How to speed up Windows Vista

Windows Vista can be demanding on the resources and take a toll on your limited hardware resources. Low end hardware configuration makes Vista sluggish, whereas on the same hardware Windows XP runs just fine. There are a few handy tips that you can try out to make Vista work faster on your limited resources. Although the best way to make it run faster is upgrading the hardware, but that isn’t an option for everybody.

Tip 1 : Disable Windows Sidebar

Windows Sidebar is a resource hog. Although it might seem pretty sitting on your desktop but it uses up huge amounts of RAM and hence slowing down your computer significantly. If you have less than 512MB of RAM then you should disable the sidebar.

Tip 2 : Get latest drivers

Drivers make a significant improvement in performance and over the time new versions keep getting released. Vista had driver compatibility issues when it was released but manufacturers have over the time made almost all their drivers Vista compatible. So you can get the latest drivers from either the manufacturer’s site or hit Windows Update and let it find the latest ones.

Tip 3 : Run fewer background services/processes

Background processes can hog up a lot of precious resources without you even getting to know it. This is one of the main reasons why Windows Vista has high RAM usage from startup itself. You need to disable any processes/services that you do not intend to use. There are a couple of places where you can accomplish the task.

First is to open up Control Panel and click Uninstall a program. In the task pane click on Turn Windows Features On/Off. It will now display a list of various Windows features that are either enabled or disabled. You can disable any features that you do not wish to use.

Second way is to open up msconfig. To open it type “msconfig” without the quotes in the start menu and press Enter. In the dialog box, click on Startup tab to show the list of program and services that start automatically when Windows starts. Uncheck any unnecessary programs/services that are starting up and press OK.

Tip 4 : Use ReadyBost to increase RAM

ReadyBoost is a feature which can be used to increase the RAM of your computer by using a compatible USB flash drive. Windows Vista uses the flash drive as virtual RAM as long as the flash drive is plugged into the PC. So if you have a ReadyBoost compatible USB flash drive, then plug it in and in autorun window select use as ReadyBoost to enable the feature.

Tip 5 : Tweak your system for better performance

There are a few tweaks that you can implement to make overall system performance faster. Aero can be disabled to free up some RAM and also put less pressure on your graphics card. Visual effects can also be turned off to fasten the system performance.

Tip 6 : Defragment the hard drive

To keep Vista running smoothly over a long period of time, it is important to regularly defragment the hard drive. You can either use the in-built defragmenter or install third-party software to defragment the hard drive. Defragmentation improves hard disk performance by arranging files in a proper manner for easy access.