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Speed up Vista - Tweak 3: Configure your Paging file

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 15:52:15 -0600

You can squeeze a bit of improved performance out of Windows Vista by taking control of the paging file This is especially true if you have some extra space sitting on an external SATA hard drive

Here’s what to do:

Open Vista’s Virtual Memory settings by giving your Start Menu’s ‘Computer’ icon a right click and choosing Properties. (You’re acessing teh System Properties dialog box, which can also be accessed through the Control Panel.

From there, choose the Advanced tab, then click Settings under the Performance section.

Now, click the Advanced tab and then the Change button.

You can then simply move the paging file to the fast, external SATA hard drive by choosing it from your list of hard drives and then clicking the System Managed Size button.

For possibly greater performance, set a manual paging file by clicking the Custom button and then configure an initial and maximum page file size.

Recommendation: make the initial size and max size the same value, say 2GB (2000 MB). This ensures that the paging file is static, and therefore doesn’t become paginated, thus leading to even greater speed.

It can depend, however, on the hard drive used. The general rule is: choose the fast hard drive first, the fixed file size second. You’ll then click OK a few times and then be prompted to reboot so that Vista can apply your changes (Vista configures its pagefile at boot time.)

Not an earth-shattering boost in performance, but you should see Vista moving a little faster than before.

Speed up Vista - Tweak 2: Use ReadyBoost

Tue, 3 Feb 2009 10:21:46 -0600

Vista includes a new option to use external USB flash drive storage space as addressable memory. The feature is called ReadyBoost, and it works essentially by plugging in a ReadyBoost-capable flash drive and then clicking the ‘Speed up my system’ option from the AutoPlay choices as seen above.

If you don’t see the AutoPlay, access the drive’s Properties dialog box and click the ReadyBoost tab. From here, just choose ‘Use this device’ as seen next and then configure the amount of free space to use.

And notice that you don’t have to use the entire drive to take advantage of ReadyBoost.

Requirements: Vista, a USB drive with 256 mb of free space, and an open USB 2.0 port. If you don’t see a ReadyBoost tab from the Properties of the USB flash drive, it doesn’t meet the speed requirements for ReadyBoost.

50 ways to speed up your Vista computer

Thu, 15 Jan 2009 11:15:49 -0600

Tip One: Tweak the Index Service

Opinions abound about the Vista Indexing Service and whether or not it slows down system performance. Unfortunately, much of the discussion I’ve seen is anecdotal in nature, with some users reporting that Vista is speedier than XP, and others reporting that it is dog slow.

Personally, I like the Indexing Service. It helps me quickly locate content on a Vista machine without a folder hierarchy doing the job for me.

But the Indexing Service is not something you add, as was the case with Windows XP and the Windows Desktop Search. Rather, it’s built into the Vista OS, and runs by default. For those who want to try out life without the Vista’s Indexing Service, here’s how to disable:

Method One:
1. Open the Control Panel and then choose ‘Uninstall a Program’ from the Programs grouping
Now, select ‘Turn Windows features on or off.’
2. From this dialog box, you can disable the Indexing Service

Method Two:
1. Disable the Windows Search service using the Services MMC snap-in. If you type ‘services’ into the Vista Start Menu, it should come up.
2. Locate the Windows Search service, then choose ‘Disabled’ as the startup type. You should also Stop the service for it to take immediate effect.

Method Three:
1. If you’d like more selecting control over the Indexing Options, open the Control Panel and locate the Indexing Options application (or you can type ‘index’ from the Start Menu – the Indexing Service should help you locate it in the list of Programs. Ironic, huh? From here, you can remove locations you use rarely, or remove all locations altogether.
2. It is also possible to disable indexing for a certain drive or enable it only for selected folders. You can do this by changing the Properties of a drive or folder (right click on drive letter in Windows Explorer).

You can always switch back later if you want.