Ten tricks to improve your Windows Vista – Part two

5. Add a 2GB (or even bigger) Flash USB

To take advantage of the Windows Ready Boost (which offers an additional Memory Cache). Ready Boost is the Microsoft option which allows you to use an USB Flash as RAM. Ready Boost, obviously will improve the performance of your system.

To turn it on do this:

* Insert an USB Flash

* Press the Start button then Computer

* Right click on the USB Drive from My Computer

* Select Ready Boost

6. Turning off Windows Hibernation

The services running in the background of Windows hibernation can use a lot of your system. If you don’t want to use the Hibernate option too often than you can deactivate it, increasing the system performance.

To turn off the Hibernate option do this:

* Select Control Panel then Power Options

* Click on the Change Plan Settings

* Click on the Change Advanced Power Settings

* Enlarge the Sleep category

* Enlarge the Hibernate After category

* Select zero

* Click on Apply

7. Turning off the System Restore option

Although it’s very useful, the System Restore it’s eating a lot of your resources. You can turn it off, but in case the system will break down at one point this will option will not be available.

To turn off this service do this:

* Control Panel>System

* Click on the System Protection in the left panel

* Uncheck the main drive

* Confirm the deactivation

8. Deactivate User Access Control (UAC)

This Windows Vista option is strongly despised by the majority of users. In its attempts to protect you from Malware, UAC is asking you to confirm a lot of mediocre options. You can deactivate this option, and not only that your system will run faster but you’ll also get rid of the discomfort that it’s bringing.

To deactivate User Access Control do this:

* Click on the Start button, then on Control Panel

* Select User Accounts

* Select Turn User Account Control on or off

* Uncheck the User Access Control box

* If it’s necessary, restart the system

9. Deactivate the unnecessary Startup Windows services

As was the case with XP, Vista comes with a lot of services that load every time the system starts, although the majority of the users don’t even use them.

To see what loads at start up and uncheck the useless services (they can be turned back on later) do this:

* Click the Start button then Control Panel

* Select Administrative Tools

* Choose System Configuration

* Click on Services

* You can safely uncheck:

o Offline Files (only if you don’t use Offline File Sync)

o Tablet PC Input Service (only if, obviously, you have a tablet PC)

o Terminal Services

o Windows Search (only if you already unchecked the indexing)

o Fax (only if you don’t use a modern fax)

10. Deactivate the overfilling Windows options

Windows Vista comes with a lot of other options which are listed somehwere else than the ones from above.

You can deactivate them like this:

* Click on the Start button then Control Panel

* Select Program Features

* From the left column, select Turn Windows Features on or off

* You can safely uncheck:

o The indexing service

o Remote Differential Compression

o Tablet PC Optional Components

o Windows DFS Replication Service

o Windows Fax & Scan (only if you don’t use a modern fax)

o Windows Meeting Space (only if you don’t use Live Meeting Service)