Vista Tuning

[Peoplesoft bloke]

Vista takes abouut three and a half minutes to boot and get itself into any sort of useable state - Ubuntu takes about 30 seconds on the same machine.

Normally I don't bother with Vista as it's so slow - installing SP2 didn't seem to help - copying files is still painfully slow (I suspect it's Microsoft's DRM but this may just be my imagination), but I have some stuff I have to use it for.

I admit I know the square root of naff all about Vista so I haven't a clue where to look for improvements - can anyone recommend an idiot's guide/downloadable utility etc?

I am approaching this with an open mind rather than an excercise in moaning and/or slagging one or other OS.

[DaveB]

Originally Posted by Peoplesoft bloke

Vista takes abouut three and a half minutes to boot and get itself into any sort of useable state - Ubuntu takes about 30 seconds on the same machine.

Normally I don't bother with Vista as it's so slow - installing SP2 didn't seem to help - copying files is still painfully slow (I suspect it's Microsoft's DRM but this may just be my imagination), but I have some stuff I have to use it for.

I admit I know the square root of naff all about Vista so I haven't a clue where to look for improvements - can anyone recommend an idiot's guide/downloadable utility etc?

I am approaching this with an open mind rather than an excercise in moaning and/or slagging one or other OS.

Check the spec of the PC you are running it on. Vista is a resource hog, especially for memory. You can also use MSconfig to disable stuff that wants to run at startup even if you dont want it to.

[Spacecadet]

what spec is your machine?
if the processor is under 2ghz and less than 2gb of ram then it could be that vista is too much for it

could also be antivirus or anti spyware which can tend to hammer the hard drive, especially if your running mutliple anti virus/spyware applications which do the same thing.

What services are starting up when you boot? have you installed anything which would want to scan the hard drive for media files?
There are lists around which advise on which services you can safely switch off.

Have you installed a database application or VM ware which is starting services at boot up? I've set these to a manual start and then I start and stop them using a BAT file as and when I need them.
If you do have any DB software, e.g. SQL Server which you want always on and have large DB's on there then detach any databases which you don't use anymore. Also clear down the log files and set the logging mode to simple

[DimPrawn]

Originally Posted by Peoplesoft bloke

Vista takes abouut three and a half minutes to boot and get itself into any sort of useable state - Ubuntu takes about 30 seconds on the same machine.

Normally I don't bother with Vista as it's so slow - installing SP2 didn't seem to help - copying files is still painfully slow (I suspect it's Microsoft's DRM but this may just be my imagination), but I have some stuff I have to use it for.

I admit I know the square root of naff all about Vista so I haven't a clue where to look for improvements - can anyone recommend an idiot's guide/downloadable utility etc?

I am approaching this with an open mind rather than an excercise in moaning and/or slagging one or other OS.

Vista Business boots up on my Dell laptop in about 30 seconds flat.

Another boso that thinks Linux is great simply because they don't know fook all about Windows.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...yL._SS500_.jpg

[Spacecadet]

Originally Posted by DimPrawn

Another boso that thinks Linux is great simply because they don't know fook all about Windows.

Bozo

[Peoplesoft bloke]

Originally Posted by DaveB

Check the spec of the PC you are running it on. Vista is a resource hog, especially for memory. You can also use MSconfig to disable stuff that wants to run at startup even if you dont want it to.

Thanks - my spec is borderline (so why did Sony put Vista on this Machine - it's not as if it was cheap?) - Machine's a Sony Vaio VGN-TX5MN 1.2 Ghz, 1.5GB Ram (max I can put in). I am also using a 1GB memory stick as ReadyBoost (it seems to have made zero difference to performance.

[Peoplesoft bloke]

Originally Posted by DimPrawn

Vista Business boots up on my Dell laptop in about 30 seconds flat.

Another boso that thinks Linux is great simply because they don't know fook all about Windows.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...yL._SS500_.jpg

Thank you so much for your poorly spelt advocacy of Windows, it speaks volumes, especially about your grasp of operating systems. As I said, yours is precisely the type of unhelpful contribution I don't need. No problem, I have at last found a use for the ignore feature.

[VectraMan]

Originally Posted by Spacecadet

could also be antivirus or anti spyware which can tend to hammer the hard drive, especially if your running mutliple anti virus/spyware applications which do the same thing.

I agree. Since I gave in and put anti-virus software on my XP desktop, plus the back up software, it takes ages to start up. My Vista laptop is much faster.

[Ardesco]

turn off file indexing and system restore and check that your anti virus is scanning files when you put them on your machine, not every time they are accessed.

That should speed things up

[xoggoth]

Not sure to what extent these are relevant to startup but they do cause freezes at other times. Turn off:

windows search
superfetch
readyboost
auomatic defrag
scheduled disc virus check in defender

Forget details but most you can access via the right questions in help or if not are on net. See http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=2262

Get rid of automatic backup if you can - never found advice on this is right
and not been able to.

Get rid of any unecessary processes - there are lots more than windows task manager reports - there's a rather crude thing I wrote in VB6 here to show them and remove if possible but some just pop straight back again. The net will say what's safe to remove.

http://www.bondriver.co.uk/temp/process.exe