretty much mimicked the MS explanation.

I guess I can see the point on how it may be misconstrued, to an extent.

And Thanks!!

 

Is turning off unneccessary services mentioned?

services.msc, disable offline files and stuffs etc.

 

Tweak 6 and or 8, depending on which you mean exactly.