Windows Vista Tweaks/Performance FAQ Thread *LONG*

[BehindEnemyLines]

Originally posted by: mechBgon
Why not get the 1GB Corsair TurboFlash and just leave it in a rear USB port? Then you can use your card reader for your camera's cards without giving up ReadyBoost

Unfortunately my laptop has only two USB on the left side that are stacked VERY very close on top of each other. One port always has my mini-usb mouse (never liked the touchpads) and the other has an OCZ flash drive for documents (by far the fastest flash drive I have used and it heats up like a heatsink when plugged in) . SD works fine since I rarely use it for SD-related file loading.

I just tested it with my Sandisk Ultra II 2GB from my camera. The boot-up seems faster by about 10sec, more or less. Haven't used it long enough so I can't really tell if it improves responsiveness.

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: BehindEnemyLines
Can someone recommend a 1GB or 2GB SD memory card that's fast and compatible with ReadyBoost? I just checked newegg.com, but not sure which to choose. I want to use it on my 700m laptop.

Side note: Is it possible to enable Vista Standard Theme for non-Aero capable video cards? I remember reading somewhere that the Standard theme doesn't use hardware-rendering but software instead althought it still uses the DWM.exe service. I hoping for a patch whether unofficial or not to enable Standard theme without DX9 and WDDM drivers. The Basic theme is pretty fugly for me.

You mean to use aero glass without dx9? Not possible. Its either glass or basic, and you need dx9 for glass.

 

[BehindEnemyLines]

No, I meant using Vista Standard Theme without DX9 video card since I rememember reading somwhere the Standard theme uses software-based rendering. But Standard theme still requires WDDM drivers, and my laptop chipset is too old for WDDM drivers.

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: BehindEnemyLines
No, I meant using Vista Standard Theme without DX9 video card since I rememember reading somwhere the Standard theme uses software-based rendering. But Standard theme still requires WDDM drivers, and my laptop chipset is too old for WDDM drivers.

Vista standard still requires WDDM and DX9...no way around it. AFAIK, If you can run standard, you can run glass.

 

[amddude]

Is there a way to permanently turn off DEP? The old way was in the boot.ini setting DEP to ALWAYSOFF

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: amddude
Is there a way to permanently turn off DEP? The old way was in the boot.ini setting DEP to ALWAYSOFF

None that I know of...but why would you want to?

 

[BehindEnemyLines]

Is there anyway for users who do not have DX9 video card (i.e. laptops), to REPLACE the current Basic Theme with some other non-aero themes? I wouldn't mind using the silver-gray Basic theme that vista had before RC1 I believe. It makes me wonder if Microsoft will release additional "Basic" themes. I might have to buy WindowsBlind v5.5 when it's released although I am not sure if WB5.5 will allow border transparency. I believe this is possible with the current WB for XP.

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: BehindEnemyLines
Is there anyway for users who do not have DX9 video card (i.e. laptops), to REPLACE the current Basic Theme with some other non-aero themes? I wouldn't mind using the silver-gray Basic theme that vista had before RC1 I believe. It makes me wonder if Microsoft will release additional "Basic" themes. I might have to buy WindowsBlind v5.5 when it's released although I am not sure if WB5.5 will allow border transparency. I believe this is possible with the current WB for XP.

Not that I know of...try the old xp tricks?

 

[BehindEnemyLines]

I just installed uxtheme patch for Vista RTM (there's one for Vista now) and tried to use the XP theme Royale. But it just gives an error that file format is incorrect and wouldn't load further. Looks like WindowsBlind then

 

[kman79]

Originally posted by: BD2003
[*]Task scheduler
The new task scheduler is vastly improved over XP's, and allows you to set up tasks much easier, as well as chain them in sequence. This can enable you to make a nightly maintenance task to take care of things while you sleep, without having to worry about the utility apps all conflicting, trying to run at the same time.

I just set the computer into standby, when 2AM strikes, it wakes up, runs the tasks, then goes back into standby. Due to superfetch, when I wake back up, I don?t have to worry about the system being sluggish in the morning either.

Being that such maintenance is now a set it and forget it option, even though it may seem excessive to do this nightly, there's no good reason *not* to.

• My personal config:
  Trigger:
  2AM every day
  
  Actions:
  "C:\Program Files\SyncToy\SyncToy.exe" ?r (Sync/Backup files)
  "C:\Program Files\CCleaner\ccleaner.exe" /Auto (Runs CCleaner, deletes temp files, general cleanup, great utility)
  "c:\program files\windows defender\MpCmdRun.exe" Scan ?RestrictPrivileges (Defender scan, refuses to chain properly. It only takes about 4-5 minutes or so to complete, so it will run side by side with the vscan, which is normally a bad thing, but you'll be asleep so it won't matter.)
  "c:\program files\eset\nod32.exe" (Virus Scan)
  "C:\Windows\System32\defrag.exe" ?c ?w (Defrag all disks)
  %windir%\system32\rundll32.exe srrstr.dll,ExecuteScheduledSPPCreation (create restore point)
  rundll32 powrprof.dll,SetSuspendState (set back to sleep)

Be sure to specify to wake the computer if you use standby. I?d post the file so you could all import it directly, but you can?t upload anything here.

Be sure to disable the internal automatic system restore, defrag and defender scans if you choose to run this config.
[/list]

Thank you for making this guide, it's very helpful. I currently am running dual boot of xp and vista on two seperate drives.

I do have some questions though. I have never understood using task scheduleer, and I would really like to start using it. For example, if I wanted ccleaner to run at three in the morning how do I do that? I'm only able to get the scheduler to open the app, but it won't initialize or start the process. I hope i'm making sense? I see that you have other phrases written after the .exe files that are listed on your actions, what I'm wondering is how do I figure out what it is I place there for the open app to do what I need it to? I'm assuming I could just copy what you have and save it as xml and import it, but I would really like to learn how to do it myself so I can do my own custom scheduled task. Again thank you for posting this and any help on this is greatly appreciated

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: kman79

Originally posted by: BD2003
[*]Task scheduler
The new task scheduler is vastly improved over XP's, and allows you to set up tasks much easier, as well as chain them in sequence. This can enable you to make a nightly maintenance task to take care of things while you sleep, without having to worry about the utility apps all conflicting, trying to run at the same time.

I just set the computer into standby, when 2AM strikes, it wakes up, runs the tasks, then goes back into standby. Due to superfetch, when I wake back up, I don?t have to worry about the system being sluggish in the morning either.

Being that such maintenance is now a set it and forget it option, even though it may seem excessive to do this nightly, there's no good reason *not* to.

• My personal config:
  Trigger:
  2AM every day
  
  Actions:
  "C:\Program Files\SyncToy\SyncToy.exe" ?r (Sync/Backup files)
  "C:\Program Files\CCleaner\ccleaner.exe" /Auto (Runs CCleaner, deletes temp files, general cleanup, great utility)
  "c:\program files\windows defender\MpCmdRun.exe" Scan ?RestrictPrivileges (Defender scan, refuses to chain properly. It only takes about 4-5 minutes or so to complete, so it will run side by side with the vscan, which is normally a bad thing, but you'll be asleep so it won't matter.)
  "c:\program files\eset\nod32.exe" (Virus Scan)
  "C:\Windows\System32\defrag.exe" ?c ?w (Defrag all disks)
  %windir%\system32\rundll32.exe srrstr.dll,ExecuteScheduledSPPCreation (create restore point)
  rundll32 powrprof.dll,SetSuspendState (set back to sleep)

Be sure to specify to wake the computer if you use standby. I?d post the file so you could all import it directly, but you can?t upload anything here.

Be sure to disable the internal automatic system restore, defrag and defender scans if you choose to run this config.
[/list]

Thank you for making this guide, it's very helpful. I currently am running dual boot of xp and vista on two seperate drives.

I do have some questions though. I have never understood using task scheduleer, and I would really like to start using it. For example, if I wanted ccleaner to run at three in the morning how do I do that? I'm only able to get the scheduler to open the app, but it won't initialize or start the process. I hope i'm making sense? I see that you have other phrases written after the .exe files that are listed on your actions, what I'm wondering is how do I figure out what it is I place there for the open app to do what I need it to? I'm assuming I could just copy what you have and save it as xml and import it, but I would really like to learn how to do it myself so I can do my own custom scheduled task. Again thank you for posting this and any help on this is greatly appreciated

When you create the task, and set up the individual actions, there is a box for add arguments. For crap cleaner, use /Auto as the argument, like it says in the thread. Defrag uses -c -w, etc.

 

[kman79]

Thanks for the reply. I was testing this out and when I set scheduled task for c:\program files\eset\nod32.exe , the program just opened and did not do a full system scan. Are there arguments that need to be entered after the .exe?

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: kman79
Thanks for the reply. I was testing this out and when I set scheduled task for c:\program files\eset\nod32.exe , the program just opened and did not do a full system scan. Are there arguments that need to be entered after the .exe?

There are, but they would be particular to your system....read the nod32 help file for the command line arguments.

 

[ericboo]

I installed Vista Business yesterday and for some reason I lost the taskbar view taskbar thumbnails. It is set to show them in the taskbar properties but no longer works.

In addition, it is no longer grouping similar items either.

Both options are set correctly.

Any clue?

 

[ericboo]

Never mind. It came back on reboot after updating video drivers.

 

[MotF Bane]

I heard something about if you download music, Vista checks for a license every time, if there is no license, you can't play the music. I don't have licenses for anything; so is this true?

 

[ProviaFan]

Originally posted by: MotF Bane
I heard something about if you download music, Vista checks for a license every time, if there is no license, you can't play the music. I don't have licenses for anything; so is this true?

Vista doesn't put restrictions on files that don't have DRM (e.g. MP3s). I refuse to purchase DRM-laden music, so I can't say how Vista affects that sort of content (though I hear that it when it works, it works just like XP).

 

[ericboo]

All my non-DRM mp3's play fine.

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: MotF Bane
I heard something about if you download music, Vista checks for a license every time, if there is no license, you can't play the music. I don't have licenses for anything; so is this true?

Completely false - non DRM music, movies, etc play just fine.

 

[XBoxLPU]

How does dual booting XP work when you have a notebook pre-loaded with Vista already.

Will I have to format everything, start with XP and than Vista

Or

?

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: XBoxLPU
How does dual booting XP work when you have a notebook pre-loaded with Vista already.

Will I have to format everything, start with XP and than Vista

Or

?

That I don't know for sure, but why would you do that, especially on a notebook?

 

[XBoxLPU]

Rather stick with XP for the most part

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: XBoxLPU
Rather stick with XP for the most part

Why? Unless there's a specific program that doesnt run on Vista, I don't see the point. You're better off just waiting until they work out the kinks.

I can tell you that installing the beta alongside an older install of XP worked just fine...I don'w know what would happen in the reverse.

 

[hardcandy2]

A codec pack for Vista, and also an add-on for Vista 64.

Codec pack

 

[Doom Machine]

i ran alot of benchmarking before, vanilla vista ultimate both tweaked or default had same results, but i have a higher end rig.
even with dreamscene running in background i get exact same fps scores in games, maybe it pauses the video when game is on

the only problem i had is shadow copies doesnt work regardless of how many system restores i create and yes system protection is on.