Community Newsletter: Q&A: What can I do to improve the speed of my Vista machine?

Speed Up Your Vista Computer

In reply to: What can I do to improve the speed of my Vista machine? by Lee Koo (ADMIN) 

I really sympathize with you and it is not your imagination. Many consumer grade Windows Vista computers actually do perform routine tasks at a slower pace than machines of many years ago. It seems that every time the industry makes advances in hardware speed and performance, the software industry gobbles it up with bloated, inefficient software leading to a net effect of slower overall performance. Software providers keep added features many of us don’t need or want and hardware vendors keep pre-installing more and more junkware that slows everything down. I don’t know when the industry is going to realize that a large majority of users just want to read mail, surf the internet and write the occasional letter and they want to do it fast and without a lot of hassle. Right from the start Windows Vista, with all of its’ fancy graphics, requires a lot more horsepower than XP to just to run. If you add to that all the demo, trial and junk programs that many computer makers preload onto your computer and then top it off with security software that is needed to protect your computer, it is amazing the thing runs at all. Don’t worry, not all is lost and you can definitely tweak your computer to gain some performance. Since we do not know the specifics about your exact computer model as well as your own personal computer needs, I will stick with the more general steps to improve performance.

1. General Maintenance - Even though your computer is only 5 months old, that is plenty of time for a computer to become infested with viruses and Spyware and clogged with temporary files. Make sure your Security software is active and up-to-date. Run full virus and Spyware scans just to make sure your computer is clean. It is a good idea to scan with at least 2 or more Spyware and adware scanners. Also check for dust clogged vents and fans. Run Diskclean or other temporary file cleaning program such as ATF or CCleaner to remove all your temporary junk and history files.

2. Uninstall Junk – The very first thing to do with any computer is to remove or uninstall all the junk and trial software that the manufacturer so kindly decided that you needed installed on your computer. Carefully look through all the programs that are installed and remove any that you do not plan to use. Here a just a few examples of stuff you may not need:

GOOGLE DESKTOP – Don’t confuse Google Desktop with Regular Google. Some computers come with Google Desktop pre-installed or it may have been installed along with some other program. This program, which constantly indexes everything on your computer is wonderful for searching through your computer for stuff, but it can also slow things down. So if you do not have a real need for it, go ahead and uninstall it.

QUICKEN TRIAL – If you don’t plan to use Quicken, you can uninstall this.

MICROSOFT MONEY – Many computers come with trial versions of Microsoft Money.

MUSIC PLAYERS – Decide which music player you want and remove any 2nd or 3rd music player such as Music Match or iTunes.

MICROSOFT WORKS – If you purchased Microsoft Office or some other Office Suite, you probably do not need Works, so you can remove it.

INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDERS – Some computers may come with AOL, Earthlink or NetZero pre-installed so if you don’t have any plans to use any of these services, you should uninstall them.

3. Evaluate Internet Security – Many Security programs such as Norton and McAfee have been known to really hog your computers resources. You might want to consider removing these and installing other less obtrusive software such as Nod32, AVG, PC-Cillin or Avast. Depending on your computer needs, you may not actually need all of the features of some full security package such as Antivirus, Antispyware, Firewall, Phishing Filters, Spam Filters, Popup Blockers, Parental Controls, Password Vaults, Backup, and Tuneup Routines. You may only need Antivirus and Antispyware protection. Many of these programs are known to start misbehaving, so it is sometimes a good exercise just to uninstall and re-install your security software just to make sure it is working correctly. Note: Make sure you keep the original CD and/or installation files and codes so that you will be able to reinstall your security software if needed.

4. Vista Gadgets – The Gadget Bar on the right side of your screen that comes with Windows Vista can be an entertaining extra but is another possible source of slow down. Every Gadget you have installed is just another thing running in the background. Remove any unnecessary gadgets or just shut down the whole bar.

5. Vista Tweaks – If you are still finding that Windows Vista is just not performing the way that you want, you can really dive in and tweak your system by removing services and some of the flashy extras and features that you may not want or care about. Extreme Tech has some great information if you really want to get down to the nitty gritty of tweaking http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2110606,00.asp .

If none of this helps and you are really desperate, you might consider removing Vista and installing Windows XP (if drivers are available for your model) or even switching to Linux. Of course, there is always the MAC option.

Dana
Wayland Computer