How to speed up Windows Vista on older systems

Hi,

Although most PC's are capable of running Windows Vista, some of them might only have 512MB or 1GB of RAM available.

Contrary to popular belief, disabling Aero does not make much of a difference. Disabling the Windows Sidebar is probably the best thing you can do for your machine.

To remove the Sidebar, right click on the Sidebar and select ‘Close Sidebar’. In the dialogue box that you get, uncheck “Start Sidebar when Windows starts”, and click OK.

If you have a USB Flashstick of 1GB capacity or more, you might (note might, not all USB Flashstick support this function) be able to use Windows Vista's ReadyBoost feature. You might not notice an immediate effect, but leave it running for about a month and then take out the USB Flashstick, and compare the performance.

To enable this feature, simply plug-in your USB Flashstick, and choose Speed Up My System from the menu that appears.

For machines with more RAM, Microsoft invented the Superfetch service. This basically serves as a Cache for your applications. It keeps your applications in memory, so when you launch an application, it opens quicker. This is a very nifty feature indeed, if you have the resources.

For lower-end machines, it is quite safe and even advisable to disable this service.

This can be done safely in the following manner:

1) Navigate to your Control Panel

2) Open the Administrative Tools panel (might need to switch to Classic View)

3) Open the Services panel

4) Find the Superfetch service

5) Double click the Superfetch service.

6) Click on the STOP service button

7) In the drop-down list where it says AUTOMATIC, select DISABLED.

8) Apply and restart.

Note : The Service List can also be reached by RUN>services.msc

Another service that might speed up your boot time and reduce disk activity is the Indexing Service. This service can also safely be disabled for lower-end systems.

Hope this helps!

Ciao