Windows Vista Forum / Vista Technical / Performance & Tweaks

Vista getting really slow

Xylith — Tue, 13 May 2008 07:23:52 GMT

Hey, i run Vista 64 bit and ive noticed over the past weke or two its started getting even slower then it was with start ups.

Ive also noticed the explorer is crashing more often, ive tried defragging but i literally left my comp all day and it didnt say how far through the defrag it was, if the defrag was indeed even working so i just quit it. Anyone got any suggestions for speeding my beast up? I did try installing some anti spyware software but vista 64bit didnt like it.

Thanks

Couple of tips for those who use desktop search

kuhne — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 04:38:21 GMT

Hello guys, I don't doubt most of you here know much more about vista and computers than I do, it's just that I've been doing some research around the net comparing desktop searching software. mainly Google desktop and Windows vista search.

I used to use google desktop on XP but like many, I presume, once I switched to vista, found myself not needing google desktop anymore as vista comes with a pretty competent search. along with a sidebar for gadgets, just like google desktop. However, there's one feature google desktop, MAC OS's and I imagine more programs like these have, that vista doesn't and that is the "hide gadgets" shortcut. see in MAC or in Google desktop. if you have your gadgets all over your screen and you want them to dissapear, you just click a button and they dissapear. in Vista this feature is not included... the only way your gadgets dissapear is if you have them on the sidebar and you have to right click with your mouse and point to "close sidebar" and only those gadgets in the sidebar will dissapear, the ones undocked on the screen will keep there and it is kind of annoying. so as far as the gadgets go, Vista still has a long ways to go to compete with google desktop. Still, I use the sidebar in vista instead of google's... because the XM Radio gadget is way, way, WAY better... and it's part of the OS already so I dont need any extra stuff slowing me down.

Anyways, on to the tips. I am sure all of you knows this already but just in the OFF chance someone here might not know this, I hope I can be of any help.

Just two things I've come to see while doing research on those two programs, there's two things people complain about the most when it comes to vista desktop search.

They say Google desktop is better because the search bar comes up with a shortcut key from the keyboard, making it faster than vista (who put it's searchbar on the start menu, which weirded many people out, I guess they feel they have to point and click and then type, where in google they just hit CTRL twice then start typing)

The other thing they complain about is that google desktop searches for your gmail as well (obviously) while vista's search doesnt...

I just wanted to tell anyone here who might have any of these issues that there's an easy workaround for any of these two. first of all, Windows desktop search is superior to google in every way possible. its integrated into the system and you CAN just click a shortcut and start typing. that shortcut is no other than the good old windows key nobody ever uses in their keyboard. once you click that key the start menu comes up and you can start typing instantly. if its a file in your computer it will display it in your start menu and then you can just highlight it with the arrow keys.. if what you are typing is a web adress then it will open explorer and go to the website. If what you are typing is a web search. you just type it and press enter on "search the internet" and will search on whatever search engine you have as default in your browser.

I find it funny many people seem to complain where the searchbox is. the fact that it is right in the start menu makes it even easier to access than google desktop search. if you havent tried this, try it and you will love it.

on to the second tip.

If you guys use gmail, there IS a way to search for gmail with windows desktop search. remember google has IMAP, so you can enter your google account into outlook express. Once you do this, outlook will show every folder and email you have in your gmail account just as if you were accessing trough the web. Windows search naturaly searchs for outlook email, therefore, all your gmail will show up. the only difference is that when you try to open it, instead of being in a webpage it will be in outlook.

So, sorry to be MR Obvious here but if there's at least one guy out there I could help with this and makes him uninstall extra software that's been cloging up his computer and slowing it down. I guess I did some good :)

Speed Up Network File Copying While Playing Audio in Windows Vista SP1

Jason — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 23:37:14 GMT

Windows Vista restricts network traffic to 10 packets per millisecond while playing multimedia to prevent skipping. Unfortunately this causes network speed to be pitiful on a gigabit network, especially during file copies over the network.

Service Pack 1 includes a new registry tweak that can be used to change the throttling percentage so you can at least partially fix this problem, but you should be careful to test it out, because you don't want your audio to skip either.

Note: This setting is only really useful if you are on a gigabit network - the default values should be fine for a Wireless network.

Manual Registry Hack

Open regedit.exe through the start menu search or run box, and then browse down to the following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Multimedia\SystemProfile

You will see a value on the right-hand side named NetworkThrottlingIndex, which can be changed to anything from 1 to 70 (decimal). I would recommend testing out different values to see what works for you. Note that you'll need to reboot after making this change.

The Anandtech website has more information and test notes for this hack…

HowToGeek.com

TweakUAC - Free application to control UAC prompts

Jason — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 10:47:19 GMT

TweakUAC(TM) is a free software tool that you can use to quickly turn UAC (User Account Control of Windows Vista) on or off, or to make UAC operate in the quiet mode:

[img]http://www.tweak-uac.com/TweakUAC-main-screen.png[/img]

[b] Turn UAC off[/b]

This option turns UAC off completely. If this is what you want, select this option, press OK, restart the computer, and you won’t see the elevation prompts anymore. Windows Vista will operate pretty much like Windows XP does when you login to its administrator’s account.

[b] Switch UAC to the quiet mode[/b]

This option does not turn off UAC; instead, it only makes UAC to operate in the quiet mode. In the quiet mode, UAC does not display the elevation prompts for the administrators. That is, when you attempt to do an administrative task, you will be allowed to proceed automatically, without prompting you to confirm the operation. All other features of UAC would still be enabled: the programs will run with the standard user permissions by default, and the standard users will still see the elevation prompts (the quiet mode applies to the administrator accounts only).

[b] Leave UAC on[/b]

If you have previously turned UAC off or switched it to operate in the quiet mode, you can use this option to restore the original behavior of UAC.

Download here: [url=http://www.tweak-uac.com/TweakUAC.exe]http://www.tweak-uac.com/TweakUAC.exe[/url]

Instant Search on SP1

Alejandrosv — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 17:17:46 GMT

Hello, i heard the rumor that instant search is gone from the menu bar in the new service pack 1. (well more than a rumor, i read it at Paul Thurrott's: http://www.winsupersite.com/reviews/winvista_sp1.asp look under "Other Functional Changes"). Can anybody verify this?

And if this is true... can it be re-enabled? without instaling 3rd party software that is.

Thanks.

high ping in games

fasteddie70 — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 09:52:06 GMT

i am using vista ultimate 64 bit. i play america's army quite alot. my fps are very high but my ping is high. i have a friend that uses the same isp and lives very close. they average in the 20s where i am averaging around 150 to 200. they have a 3 gig celeron with 1 gig of ram. i have so much more of a computer and still have a high ping. they are using xp and have told me that is the reason. if it is, is there any kind of tweaking i can do? i was running it though a router and went direct and saw a slight gain for a short time then it went up again.

Stop User Account Control (UAC) screen flicker / flash

Jason — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 18:43:06 GMT

Stop User Account Control (UAC) screen flicker / flash

http://www.tweakvista.com/Article39105.aspx

Every time I get one of those UAC prompts asking me to authorize an administrative action my LCD screen flashes when the box pops up. This is caused by the switch to the secure desktop, similar towhathappens when you hit CTRL + ALT + DELETE. The only difference is that the background is a snapshot of your desktop that gives it the effect that it is just a pop up window.Although if you look carefully you will notice it is static since the clock does not change and anything else that was animated is now static.The secure desktopprovides an extra level of security to UAC by making it immuneto any application that may try to automate the click on the allow buttonbypassingthe purpose of UAC.

This sounds like a great thing but it is really annoying to me. I hate that screen flicker. Rather than disable UAC, there is a better alternative. Instead, I can just disable the secure desktop switch that causes the flicker. I know this is not as secure but it is better than disabling UAC completely.

Follow the steps below to disable UAC secure desktop:

Click on the Start Button and key in secpol.msc and hit Enter.
Navigate through Local Policies and Security Options.
Scroll to the bottom and right click on "User Account Control: Switch to the secure desktop when prompting for elevation" and select Properties.
Set the option to Disabled and hit OK.

[Update] It has been revealed that this does more than just stop the desktop from turning dark; instead, it turns off the Secure Desktop feature. Doing that exposes the PC to security risks as indicated below:

Normally, all processes running on Windows can talk to one another and interact with each other's interface. That's the basis of a lot of security exploits, which convince you to approve one action that in turn interacts with another process at your current level of privilege.

When you use UAC, the dimmed screen indicates that the consent prompt is running in an isolated process. No other software on the machine can interact with it. The only way you can give consent is to physically click the OK box, at which point control of the machine is returned to you.

When you turn off Secure Desktop, you enable scenarios where a program on your PC can in turn programmatically interact with UAC prompts without your knowledge. At that point, you're pwned.

So, be advised that you're exposing your machine to increased likelyhood of "shatter attacks" when you do this.

Adding a Shutdown button onto my desktop

Quiksilver — Fri, 11 May 2007 14:08:39 GMT

Right, im a Lazy git. Clicking the start button is simply too much work for me.

So, I want a button on my desktop to shut down the laptop.

Any ideas? I tried making a .bat file to do it, gets in a loop. Im crappy at this sorta thing :)

Any help appriciated!

Cheers

Kev

And yes, as i said. Im lazy. Im the kinda guy with shortcuts to all of his drives on the desktop because im too lazy to open my computer.

Desktop Short Cut Dial up or high speed connectios

MiltonX — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 02:48:39 GMT

Thanks for letting me goin the forum. New to Vista anybody have any idea how to create a short cut to my dial up connection or high speed connections.

Thanks In advance Milton

Boost Laptop Hard Drive Speed in Vista!

Jason — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 22:30:10 GMT

By default, Windows Vista uses write-behind caching for internal hard disks. However, if you use a notebook computer or a desktop system connected to a battery backup, consider "kicking it up a notch" by enabling Advanced Performance:

Open Device Manager.
Expand the Disk Drives category.
Select your internal disk drive.
Click the Policies tab (Figure 7).

Figure 7 Enabling Advanced Performance improves internal hard disk performance.
Click the Enable Advanced Performance checkbox.
Click OK.
Repeat Steps 3-6 for additional internal hard disk drives.

Vista tweaks from the How-to-Geek

WAW8 — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 18:38:27 GMT

Here's a link to a compilation of 16 Vista tweaks, courtesy of the How-to-Geek:

[b][url] http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/16-tweaks-for-vista-look-feel/ [/url][/b]

If you want the full set of tips-and-tweaks, use the following link:

[b][url] http://www.howtogeek.com/tag/windows-vista/#tips [/url][/b]

Vista tips and tweaks site link

WAW8 — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 18:22:07 GMT

[Courtesy pf Peter K]

I had some Vista problems too, but most of them I solved.
During my search for solutions and also other Vista help I found this website:

[b][url] http://www.windows-vista-tips-and-tricks.com[/url][/b]

On this site I found a lot of useful information about Vista.

Here you can find for example information about:
- Vista problems and solutions.
- how to rip a dvd in Vista
- how to make xp look like Vista
- how to speed up Vista

and more tips and tricks

How to Delete a System File in Windows Vista - Access Denied when in System32

Jason — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 14:30:07 GMT

If you need to delete or overwrite a system file in Windows Vista, you'll quickly notice that you cannot delete system files, even as administrator. This is because Windows Vista's system files are owned by the TrustedInstaller service by default, and Windows File Protection will keep them from being overwritten.

Thankfully, there's a way that you can get around this. You need to take ownership of the files, and then assign yourself rights to delete or modify the file. For this, we'll use the command line.

Open an administrator command prompt by typing cmd into the start menu search box, and hit the Ctrl+Shift+Enter key combination.

To take ownership of the file, you'll need to use the takeown command. Here's an example:

takeown /f C:\Windows\System32\en-US\winload.exe.mui

That will give you ownership of the file, but you still have no rights to delete it. Now you can run the cacls command to give yourself full control rights to the file:

cacls C:\Windows\System32\en-US\winload.exe.mui /G geek:F

Note that my username is geek, so you will substitute your username there.

At this point, you should be able to delete the file. If you still can't do so, you may need to reboot into Safe Mode and try it again. For the filename in the example, I was able to overwrite it without safe mode, but your mileage may vary.

howtogeek.com

Improving Hard Disk Performance

Jason — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 22:28:49 GMT

Both internal and external hard disk performance in Windows Vista can be boosted by tweaking settings in Device Manager. By using the Policies tab on both types of hard disks, you can enable or improve write-behind caching.

Write-behind caching returns control of the system to you while the hard disk is still writing data, enabling you to perform other tasks without waiting for the last data-write process to complete. By default, Windows disables write-behind caching on external hard disks connected to hot-swap ports such as USB or FireWire. The reason? You can disconnect the hard disk from these ports at any time, and Mama Microsoft doesn’t want you to lose any data. However, if you’re already accustomed to using the Safely Remove Hardware control in the taskbar to disconnect your USB or FireWire hard disk, you should enable write-behind caching.

To enable write-behind caching on an external hot-swap hard disk:

Open Device Manager (it’s available from the Tasks pane of the System properties sheet).
Expand the Disk Drives category.
Select your external disk drive (a USB drive will have "USB" as part of the device name).
Click the Policies tab (Figure 5).

Figure 5 Select Optimize for Performance to improve the performance of an external USB or FireWire (IEEE-1394) hard disk.
Click Optimize for Performance (Figure 5).
Click OK.
You must restart your computer after selecting this option before it becomes active. Click Yes to restart your computer now, or No if you will restart your computer later.

Super Pi 1.5 MOD XS 32M Test Fails in Vista !!! [Solution Inside]

QuadFusion — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 00:31:39 GMT

[b]Problem:[/b]
Overclock stable in Prime95 v25.5 for 12+ hours, but fails Super Pi v1.5 32M Test (even at stock settings) in Windows Vista !!!

[b]Solution:[/b]

The windows vista services that affect Super Pi are,

1) Windows Audio Service (this for sure)
2) Themes
3) Aeroglass Interface

By turning these off, I was able to run and complete Super Pi v1.5 32M test.

1) To [b]turn off Windows Audio Service[/b] ( start> run> services.msc, find Windows Audio on the list , double click and stop it ) Turning off "Windows Audio Endpoint Builder" is not necessary unless you encounter problem.

2) To [b]turn off Themes[/b] ( start> run> services.msc, find Themes on the list , double click and stop it ) this will also make you turn off tune up theme extension.

3) [b]Aeroglass automatically turns off [/b]by turning of themes. (you can check it by right clicking on desktop>Personalize>Window Color and Appearance>Color Scheme )

[b]Another way to disable/enable Audio service:[/b]

Create two .bat files on the desktop

SoundOff.bat:
net stop "AudioSrv"

and

SoundOn.bat:
net start "AudioSrv"

I found that it is [b]not necessary to run the program as an administrator or Windows XP SP2 Compatibility mode[/b].

I also found a [b]Super PI front-end[/b] called [b]Hyper PI[/b]
The author claims it is pure Super PI 1.5 MOD XS and it is customized for multi-core CPU's: " Run multiple instances of SPI (one for each processor) and configure the priority of the process easily (without Task Manager). Take a snapshot of all instances at anytime with only one click!"

Download Location http://home.pages.at/virgilioborges/
I personally wasn't able to download it becasue of some server problem.

Here's a Screenshot for the program
Hyper Pi 0.9b http://home.pages.at/virgilioborges/imgs/hyper_pi.png]

[b]Note:
"If you can't get the Hyper Pi program, and want to run multiple instances of Super Pi for your Dual or Quad Core, then run the exe from different folders. For example, if you want four instances of Super Pi to load Quad Core, then make four separate folders, copy the exe into each, and run from each folder. Because if you run the same SuperPI exe to load twice (from the same icon) the initial data is overwritten by the "second running instance." Therefore, what was correct for the first core, or HT in your case, is now being overwritten with the second core's info and it throws out an error "Not convergent in SQR05". There's a little .dat file that's keeping all of the data"[/b]

:smooooth:
QuadFusion

How to disable the User Account Control Prompt for certain application

Jason — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 10:49:05 GMT

Just released 12/27/2007 KB article my MS.

[url=http://support.microsoft.com/kb/946932]http://support.microsoft.com/kb/946932[/url]

Easy Take Ownership of files in Vista

Jason — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 21:03:12 GMT

Taking ownership of system files or folders in Windows Vista is not a simple task. Whether you use the GUI or the command line, it takes far too many steps.

Thankfully somebody created a registry hack that will give you a menu item for "Take Ownership" that will handle all the steps for you. (If you are the person that originally made this script, let me know and I'll give you credit)

Here's what the new right-click menu will look like after installing this registry hack.

Install

Download and unzip the files contained in the zipfile. Double-click the InstallTakeOwnership.reg file and click through the prompts. No reboot necessary.

Uninstall

Double-click the RemoveTakeOwnership.reg file and click through the prompts. No reboot necessary.

Ultimate gaming tweak

Lewa Nua — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 19:39:01 GMT

Ca anyone tell me detailed instruction on how to turn vista buissness x64 into xp sp2 (you know without the ram eatage and the bloatware) but with aero and dx10:D I know it can be done but I dont know how myself. ( I dont care about services and stuff I use linux but i have windows for the games)

Aero ON/OFF shortcuts

blackhat — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 05:04:06 GMT

create a shortcut and use the following path

[u]turn Aero ON[/u]
Rundll32 dwmApi #102
[u]
turn Aero OFF[/u]
Rundll32 dwmApi #104

source
[url]http://www.askvg.com/how-to-add-aero-on-off-shortcuts-in-desktop-and-my-computer-context-menu/[/url]

Super Fast Shutdown - Vista

Jason — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 23:22:40 GMT

Here's a neat one I fell over somewhere on the web:
Open Regedit (WINDOWS KEY + R on your keyboard, or by clicking Start and typing on the search bar "regedit" without quotes. Hit Enter

Navigate to [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l] On the right panel look for the "WaitToKillServiceTimeout" string and change it value to 1000 by right clicking the string and selecting Modify...

Default Value WaitToKillServiceTimeout=20000

Modified value WaitToKillServiceTimeout=5000
Modified value WaitToKillServiceTimeout=1000 (extreme, use it at your own risk)

I found 3000 worked nicely but try the 5000 first. 3000 does sometimes leave some programs lagging which then need a further key click.

Vista Tweak Compilation - Updated!

Synapse — Sun, 12 Mar 2006 20:56:03 GMT

Vista Tweaks (All Versions)

--------------------------------------

Enable New Boot screen in Vista

1. Click on the start orb and type in "MSCONFIG" in the textbox.
2. Once the System Configuration tool loads, click on the Boot tab.
3. Under Boot Options check 'NO GUI Boot'
4. Reboot and enjoy!

Show Run Command on Start Menu

1. Right click on your taskbar and select Properties.
2. Click on the Start Menu Tab and then select Customize.
3. Scroll through the list and check the Run Command check box.
4. Hit OK a few times and it is back.

Resize Partitions with Vista Disk Management

1. Click on the Start Button and right click on Computer and select Manage.
2. Expand the Storage section and select Disk Management.
3. Then just right click on any partition and select either Expand or Shrink to change the size of the partition.

Enable Vista Glass on Intel GMA 950 Graphics Cards

1. First, I had to open up device manager. Click on the start menu and type in devmgmt.msc and Enter to load it up.
2. Once there, expand the Display Adapters section and right click on each device and select Uninstall.
3. Reboot the computer.
4. When it restarts, it should install a generic video driver so your screen will still work.
5. Go back into Device Manager, expand the Display Adapters section again and then right click on the device and select Update Driver.
6. This time select Browse My Computer for Driver and then Let me pick it from a list.
7. Go the the Intel section and select the Intel® Lakeport Graphics Controller.
8. Hit OK and install the new driver. Restart your computer.
9. Once you have rebooted, right click on your desktop and select Personalize again.
10. Click on Windows Colors and Appearance.
11. Click on Open classic appearance properties for more color options.
12. In the Color Scheme box, select Windows Vista Aero.
13. Hit OK and glass will now load.

Enable Add-ins in Windows Live Messenger

Copy and Paste the following into a .reg file and import it.
____________________________________________________
REGEDIT4

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\MSNMessenger]

"AddInFeatureEnabled"=dword:00000001
______________________________________________________
Once you import it, restart Windows Live Messenger and under Options you will have a new list item for Add-ins.

Create a Shortcut for Flip 3D

1. Right click on your desktop and select New and then Shortcut.
2. Copy and paste RunDll32 DwmApi #105 into the location box and hit Next.
3. Enter in a name for your shortcut and hit Finish.
4. Copy/Cut and Paste your new shortcut where ever you want.

Add Additional Clocks to Taskbar

1. Right click on the clock in the taskbar and select Adjust Date/Time.
2. Click on the Additional Clocks tab.
3. Check the box for either additional clock 1 or 2 and select the time zone.
4. Type in a display name for your click and hit OK.
Now when you hover your mouse over or click on the clock you will see the additional time zone.

Disable Network Printer Search

1. Hit Alt to bring up the menubar if it is not already on the screen.
2. Click on Tools and select Folder Options.
3. On the View Tab, uncheck Automatically search for network printers.

Speed up Start Menu Search

1. Open Registry Editor (regedit).
2. Navigate through HKEY_CURRENT_USER, Software, Microsoft, Windows, CurrentVersion, Explorer and finally Advanced.
3. Find and right click on Start_SearchFiles and select Modify.
4. Set the Value to 0.
5. Restart the Explorer.exe process or just reboot your computer.

Vista Un-needed Services: Part 1

Part 1: http://www.tweakvista.com/article38662.aspx
Part 2: http://www.tweakvista.com/article38664.aspx

Super Quick - Quick Launch Bar

If you have the quick launch bar you can press the WINDOWS + a number and it will launch that application.

For example: If you have a shortcut for a folder in the first slot you would press WINDOWS + 1 to open that folder.
A second quick launch application would be WINDOWS + 2.

Stop those annoying registration boxes that won't go away

http://www.tweakvista.com/Article39107.aspx

Have you recently installed a system utility or a productivity application such as Adobe Photoshop or Macromedia Dreamweaver and have been bombarded with registration messages that pop-up every time your start the application? Even when you check the box and tell the application never to remind you ever again?

This happens to me all the time and is very annoying. The culprit of this problem is... you guessed it, UAC!

Your application keeps asking you to register because the registry key that it checks to see if you should still be harassed into registration is never getting set thanks to UAC. When I check the box or hit the Never remind me again button the registry write gets virtualized because the app tried to write to a part of the registry a standard user does not have access to. This is a feature of UAC and it does a great job of redirecting the registry write so the application does not crash out. However, since the application is not aware of this virtualized write location it keeps checking the registry value of the key in the normal location. Since the application has read only access to that location the key will keep getting virtualized every time you check the box and is why the registration boxes keep popping up.

How do you get out of this mess? Real simple, just run the application as an Administrator. This time UAC will not be in the way and the app will be able to write the never annoy me ever again with this stupid registration box key setting.

This simple trick will also work for some applications that pop up other information and do not respect the stop annoying me again option.

Stop User Account Control (UAC) screen flicker / flash

http://www.tweakvista.com/Article39105.aspx

Every time I get one of those UAC prompts asking me to authorize an administrative action my LCD screen flashes when the box pops up. This is caused by the switch to the secure desktop, similar to what happens when you hit CTRL + ALT + DELETE. The only difference is that the background is a snapshot of your desktop that gives it the effect that it is just a pop up window. Although if you look carefully you will notice it is static since the clock does not change and anything else that was animated is now static. The secure desktop provides an extra level of security to UAC by making it immune to any application that may try to automate the click on the allow button bypassing the purpose of UAC.

Follow the steps below to disable UAC secure desktop:

Click on the Start Button and key in secpol.msc and hit Enter.
Navigate through Local Policies and Security Options.
Scroll to the bottom and right click on "User Account Control: Switch to the secure desktop when prompting for elevation" and select Properties.
Set the option to Disabled and hit OK.

Use Vista for 120 Days Free! Longer Trial Period

Windows Vista can be installed, and run without any license, product key or activation for 30 days, This is solely for the purpose of trial/evaluation. Microsoft stress's that users should purchase a license with a valid product key before the trial period expires, or else Windows Vista will lock into Reduced Functionality Mode.

Although, A method has been discovered which will allow you to extend the evaluation period for a fresh 30 days, 3 seperate times. Microsoft has confirmed that extending the evaluation period is not a violation of the EULA and is aware of this tweak but does not seem to mind one bit, as no fixes or updates have been released to fix it.

All versions of Vista include Windows Vista Ultimate allow a 30-day free period without activation, except the corporate-oriented Vista Enterprise, in which case it supports only a three-day trial.

To reset or restart the initial grace period of Windows Vista to another 30 days, use the following steps:

Click on Vista Start button and type in "Cmd" in Start Search box (without quotes).
Press on Ctrl-Shift-Enter to open Command Prompt with administrative credentials (equivalent to “Run as Administrator”).
In the Command Prompt window which you opened, type the following command and press Enter when done: "slmgr -rearm" or "sysprep /generalize" (without quotes)
Reboot the computer.
Run the script again when the remaining activation grace period timer counts down to 0 days, you can run the code sooner but it is a waste. As if you have 20 days left and you run the script it will bump you back up to 30 again not 50.

Boot Order Editing

If you are dual booting XP Prof and Vista, you most likely have the annoying "Earlier Version of Windows" in the boot list and have Vista booting as the default. Lets change that!

In Vista, you do not have the Boot.ini like in XP where these type of settings were changed. We will need to use command line and the bcdedit command.

1. Open up the command line as an administrator or user w/admin rights (right click on the Shorcut > Run As and lets you run as an admin if your on a non-admin account)

2. type this command to see the current state of affairs.
bcdedit

you prob will see something like this (my original boot option)

__________________________________________
D:\Users\seamonkey> bcdedit

Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
identifier {bootmgr}
device partition=C:
description Windows Boot Manager
locale en-US
inherit {globalsettings}
default {current}
displayorder {ntldr}
{current}
toolsdisplayorder {memdiag}
timeout 30

Windows Legacy OS Loader
------------------------
identifier {ntldr}
device partition=C:
path tldr
description Earlier Version of Windows

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier {current}
device partition=D:
path \Windows\system32\winload.exe
description Microsoft Windows Vista
locale en-US
inherit {bootloadersettings}
osdevice partition=D:
systemroot \Windows
resumeobject {1ecfd635-a8ea-11db-bb9b-ddf07c6aaff1}
nx OptIn

3. to change a value, you need to use this type of command:
bcdedit /set {identifiers name} nameofparamater "value to replace with"
for example, to change my XP os name from "Earlier Version...." to "XP Pro", i would use this command:
bcdedit /set {ntldr} description "XP Pro"

to change the default boot os to xp, i would use this command:
bcdedit /set {bootmgr} default "{ntldr}"

then type:
bcdedit

and you should see the changes you made.

The main thing is to remember to run the command line with an admin account or as the administrator.

Also, you can type: bcdedit /help to get a list of all of the parameters/flags you can use

Tweak Indexing Options for more Performance

The indexing service in Windows Vista is responsible for making those search boxes all over the operating system lightening fast. By default Windows automatically indexes all files in your user profile folders, start menu and any files you have setup for offline access. If you have a lot of files in these locations and the files change often you can be putting a heavy load on the indexing service. For maximum performance when using Windows Vista I recommend disabling indexing for all other locations other than the Start Menu. This will lessen the background work that Windows Vista has to do. It will also slow down your searches of other locations but that is the price you must pay for this performance benefit.

Follow these steps to tweak the indexing locations:

Click on the Start Button and key in Indexing Options and hit Enter. Indexing Options will now load.
Hit the Modify button.
Next, click on Show all locations.
Scroll through the tree-view and uncheck any folders you do not want to be indexed. When you are finished, click OK.
If you want to change advanced indexing settings such as what file types are indexed click on the Advanced button. Otherwise hit Close.

Make XP computers show up in Vista's Network Map

The new Network Map in Windows Vista allows you to easily create a map of all computers on your network and see how they are connected. This works by using the Link Layer Topology Discovery (LLTD) protocol that is only part of Windows Vista.

To help users of mixed environments of both Windows Vista and Windows XP, Microsoft has released the Link Layer Topology Discovery Responder for Windows XP. This will make your Windows XP computers show up in the Network Map in Windows Vista.

This package contains the Link Layer Topology Discovery (LLTD) responder. The network map on a computer running Windows Vista shows a graphical view of the computers and devices on your network and how they are connected by using the LLTD protocol. The LLTD responder must be installed on a computer running Windows XP before it can be detected and appear on the network map. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.

Click here to download the update for Windows XP SP2

Vista Beta Tweaks

--------------------------------------

System Related

Logging on as Local Administrator

If you are having trouble logging on as the built-in Administrator account under 5308, you will need to make some registry modifications to display the Administrator account.

Log in using the account you created during the Windows Vista setup process.
From the Start menu, click All Programs and then expand Accessories.
Right click on “Command Prompt” and click “Run as Administrator”.
Click on “Allow” from the Windows Security dialog.
In the Command Prompt window, type “regedit” (without the quotes) and press Enter.
In the Registry Editor, browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
Add a new key called “SpecialAccounts” (without the quotes).
In the “SpecialAccounts” key you just made, create a sub-key called “UserList” (without the quotes)
Make sure you are navigated to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\SpecialAccounts\UserList
In the “UserList” key, create a new DWORD (32-bit) item and name it Administrator.
Double click on the new DWORD item and set its value to 1.
Close Registry Editor and the Command Prompt.

Increase Performance

TheFebruary CTP is quick right from installation, however there is one bug that causes a slow down with the user interface. This bug involves the sliding buttons on the taskbar; by disabling this, performance increases a bit. It’s really up to you, but the bug can be very annoying at times. To disable it, just carry out the following actions:

Press WinKey+R and type in “sysdm.cpl” (without the quotes).
Click the Advanced tab, and then under “Performance” click “Settings”.
In the Visual Effects tab, uncheck “Slide taskbar buttons”.
Press OK and close the Performance Options dialog.

I have also compiled a registry file that changes a few key settings involving the timings for menus, hover events, etc, which makes the Windows interface more responsive. You can download that here. This was tested andis fully working without any issues, and have also been scanned for viruses.

Also, if you are running this build with an NVIDIA WDDM supported graphics card, you may want to install the latest drivers, this should fix some of the weird issues and lag with the Desktop Window Manager (DWM) and the Aero user interface enabled.

Disable DEP / NoExecute Protection to fix Random Windows Explorer crashes

Due to the way Windows Vista’s boot editor has been created, it is now harder to disable DEP / No Execute Protection. However, after some amount of research, it would seem that some of the random Windows Explorer crashes that users are experiencing is caused by this technology. You will need to disable it and reboot, which should cure some of the crashes:

Click Start, All Programs, Accessories, right click on “Command Prompt”, and click “Run as administrator”.
If asked for permission to run Windows Command Processor, click on Allow.
At the command prompt, type in “bcdedit.exe /set {current} nx AlwaysOff” (without the quotes).
You should receive a message saying “Operation Completed Successfully”.
Restart the computer, DEP / No Execute should now be disabled.

Prevent network flooding and connection drops

The new networking stack contained in Windows Vista February CTP, and as with anything new (and still in beta), it has some issues. This build seems to like dropping connections and in rare cases, blocking all traffic on wireless routers, requiring a restart of the router itself. To fix these problems, complete the following instructions:

WARNING: Please note that this will disable IPv6 connectivity as well as the Windows Firewall security, and is not recommended unless you are experiencing these issues. This will also invalidate any network related bug reports you file against Windows Vista.

Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
LUnder “Network and Internet”, click on “View network status and tasks”.
In the left hand pane, click on “Open connections”.
Right click on your network connection (for example: Local Area Connection 3), and then click “Configure”.
If asked for permission to open Network Connections, click on Allow.
Highlight the following items and press the “Uninstall” button:

Link-Layer Topology Discovery Mapper I/O Driver

Link-Layer Topology Discovery Responder

Uncheck “Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IPv6)”
Next, click on the “Configure” button under the name of your network adapter.
Click on the Power Management tab.
Disable all power management items listed on the Power Management tab.
Press OK.

To stop Windows Vista from flooding your network with traffic:

Press WinKey+R.
Type “services.msc” (without the quotes)
If asked for permission to open “Microsoft Management Console”, click Allow.
Double click on each one of the following services and change its startup type to “Disabled”.

Base Filtering Engine

IKE and AuthIP Keying Modules

IP Helper Service

IPSec

Windows Firewall

Close the Services window and restart Windows.

Disable System Restore

In Build 5308, the System Restore service is one cause of performance issues. For some people, it doesn’t even work. So to remedy this, we will need to shut down System Restore and stop it from running:

Click on the “Start” button.
Hover over “Computer”, right click on it and then click “Properties”.
On the left hand side, click “Advanced Settings”.
If asked to permit the action, click on “Allow”.
Click on the “System Protection” tab.
Uncheck any checkboxes listed for your hard drives.
Press OK.

Forcing Glass on Non-WDDM Compatible Cards

WARNING: This tweak may cause a blue screen loop or constant flickerdepending on your video card. Use with extreme caution, this tweak is really only here for documentary purposes only.

From the Start menu, click All Programs and then expand Accessories.
Right click on “Command Prompt” and click “Run as Administrator”.
Click on “Allow” from the Windows Security dialog.
In the Command Prompt window, type “regedit” (without the quotes) and press Enter.
Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\DWM (if this key doesn’t exist, create it)
Create a new DWORD (32-bit value) of UseMachineCheck, and set its value to 0.

Disable User Account Protection (UAP)

Once you have installed theFebruary CTP and set up an every day user account, one of the first things you will notice is that you have almost no rights to do anything administrator related on your system. Disabling this is purely up to you but if you find UAP is getting in your way, or some applications refuse to run because of it, you may want to take a look at this. Here are the instructions:
NOTE: You should be logged in as Administrator to do this, or you could run the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) elevated.

Press WinKey (the flag key on your keyboard) + R and type “secpol.msc”. (Without the quotes). If asked to permit Microsoft Management Console to run, allow it.
In the Local Security Settings window, in the left hand pane, navigate to “Security Settings, Local Policies, Security Options”.
In the pane to the right, scroll all the way to the bottom.
Set the first two User Account Protection items to “No Prompt”, and “Disabled” on the remaining three items.
Close the Microsoft Management Console (MMC), and if you are asked to save the settings for “Console1”, press “No”.
Reboot or log off and log back in to enforce the new settings; or alternatively open an elevated Command Prompt and type “gpupdate /force” (without the quotes), and then press Enter.

Alternatively, you can also do this to disable UAP:

Press WinKey+R on your keyboard.
Paste the following into the Run box, including the quotation marks: “C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /k %windir%\System32\reg.exe ADD HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System /v EnableLUA /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f”
Press Enter. If asked for permission to perform this action, click “Allow”.
Reboot the system.

To renable UAP after applying this method:

Press WinKey+R on your keyboard.
Paste the following into the Run box, including the quotation marks: “C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /k %windir%\System32\reg.exe ADD HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System /v EnableLUA /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f”
Press Enter.
Reboot the system.

Shell Related

Turn on the sidebar

The long awaited Windows Sidebar, which first debuted back in the Longhorn alpha builds but was removed and remade into a seperate project has finally made its way back into Windows Vista. However, it is tucked away in 5308. To start it:

Click Start, and hover over All Programs.
Navigate to the Accessories folder.
Click “Sidebar”.

Bring back “Run” on the Start menu

One of the most favorite functions in Windows, the “Run” function, has been moved off of the Start menu by default in Windows Vista. To access it, you could press WinKey+R on your keyboard to bring it up. Or you can use the Search functionality built into the Start menu, it also works as the run command. Or, last but not least, you could just put the Run command back on the Start menu where it has lived for years:

Right click on the Start button, and click “Properties”.
In the “Taskbar and Start Menu Properties” dialog, click “Customize”.
Scroll down and in the list you shall find “Run command”. Check the box next to it.
Close any open dialogs by pressing OK.

Toggle DWM

If you find the Aero Glass user interface annoying, orif it is slow on your computer configuration, simply press Ctrl+Shift+F9 to turn it off. Press this key combination again to re-enable it.

Use the Search box in Windows Explorer to filter a file view

Did you know you can easily filter the list of documents and folders in a folder using the Search field in Windows Explorer? For instance if you have a folder containing a lot of folders and documents and you are specifically looking for “Vista”, all you need to do is type “Vista”, or even just part of the word, such as “Vis” to limit the list of files shown.

Use Flip3D
In build 5270, Microsoft had added a quick launch button to run “Flip3D”, the cool new task switching mode in Windows Vista. In the February CTP however, this quick launch item has been removed. If you’ve forgotten the key combination to run Flip3D, it is currently WinKey+Tab. If you want to run Flip3D without it closing when you let go of the key combination, press Ctrl+WinKey+Tab.

Limit the number of windows shown in Flip3D

If Flip3D is too slow for you or if you have too many windows open, you can easily limit the number of windows displayed in Flip3D. As you tab or scroll through them, other windows will appear.

Press WinKey+R on your keyboard.
Type “regedit.exe” without the quotes.
If asked for permission to launch the Registry Editor, click Allow.
Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\DWM
Right click on the right hand side of the registry editor, and under New, click on “DWORD (32-bit)”.
Name the new DWORD value “Max3DWindows” (without the quotes)
Double click on the DWORD value and set it to the maximum number of windows you want displayed in Flip3D. A good number is 5 for low-end cards and 10 for other cards.
Click OK and exit the Registry Editor.
Press Ctrl+Shift+F9 to shut down DWM, and then press the key combination again to restart it.
Press WinKey+Tab to display Flip3D.

Workaround for the dissapearing start button after using Flip3D

If you use the Flip3D function in Windows Vista February CTP, you may notice that when you return from the Flip3D display screen that the blue start button in the left hand corner is missing. To fix this, simply restart DWM by pressing Ctrl+Shift+F9 twice.

Add another time zone to your clock

Onenice addition to Windows Vista is the ability to display the time in other time zones.

Click on the clock.
Click “Date and Time Settings”.
Click on the “Additional Clocks” tab.
Check the box labelled “Additional Clock #1″, and from the drop down menu choose a time zone.
Give the clock a name, such as “Microsoft” or “Texas”.
Press OK.

You can repeat this for the second additional clock as well.

Click here to see this in action.

Windows Explorer

To prevent the Search box from searching sub-folders:

In the February CTP, the Search functionality has changed yet again. This time, when you type something into the search box, it will also search all sub-folders of the current folder. To disable this:

Press WinKey+R on your keyboard.
Type “control folders”, and press OK.
When asked for permission to run “Run a DLL as an App”, press Allow.
Click the “View” tab.
Uncheck “Search subfolders when typing in the Search box”.
Press OK.

To add a location to the Places bar (left hand pane in Windows Explorer)

In Windows Vista, there is a new pane on the left hand side of Windows Explorer which contains links to items you wish to access quickly. It works a bit like the left hand pane in the Mac OS X 10.3+ Finder. In previous builds, you could not really customize the Places bar but now you can! Simply drag and drop a folder onto the plane, and voila!

Display Windows Explorer Classic Menus

If you are a frequent user of the menu in Windows Explorer, you may have a bit of a hard time adjusting to Windows Vista’s new Windows Explorer window style, which doesn’t include the menu.

There are two ways to bring it back, one is temporary and the other is more permenant:
If you want to view the menu but not have it always displayed, simply press the Alt key. The menu will fade into view.

If you want the menu to always be turned on, click the first button on Layout configuration button (first button on the top most bar in Windows Explorer). From the drop down list, check “Classic Menus”.

Folders List Returns!
If you want to view a tree-view of your hard drive and navigational path, simply click on the arrow next to the “Folders” bar in Windows Explorer, located on the Places bar.

Windows Mail

Disable the Windows Mail Splash Screen

Using Windows Mail? If the splash screen isdisplayed too long for your liking or if you just want to get rid of it, this is the trick for you.

Press WinKey+R.
Type “regedit.exe” without the quotes.
If you are asked for permission to run the Registry Editor, click on Allow.
Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows Mail
Create a new DWORD (32-bit) value called “NoSplash”.
Double click on the “NoSplash” DWORD you just created and set its value to 1.
Press OK and close the registry editor.

Bring back the Outlook Bar in Windows Mail

If you are an avid fan of the Outlook Bar in Microsoft Outlook and the previous Outlook Express, then this tweak is definately for you!

Press WinKey+R.
Type “regedit.exe” without the quotes.
If you are asked for permission to run the Registry Editor, click on Allow.
Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows Mail
Look for the DWORD (32-bit) item with the name of “Show Legacy Outlook Bar”, if it doesn’t exist, create it.
Double click on this value and set the value to 1.
Press OK and close the registry editor.

Start Windows Mail. You should now see the Outlook Bar on the left-hand side.

Internet Explorer 7

User Agent String

If you are having issues with certain websites (especially banking and other secure websites), you might want to try this out. It fools the websites into thinking you are running Internet Explorer 6.0.
Copy and paste the following code into Notepad, and save it to your desktop as IE7UserAgent.REG.
Double-click the file to merge it into the Windows Registry, and then restart Internet Explorer for the change to take effect. If UAP is turned on, permit the operation to take place.

If you are having issues with certain websites (especially banking and other secure websites), you might want to try this out. It fools the websites into thinking you are running Internet Explorer 6.0.Copy and paste the following code into Notepad, and save it to your desktop as IE7UserAgent.REG.Double-click the file to merge it into the Windows Registry, and then restart Internet Explorer for the change to take effect. If UAP is turned on, permit the operation to take place.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\5.0\User Agent]
“Version”=”MSIE 6.0”
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\User Agent\Post Platform]
“SV1″=-

You can easily undo this change by copying and pasting the following code into Notepad, and then saving it as IE7Undo.reg and merge it into the Windows Registry. If UAP is turned on, permit the operation to take place.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\5.0\User Agent]
“Version”=-
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\User Agent\Post Platform]
“SV1″=””

You can test these changes using a simple page that checks the User Agent. We recommend: http://www.fiddlertool.com/useragent.aspx.

The Favorites Center

In Internet Explorer 7, the older style Explorer bars have been replaced and the menus have been hidden by default. “What happened to my favorites, then?” you may wonder. Simple. You will notice a round orange circle with a white star in the center of it. Click on it, and all of your favorites will appear. You will also find your subscribed feeds and history are available from the Favorites Center as well. To close the Favorites Center quickly just press Esc on your keyboard.

Zoom

In previous versions of Internet Explorer, you could use Ctrl+-, Ctrl++, or Ctrl+Scroll Wheel to change the zoom and text size of a page. In Internet Explorer 7, there is a new zoom function which not only allows you to zoom text, it also zooms everything else on the page; making pages, images, and items larger for those with sight problems. To use this feature, locate the little magnifying glass in the bottom right hand corner of the Internet Explorer status bar. Click on it, and select a zoom percentage.

Quick Tabs

Internet Explorer comes with a new feature known as Tabs. Other browsers have had this for a while, such as Mozilla Firefox, and now it is time for Internet Explorer to catch up. When you have multiple tabs open, instead of clicking through each tab to see what it contains, you can use Quick Tabs. To do this, you can either press the Quick Tabs button next to the Favorites Center & Add Favorite buttons, or you can press Ctrl+Q.

Printing from a USB Printer

In this build, there is a known issue that causes printing with Internet Explorer to fail when attempting to use a USB Printer. To resolve this, click Start, All Programs, right click on Internet Explorer, and then click “Run as administrator”. When asked for permission to run Internet Explorer, click on Allow. Then print as you normally would.
Source: http://digitalfive.org

Slow Networking File Transfer - Fixes

Jason — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 13:50:30 GMT

Found a good knowledge base article by Microsoft concerning the issue of transfer speeds from XP - Vista or Vice versa. Many of these tweaks may work w/ Vista - Vista problems as well.

[url=http://support.microsoft.com/kb/932170/en-us]http://support.microsoft.com/kb/932170/en-us[/url]

Desktop shortcuts

rob4 — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 07:57:51 GMT

Is it possible to remove the ticks (arrows) from desktop shortcuts ?

View Hidden 3D Benchmarks in Windows Vista

sonic — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 21:39:54 GMT

There's really nothing useful about this tip, but it's still pretty cool. There's a utility built into Windows Vista used for benchmarking your system called the System Assessment Tool. What most people don't know is that you can call this utility from the command line and view some cool 3D benchmarks.

You should be able to use a regular command prompt, but you'd have best luck using an administrator mode command prompt. (right-click and choose Run as Administrator). You should also note that it will temporarily disable Aero before running the test, but don't worry, it will re-enable it after.

Try the command right above each one to see it on your own computer.

Commands:

winsat aurora

winsat d3d -texshader -totalobj 15

winsat d3d -objs C(20) -texshader -totalobj 50

winsat d3d -totalobj 20 -objs C(20) -totaltex 10 -texpobj C(1) -alushader -noalpha -v -time 10

winsat d3d -totalobj 20 -objs C(20) -totaltex 10 -texpobj C(10) -alushader -v -time 10

You can adjust the commands on the prompt if you want to try to get different combinations.

Disable Writing to USB Drives

sonic — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 21:36:04 GMT

A common security concern at organizations is allowing users to plug in a usb flash drive, because they could so easily copy corporate data.

Since Windows XP SP2, you can disable writing to USB devices altogether using a simple registry hack. Here it is:

Go to this address in the registry and make the changes. Remeber that if keys not found in the registry maybe you need to modify it yoursself.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\StorageDevicePolicies]
"WriteProtect"=dword:00000001

Once you use the registry hack, you will have to reboot for the changes to take effect. One should also note that if you are using this trick, you should make sure that the users are not administrators on the computer, because they could easily change this setting back.

Easily & Completely Clean Windows Vista Temp Files Directory!

sonic — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 18:16:50 GMT

Windows Vista Disk Cleanup wizard is really not all that bad, but I did find a small problem with it… It doesn't fully empty your temp folder. It only allows you to delete temporary files that haven't been modified in a week.

If you've recently done a lot of editing or something that generates large temporary files, you may want to manually clean up. Just type in %TEMP% into the start menu search box, and hit enter. You'll immediate be taken to the temporary files folder, where you can delete whatever you feel like.:cool:

Enable Hidden BootScreen in Windows Vista!

sonic — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 18:13:30 GMT

The Windows Vista BootScreen is pointless, but Microsoft decided to hide a more visually appealing boot screen that can easily be enabled with very little trouble. I'm not sure why they didn't make the boot screen better.

All you have to do is type msconfig into the start menu search box, and hit enter.

Click the Boot tab, and then check the "No GUI boot" checkbox.

Hit OK and reboot the computer. You should see the new boot screen immediately.

Note: You may get a Windows Defender error on the next startup. You can enable the system config utility using the tray icon and this error will go away.;)

Easily Install Fonts in Vista!

sonic — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 18:01:17 GMT

Remember the process of installation of new fonts in XP! you must copy the fonts in the clipboard and then go to the XP installtion drive and open then FONTS folder and finally right click & paste the items from clipboard!

It's really time-consuming job. In Vista you don't need to do this silly jobs, just go to your fonts folder, select desired fonts & right click on them & select Install!

A process dialog will appear and in a second fonts will be installed!:P

Locking the Full Screen Mode in Windows Media Player 11!

sonic — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 18:48:36 GMT

As you know Microsoft releases Media Player 11 both for XP & Vista. but t has some great features that only works in vista. one of this great features that is you can easily lock your screen when watching a movie in full screen mode. when you go to the full screen mode in WPM 11 look at right hand & bottom of the screen. you see a shape of a lock. click on it. a blank filed will be shown. you must enter your a 4 digital pin to lock the screen. when you enter it click on the lock again & then your Screen will be Lock until you enter the 4 digital pin to unlock it.:cool:

Screen Saver timing to 30mins to 6Hrs

GoTotallyNuts — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 14:18:18 GMT

Gidday gidday,

I am turning my computer into a Digital Photo Frame but I don't like the "My Picture SlideShow" doing its transitions every few seconds. I want to get the transitions out to 30min to 6 hrs.

Cheers:)

media center for business

ritz — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 23:40:38 GMT

hey

i have vista business it is genuine and i want to know if there is a way that i can get media center for it without changing to home premium or ultimate if you know if it is possible i would really appreciate it thanks

Media Center with a Joypad

Alejandrosv — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 16:20:29 GMT

I was wondering if it is possible to control Windows Media Center with a joypad, i just bought a "dual action" from logitech and think it would be nice to use it as a remote controler. any ideas?

How to copy networked files at maximum speed despite listening to audio

Jason — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 23:39:02 GMT

Windows Vista uses a new service called Multimedia Class Scheduler Service or MMCSS which runs under svchost.

This new service is used to boost performance when a multimedia application begins playback, the multimedia APIs it uses call the MMCSS service to boost the priority of the playback thread into the realtime range. This creates for a seamless playback without those annoying glitches in music when you are doing heavy duty computing at the same time.

Tests of MMCSS during Vista development showed that, even with thread-priority boosting, heavy network traffic can cause enough long-running cpu interrupts to prevent playback threads from keeping up with their media streaming requirements, resulting in glitching. MMCSS’ glitch-resistant mechanisms were therefore extended to include throttling of network activity. It does so by issuing a command to the NDIS device driver, which is the driver that gives packets received by network adapter drivers to the TCP/IP driver, that causes NDIS to “indicate”, or pass along, at most 10 packets per millisecond (10,000 packets per second).

This loss can be up to 15% on a gigabit network.

The Tweak:

Now you can't just disable the MMCSS service since windows audio is dependent on it. In other words disabling it means no sound for your computer.

So I ran regedit (type regedit in the start menu search box), and navigated and changed the key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Audiosrv\DependOnService

Now remove MMCS from that key in the list, and set MMCS to disabled in services (type services in the start menu search) Now reboot!

As soon as I rebooted I was able to copy files at 40mb/s+ while listening to audio

Example of priority boosting by Vista:

Example of network throttling:

Speedup IE browsing in Windows Vista by a 50%

Yoni5002 — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 09:55:13 GMT

Note: (These tweaks have been tested in Vista 5384 and Vista 5472 only. They work just perfect)

Hi guys,

Finally after some hours of testing I have my new Tweak for Windows Vista. I have tested this tweak in my own system, which includes my host system and My Virtual Machine as well.

I would like to add that this Tweak is recommended for users with 1GB RAM or more, users with 512MB RAM should not use it for now, or they should try it only after increasing the Virtual Memory (VM) in their systems.

What is it about? Ohhh I almost forget to let you know... :)

My Tweak is about "Speeding up Internet Explorer browsing experience in Windows Vista by a 50%". Yes, it does really gets that fast. Try it yourself and see it...

We will be using a little software called 'RAMDISK'. What does it do? Well, it will create a Virtual Hard Drive in your computer using your system's physical RAM. Don't be scared, we will adjust the Virtual Hard Drive size to something around 60-80MB (taken from your physical RAM as I said before).

First off we will need to do some little changes to the IE options. Here is what to do:

Open Internet Explorer. Click Tools/ Internet Options. Under 'Privacy Tab' look for "Settings" and click 'Advanced'.

Check the box 'Override automatic cookie handling' and select:
First-party Cookies (Accept) Third-party cookies (Block). See the screenshot bellow

[center][img]http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h41/yoni5002/Tweak%20IE%20in%20Vista/InternetOptionsCookies.png[/img][/center]

Click 'OK' to close the 'Advanced Privacy Settings' window.

Back to the 'Internet Options' window, select the 'Advanced' Tab. Scroll down the Settings options and click 'Disable Phishing Filter'. See screenshot below

[center][img]http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h41/yoni5002/Tweak%20IE%20in%20Vista/DisablePhishingFilter.png[/img][/center]

When finish Click 'Apply', 'OK' to save changes and exit the Internet Options window.

It is time to [url=http://yoni5002.whwh.biz/files/RAMDISK.ZIP]Download and install the RAMDISK software[/url].

NOTE: We need to force the compatibility of this program to make it work under Windows Vista 5384. Not a big deal, here is what to do:

Extract the software to any folder in your system. Open the folder where you extracted RAMDISK into and Right click the Setup.exe application. Select 'Compatibility' Tab and check the following:

-Compatibility Mode
(Run this program in compatibility Mode for 'Windows XP Service Pack2')
-Privilege Level (Run this program as an administrator)

Click 'Apply' and 'OK' to save changes and exit that window. See screenshot bellow

[img]http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h41/yoni5002/Tweak%20IE%20in%20Vista/RAMDISKCompatibility.png[/img]

Once the compatibility has been forced, it is time to install our little prog. Double click the Setup.exe application. Eventually the installation windows will pop-up. Click Next, Accept the License Agreement, click 'Install' and wait for the installation process to finish. During the installation process you will be prompt with a Windows Security warning, just ignore it and Click 'INSTALL"... It will take some time to finish the installation. Please be patient and let it finish. See the screenshot bellow

[center][img]http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h41/yoni5002/Tweak%20IE%20in%20Vista/RAMinstall1.png[/img][/center]

[center][img]http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h41/yoni5002/Tweak%20IE%20in%20Vista/RAMinstall2.png[/img][/center]

[center][img]http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h41/yoni5002/Tweak%20IE%20in%20Vista/RAMinstall3.png[/img][/center]

NOTE: If you are prompt to reboot your computer, do so and let it reboot. After Login back onto Windows you can find the program in your Control Panel. Click Start/ Control Panel/ RAMDISK. See screenshot bellow

[center][img]http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h41/yoni5002/Tweak%20IE%20in%20Vista/ControlPanel.png[/img][/center]

Once installed it is about time to configure it so we can finally go ahead with our plan. Click Finish and welcome to the Virtual Hard Drive we are going to create. Why do we need this Virtual Hard Drive? You will find the answer later. Keep reading... :) If you had to reboot the computer before using the program, you can find it in your Control Panel after login back in. See the screenshot before...

Under 'General Tab', Select the Drive letter you want to assign to your new Virtual Hard Drive, Select 'Automatic Startup' and 'Emulate a local Hard Disk'. Select the 'Geometry Tab'and set the 'Disk Size' to 65MB.

NOTE: It is important not to go larger than 80MB because the Virtual Hard Drive will be using your Physical RAM and going highter in the VHHD size could negative impact your overall system performance. After setting the new values we will need to restart the computer over again so we can see the new Virtual Hard Drive. See screenshots bellow

[center][img]http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h41/yoni5002/Tweak%20IE%20in%20Vista/RAMSettings1.png[/img][/center]

[center][img]http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h41/yoni5002/Tweak%20IE%20in%20Vista/RAMSettings2.png[/img][/center]

If everything was as we hoped we should now be able to see our new VHDD in your system. Simply open 'My Computer' and look for the new Hard Drive (Z: ) in my case. See the screenshot bellow

[center][img]http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h41/yoni5002/Tweak%20IE%20in%20Vista/MyPCRAMDisk.png[/img][/center]

Wohhoooo... we are almost done. So to finish our trick and finally enjoy our new browsing experience we are going to move the Internet Temporary Folder into our new Virtual Hard Drive. Here is the importance of using those 60-80MB RAM of our system. Basically I will explain it really quick. [color=#FF0000]The time your System reads data from your Physical RAM it is almost twice faster than the time your system reads from your Physical Hard Drive. So with this said we can figure out that our browsing experience should be almost twice faster as well since the Temporary Internet Files will be kept in memory instead writting and reading them from the Physical Hard Drive. Another good thing about this Tweak is that we won't have to worry about cleanning the Temporary Internet Files anymore because everytime we restart our system the Virtual Hard Drive will be cleaned up. Remember that all the data will be allocated in the System's RAM and the information in the RAM it's automatically "erased" everytime we restart or turn off our system.[/color]

So with all this in mind let's go finish our trick!

Open Internet Explorer. Click Tools/ Internet Options. Under 'General Tab', look for'Browsing History' and click 'Settings'. Change the 'Disk Space to use' to 60MB and click 'Move Folder' under 'Current Location'. Browse to your new Virtual Hard Drive, select it and click OK. See screenshot bellow

[center][img]http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h41/yoni5002/Tweak%20IE%20in%20Vista/AllocateTempinVHDD.png[/img][/center]

Prompt: Windows will log you off to move the Temporary Internet Files to the new location (Virtual Hard Drive). Select Yes and let the system log off. After login back onto Windows, Open your Internet Explorer and enjoy!!

[center][img]http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h41/yoni5002/Tweak%20IE%20in%20Vista/Reboot.png[/img][/center]

Your system will be running all Temp internet Files in your Physical RAM so we expect much more browsing speed while surfing the Internet. Last tip, if you wanna check the Temporary Internet Files, simply open 'My PC' navigate to your Virtual Hard Drive and check it out. you can erase all temps, etc. RAMDISK will act as another Hard Drive in your system... See the last screenshot

[center][img]http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h41/yoni5002/Tweak%20IE%20in%20Vista/Results.png[/img][/center]

Thanks for reading all this and taking it into consideration. Please feel free to post your experiences, advices, corrections, etc, so other members can know what is expected when this Tweak is used in their systems.

As I see it, it really speeds up my Internet surfing for almost the double. :)

ENJOY!!!

For those Geeks that love Firefox as much as I do, here is how to do the same with it:

After finishing the RAMDISK Installation, open Firefox to move the Cache Folder into our new Virtual Hard Drive. Here is what to do:

- Open Firefox
- In the address bar type in: "about:config" without quotes
- Look for the entry of: "browser.cache.disk.parent_directory". Double click on that and you should be able to change it.

If you don't have it, then click on any entry, then do a right click and select New/ String, and enter the above (browser.cache.disk.parent_directory) in the first box, and the location in the second (Z:\\) in my case. See screenshots bellow for reference...

[img]http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h41/yoni5002/Tweak%20IE%20in%20Vista/Fire%20Fox%20Tweak/Firefox1.png[/img]

[img]http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h41/yoni5002/Tweak%20IE%20in%20Vista/Fire%20Fox%20Tweak/Firefox2.png[/img] [img]http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h41/yoni5002/Tweak%20IE%20in%20Vista/Fire%20Fox%20Tweak/Firefox3.png[/img]

[img]http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h41/yoni5002/Tweak%20IE%20in%20Vista/Fire%20Fox%20Tweak/Firefox4RAMDISK.png[/img]

[img]http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h41/yoni5002/Tweak%20IE%20in%20Vista/Fire%20Fox%20Tweak/FireFoxCache.png[/img]

Enjoy!

Can you import the website icon (in the IE Address Bar) when dragging URL to desktop ?

rupertrealbear — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 17:55:13 GMT

:cool: I keep a few shortcuts to gaming/educational websites that my son uses. With XP, I noticed that, when dragging a URL to the desktop, any mini icon next to the URL in the address bar would result in a snazzy customised icon: something my son can instantly recognise.

Of course I COULD dig out some fun icons from my own . . . I just wondered if this import from IE was something that Vista can do with the right technique.

Can anybody help ?

Yours trivially

Rupertrealbear

going from double click to single click

johnviv — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 12:32:40 GMT

hi all

im new to vista home premium, how do i alter from double click with the mouse to single click any help would be much appreciated

many thanks

Log On Box

wclement7 — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 22:08:51 GMT

Is there anyway to move the log on box? such as to the right upper corner instead of right in the middle? I changed my picture with LogonStudio and if the actual picture and log on was more to the right and up it would
look so much better! Let me know!

thanks,

willie

Enable any USB drive to work with ReadyBoost!

Jason — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 08:46:50 GMT

Windows Vista Tip: Enable Any USB Drive To Work With ReadyBoost

In the never ending quest to squeeze more performance out of your Computer, faster disk drives, more memory, and CPU upgrades are usually the popular path taken. With Windows Vista another option exist to enhance performance using a built in feature called ReadyBoost.

Vista ReadyBoost allows you to use a USB key as virtual memory in order to enhance performance. Unfortunately Vista has limitations on the specifications of the USB key that can be used with Ready Boost. If you have a USB key that Vista will not use, below is a work around to get any USB drive around this limitation.

ReadyBoost requirements for USB keys are as follows:

The USB Key must be at least USB 2.0.
The device must be able to do 3.5 MB/s for 4 KB random reads uniformly across the entire device and 2.5 MB/s for 512 KB random writes uniformly across the device.
The USB Key has to have at least 64mb of free space.

If your USB key is at least USB 2.0, but is rated slower for the random reads and writes required to use ReadyBoost, more than likely you have seen this message:

If so, plug in the USB Key, and cancel Autoplay if it pops up.

Click on Start button, and select COMPUTER. After Windows Explorer opens, in the right window pane find the USB Key you want to use.

Right click and select Properties, then select the ReadyBoost tab and uncheck Stop retesting this device when I plug it in.

Click OK and safely unmount the USB Key from your Computer.

Before Proceeding - the next step includes exporting the registry key to use as a backup if needed. DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP. As a safe guard, you may want to create a System Restore point when making configuration changes to your System.

Open the Registry (click on the Start button and type Regedit in the Run field).

Navigate to:
HKLM (Local Machine) \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows NT \ CurrentVersion \ EMDgmt.
Right click on EMDgmt and select Export to back up the Key to a location on your Computer (you may also want to copy to a CD or USB drive that can be accessed if needed).

Under EMDMgmt will list all the USB devices that have been connected to your Computer. Select the USB Key you want to use with ReadyBoost and click once on it (in this example I have selected the FIRELITE USB drive).

In the right window pane, modify the following values:

- Double click on Device Status and change the Value Data to 2 then click OK.
- Double click on ReadSpeedKBs and change the Value Data to 1000 then click OK. (after clicking OK, the value may be displayed as Decimal - 4096)
- double click on WriteSpeedKBs and change the Value Data to 1000 then click OK. (after clicking OK, the value may be displayed as Decimal - 4096)

Close the Registry when completed.

Plug your USB Key back in to your Computer, cancel Autoplay if it pops up, and go to Start \ COMPUTER and find the USB Key. Right click and select Properties, then select the ReadyBoost tab and you should now be able to use it with ReadyBoost.

Keep in mind, ReadyBoost benefit is to only enhance performance for random access reads and is used as a read-ahead cache program.

Enabling USB Keys that is rated slower than the specification required by ReadyBoost may not give you the performance boost you are looking for. Also if your PC is Dual Core and has 2Gigs or more RAM, you may not notice any performance boost when using ReadyBoost.

As always test first. Your mileage will vary.

How does Vista utilize my thumbdrive?

SwiftImmortal_1 — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 09:46:23 GMT

I noticed after activating ReadyBoost on my 2 gig thumb drive, after a couple of days my thumbdrive started getting full...but I hadn't added anything new to it. When I went into the folder options and unhid the system files, I found a folder full of file fragments on my thumdrive...almost a gig's worth! Why doesn't Vista auto-delete them if they are corrupted fragments? Is there a way to force Vista to do that?

Background Processes

AK40rtySe7en — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 21:26:31 GMT

I am new to vista as well as these forums and just had a quick question maybe someone could link me if theres already a topic but which startup programs and background processes are unnecessary? In order words which can I disable?