restart.

1. Windows Vista is a memory hog

THE PROBLEM:

Unlike your older XP system you bought years ago (or build), these newer Vista-based machines have a lot more memory-intensive applications that comes pre-installed when you buy a new machine. Now a days people want to do more with their machine. Make movies, burn songs, burn movies, edit photographs, play newer games (Like Crysis, Call of Duty 4, Halo 2). When you take into account all the newer features that Vista has, along with the new user interface, all these added background services that Vista has makes it no surprise Vista hogs more memory. It’s quite simple. You gain memory by closing applications/ending background services. You lose memory by opening applications/starting background services.

THE FIX

-Close non-important programs when you choose to run memory-intensive applications (like Crysis or Call of Duty 4).

-Run MSCONFIG to end unnecessary services. All uncheck any startup items you absolutely don’t need.

Here’s a list of services you can safely disable:

Application Layer Gateway
Application Management
Certificate Propagation
Computer Browser (disable if you don’t plan to share files through a network with another computer)
Diagnostic Policy
Diagnostic Service Host
Diagnostic System Host
Distributed Link Tracking Client
Distributed Transaction Coordinator
Fax (if you don’t have one)
Internet Connection Sharing (its called a router - why use this?)
IP Helper
KtmRM for Distributed Transaction Coordinator
Link-Layer Topology Discover Mapper (again if you don’t play to share files through a network)
Net. Tcp Port Sharing
Netlogon (uncheck this service if your computer is not on a domain)
Offline Files
Parental Controls (uncheck this service if you don’t have kids to worry about messing up your stuff)
Performance Logs & Alerts
PNRP Machine Name Publication
Policy Agent
Portable Device Enumerator
Print Spooler (if you don’t have a printer installed)
Problem Reports and Solutions Control Panel Support
Program Compatibility Assistant (disable this service if you don’t play to run programs in compatibility mode)
Remote Registry
Routing and Remote Access
Security Center (disable this if you want - but i recommend leaving it checked. If you disable this service, the red X icon will continually appear on your desktop, even though you selected the “Don’t notify me and don’t display the icon” option within the Security Center application.)
Server (disable this if you don’t plan to share files on a network)
Smart Card
Smart Card Removal Policy
Tablet PC Input (Don’t have a Tablet PC? Disable this service)
WebClient
Windows Error Reporting
Window Event Collector
Windows Management Instrumentation (stop this service only if you stopped the security center service as well… if not leave both checked)
WinHTTP Web Proxy Auto-Discovery
WLAN AutoConfig (disable if you don’t use a wireless router)
Workstation (Again if you don’t share files disable this service)

Disabling these services should make your Vista computer a bit more responsive. Performance-wise your best bet to increase memory performance is to either

A) Buy more physical memory

(The obvious choice)

or

B) Use ReadyBoost

Readyboost is a disk-caching application that uses flash drives as “external RAM” sort-to-speak. It isn’t a miracle healer, but it does help aid in the effectiveness of running multiple applications. For example if you want to run a new program you haven’t started yet, (like windows movie maker), Windows ReadyBoost provides additional space (memory) for Windows to open the application. Think of it like this…. If I had to move all the stuff out of a mansion and put it in a two-story house, how hard would it be to find a specific item? Now try moving everything out of a two-story house and putting it in a mansion. How long would it take till I found a specific item? I will probably find the item quicker in the mansion, although it might take me a second. Still, there is a performance gain out of it. So think of physical memory as a little house with little stuff in it. You can find items the quickest this way. Think of ReadyBoost as a lot of stuff, but BIG space…so you will be able to find what you want, but not as quickly as the little house (physical memory). This is why ReadyBoost is a help, but not a miracle healer.

2. My older game keeps crashing while running under Windows Vista

There is temporary fix for this.

Microsoft Hotfix 940105 can solve this.

The long-term solution is to purchase a 64-bit processor and download the 940105 hotfix as well. The reason is 32-bit processors have a virtual memory space limit of 2GB while 64-bit processors have a virtual memory space limit of 8 terabytes! (or 8,000 gigs). Games are far less proned to crash in this state!

3. My printer/scanner/fax/copier doesn’t support Windows Vista.

Have you tried to look on your manufactures website for the Vista driver? Or maybe you should stop being so cheap and buy a new one! Most modern hardware devices (printers, scanner, etc) now have support for Vista (with the appropriate drivers now available). Unless you fall into the “cheapskate” category because you can’t afford to buy a friggin $50 printer that supports Vista, then don’t worry about this!

4. When a program stops responding, its not as easy to end it as quickly like in XP.

This is one thing about Vista that I personally don’t like. I haven’t found a fix for it yet, and i don’t think there is one yet. Let’s say for example Limewire has stopped responding. You go to task manager by pressing CTRL+SHIFT+ESC. You click the processes tab, select Limewire.exe and “end process”. Nothing happens. Pretty soon, Windows Explorer stops responding! This kind of event doesn’t happen to me all the time because I have a quad core with 3 GB of RAM (1TB hard drive)…but it still happens. And I can imagine it happens a lot more frequently to people with lesser RAM.

5. Dreamscene crashes constantly (Vista Ultimate users only)

One of the top reasons to upgrade to Windows Vista Ultimate, and one of the best “ultimate extras” by concept. For those that have Windows Vista Ultimate you might notice that when you start Windows Dreamscene the memory usage in the “Explorer.exe” process jumps from 20k to 120k. OK, no problem. But I have noticed that after running a DirectX application (like BF2, or Crysis) I am greeted to a static black green with a lovely message that says “Dreamscene has encountered an error… blah blah blah”. Also another annoyance with the windows dreamscene feature is that you might find switching your computer to hibernate or sleep mode isn’t as giddy as you may think. Another design flaw on Microsoft’s part. If you’re plan was to buy Windows Vista Ultimate just for the purpose of Dreamscene, be prepared for a rude awakening. I have noticed that dreamscene only wants to run smoothly with WMV files (these being the least known to crash). But the whole point of Dreamscene is to download the dreamscape package from WinCustomize.com and download the .dream files for best use. So far I have not found any hotfixes available for Windows Dreamscene.
For now I just use the Northern Lights wallpaper in Windows Vista. It provides a tranquil, yet simplistic image that not only looks halfway decent, but is easy on the eyes.

Windows Vista has some nice features to offer, but there are some things you should understand before you consider upgrading to Vista.

New User Interface:

Not too shabby. The aero glass look passes my test atleast. I also like the green progress bar (when you copy/download files) with the added “transfer rate” that is not available in Windows XP as it is in Vista. Please be aware that the aero glass feature is not available in the Windows Starter or Home Basic editions of Windows Vista. Windows Starter…HA! More like Windows XP Home Edition with a search box at the start menu!

Media Center:

Again it is not available for Starter or Home Basic editions. In all seriousness, the only true advantage of Media Center is the Live TV feature. If you don’t have a tv tuner, then media center is useless. Since Windows already has a “pictures” and “videos” folder within your user name, its absolutely pointless to run media center without a tv tuner. You can if you want, but i see no point.

ReadyBoost:

A short-term economical solution to computer performance, until the market for a 2GB memory stick goes down. You figure I spent $159.95 for a 2GB stick of ram in 2005 (PC2-5300 at the time) and it only costs $59.95 at Newegg.com for the same exact brand now. A 2GB flash stick will run you between $10-20 depending on the name brand. Flash drives have limited transfer rates so choose the cheapest, most dependable brand you can trust. Trust me the old adage “You get what you pay for” still runs true.

Windows Flip 3D (available for home premium computers or better)

Nice at first glance, but useless after that. It’s called a “taskbar” and we’ve been using it since Windows 95. Whenever we’ve needed to locate a program, it’s just as simple as looking at the bottom of your screen, finding it, and CLICK. A lot more user-friendlier then flipping through the desktop in a 3D pane.

Complete PC Backup (Available for Windows Vista Ultimate, Business, or Enterprise users)

The best feature in Windows Vista Ultimate, in my opinion. This useful program takes an image of your entire computer and places it on a backup device of your choice (hard drive, DVD, etc). All you really have to do is partition your hard drive and use that as your recovery to back up your entire computer. For example if you have important documents, a whole bunch of games downloaded, a ton of music, and other stuff, but don’t want to lose that as you would from a factory restore, then backup your pc using complete pc backup and your computer will be restored to the date you backed it up. For example if you installed Limewire and Mozilla Firefox on your PC and then back it up, everything after that is not remembered or will be erased when you restore it from your backup point. But don’t worry…if you want newer stuff to be included just re-back everything up! Sucks this feature isn’t available for Home Premium users. Microsoft wanting more $$$.

New Start Bar:

The added search feature is useful feature that every single Vista user will use. At first the new start menu layout is unfamiliar-looking. You are used to the programs cascading out (to the right) like in XP, but now in Vista when you click the All Programs button you are greeted to everything on the left side. It is an annoyance at first, but the problem subsides after more familiarity with Vista sets in.

All in all, I accept Vista for what it is. A NEW Operating System. And with new stuff your bound to run into NEW problems. New cars get recalls, bad foods get recalled, and Windows Vista has hotfixes. They are all equivalently the same in their respective aspects. Give Vista a chance before you criticize it after a few weeks of use (CHRIS!). Remember in the yesteryears when we installed service pack 1 on our XP machines we suddenly got victimized by the dreaded “pop ups!” It wasn’t until service pack 2 was released two years later (UGH) that this problem was addressed. Still, America was ignorant to the next coming plaques called spyware and adaware. Sure, a halfway decent Virus protection software addressed these concerns, but you ask me it was all a marketing gimmick I tell you. YOU WON’T TAKE ME ALIVE!!!!!

You can defeat all this **** by wiping Vista and going back to XP or 2003 or even 2000, or Ubuntu, anything but Vista. It’s totally evil.

thanks

yes, the No GUI boot in msconfig is the same thing as this, and doesn’t speed up my machine any. just kinda looks messy.

Have fun!

Greetz,

G.

Dan, It’s “bcdedit” - and yes it is included. You can also do the same thing using “msconfig” and setting the “No GUI boot” option.

This one looks great on some video cards / displays, but not all. It’s a high-color image and unfortunately some cards (or BIOSes) just don’t play nice and decide to dither it down to 256-colors which doesn’t look so pretty.