MASTER TUTORIAL: Make Your Windows VISTA Super Fast

By Vishal Gupta
in Essential Guides

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Vishal Gupta

Posted
Posted

So you are using Windows Vista and feel that its slower than Windows XP? Then you have come to the right place.

Following tutorial will help you in tweaking your Windows Vista to the max and you'll feel a significant improvement in your system performance. So without wasting any time lets start:

1. Following code contains a few registry modifications, which are completely safe and can increase the performance of Windows Vista. Just paste following code in Notepad, save the file with name "Vishal.reg" (including quotes) and then run it:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AllFilesystemObjects\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\Copy To]
@="{C2FBB630-2971-11D1-A18C-00C04FD75D13}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AllFilesystemObjects\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\Move To]
@="{C2FBB631-2971-11D1-A18C-00C04FD75D13}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shell\cmd]
"Extended"=-

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\cmd]
"Extended"=-

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Notepad]
"StatusBar"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Notepad]
"fWrap"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop]
"AutoEndTasks"="1"
"HungAppTimeout"="1000"
"MenuShowDelay"="8"
"WaitToKillAppTimeout"="2000"
"LowLevelHooksTimeout"="1000"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
"NoLowDiskSpaceChecks"=dword:00000001
"ClearRecentDocsOnExit"=dword:00000001
"LinkResolveIgnoreLinkInfo"=dword:00000001
"NoResolveSearch"=dword:00000001
"NoResolveTrack"=dword:00000001
"NoInternetOpenWith"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control]
"WaitToKillServiceTimeout"="2000"

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\RemoteComputer]

2. Right-click on My Computer icon on Desktop and select Properties (or press <WIN> key + <Pause/Break> key), click on Advanced system settings link in left side pane (You can also open it by typing sysdm.cpl in RUN or start menu search box and press Enter). Now click on Settings button in Performance section:

advancedjc2.png

Now disable all unnecessary options in Visual Effects tab, you can remain following options enabled according to your requirements:

  • Enable desktop composition (If you want to use Windows Aero theme)
  • Enable transparent glass (If you want to use transparency in Windows)
  • Show preview and filters in folder (If you use Details Pane in Explorer)
  • Show thumbnails instead of icons (If you want to show thumbnails in Explorer)
  • Show window contents while dragging (If you want windows to show content while moving them)
  • Smooth edges of screen fonts (If you want to show smooth fonts)
  • Use drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop (If you want to show shadows under desktop icon labels)
  • Use visual styles on windows and buttons (If you want to use Windows Aero or Basic theme.)

performanceua4.png

3. Open Folder Options and click on View tab:

folderoptionsue2.png

Now disable following options:

  • Display file size information in folder tips.
  • Display simple folder view in Navigation pane.
  • Hide extensions for known file types.
  • Show encrypted or compressed NTFS files in color.
  • Show pop-up description for folder and desktop items.

Other options don't affect the system performance. You can enable/disable them according to your requirements.

4. Right-click on My Computer icon on Desktop and select Manage (You can also open it by typing services.msc in RUN or start menu search box and press Enter).

Now goto Services & Applications -> Services. Here you can set a few unnecessary services to Manual, which will not start with windows and will decrease the boot time and will increase system performance.

Please follow the following tutorial to know about which services can be safely set to MANUAL:

Windows Vista Services that can be Safely set to MANUAL

5. Type msconfig in RUN or Startmenu search box and press Enter. Now goto Startup tab and deselect the unnecessary entries, which you don't want to start automatically with Windows, e.g. you can disable VGA driver utility, Sound Card utility, etc to speed up the startup time and to increase system performance.

You can also disable these items using Windows Defender. Open Windows Defender and click on Tools and then click on "Software Explorer".

6. Open Sound in Control Panel (or type mmsys.cpl in RUN or Startmenu search box and press Enter), goto Sounds tab and select No Sounds in Sound Scheme section. Or you can remain some of your favorite sounds but set Exit Windows, Windows Logoff, Windows Logon and Start Navigation to (None).

7. At last I'll advise to defrag the HDD regularly, install only necessary software, use the latest drivers and keep your Windows updated.

===================================

Following is a description of all above mentioned registry codes:

Adds "Copy To" option in context menu:

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AllFilesystemObjects\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\Copy To]

@="{C2FBB630-2971-11D1-A18C-00C04FD75D13}"

Adds "Move To" option in context menu:

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AllFilesystemObjects\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\Move To]

@="{C2FBB631-2971-11D1-A18C-00C04FD75D13}"

Add "Open Command Window Here" in context menu of folders:

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\cmd]

"Extended"=-

Add "Open Command Window Here" in context menu of drives:

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shell\cmd]

"Extended"=-

Enable Statusbar in Notepad:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Notepad]

"StatusBar"=dword:00000001

Enable "Word Wrap" feature in Notepad:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Notepad]

"fWrap"=dword:00000001

Following tweaks helps in making the shutting down process faster:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop]

Automatically End Task of Hung application:

"AutoEndTasks"="1"

Specify the Response Time for Hung Applications:

"HungAppTimeout"="1000"

Makes the menu opening faster:

"MenuShowDelay"="8"

Specify the time to wait before ending task of hung application:

"WaitToKillAppTimeout"="2000"

Setting a low value (in milliseconds) means that if the hooked program does not respond within timeout period, one that has set the hook would not become unstable or go in infinite wait but would kill itself saving windows resources and improving performance.

"LowLevelHooksTimeout"="1000"

Following tweaks makes system faster:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]

Don't prompt that you are on low disk space:

"NoLowDiskSpaceChecks"=dword:00000001

Clear recent documents/applications history while exiting windows:

"ClearRecentDocsOnExit"=dword:00000001

Disable Automatic Network Shortcut Resolution:

"LinkResolveIgnoreLinkInfo"=dword:00000001

Disable Comprehensive Search for Broken Shortcuts:

"NoResolveSearch"=dword:00000001

Disable Tracking of Broken Shortcut Links:

"NoResolveTrack"=dword:00000001

Doesnt prompt you to search the required application on Internet, when you select "Open With" for opening a file:

"NoInternetOpenWith"=dword:00000001

Speed up shutdown:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control]

"WaitToKillServiceTimeout"="2000"

Speed up Network Browsing by removing Network Scheduled Tasks:

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\RemoteComputer]

Experienced

Thrawn

Posted
Posted

It's really not worth doing any of this. I can't imagine significantly better performance through these very minor tweaks, and they disable a large number of very minor niceties that users might miss when their loss is combined.

The only useful item is #4, and external guide to services.

Grand Master

primexx

Posted
Posted
It's really not worth doing any of this. I can't imagine significantly better performance through these very minor tweaks, and they disable a large number of very minor niceties that users might miss when their loss is combined.

The only useful item is #4, and external guide to services.

yea I agree this is just another one of those "disable everything" guides that purport to be the best thing since sliced bread but really doesn't do much. And the external services guide is pretty pathetic. blackviper's guide is far superior.

Grand Master

Doli

Posted
Posted

Disable "Hide extensions for known file types."?

How could something as small as that make Vista faster?

IE 7 feels faster in Vista to me at startup.

I just looked at blackviper's guide, i like how it explains the services when you click them.

Collaborator

Vishal Gupta

Posted
  • Author
Posted

^^ Its OK.

@Doli

I have also included a few tweaks in this tutorial which must be applied like the one you have pointed out. It helps in rectifying malicious files in your system cause most of the times viruses make EXE files having yellow folder icons. If this option is not enabled user might get confused between normal folders and the malicious file.

Community Regular

Gally

Posted
Posted (edited)

Dunno, I've spent a bit of time customizing vista to suit me best and I'm quite happy with it, but you should check your power options under control panel and unless your on a laptop set it to high performance and check the plan settings. I found out that my Q6600 was running on 50% power. Also disable any Visual Effects that you don't want to leave on, I prefer to have some of them on because it looks nicer, but some stuff i would never use are eating valuable RAM.

Edit: Yeah, I cant stand that UAC, disabling it was the first thing I did when I got my pc.

Edited by Gally
Grand Master

AltecXP

Posted
Posted

I appreciate the work..but I have killed every service i don't use in vista, turned off most the effects, and done nearly ever little reg tweak I can find......Vista doesn't respond to tweaks like XP does...I barely had any improvement.

Collaborator

Vishal Gupta

Posted
  • Author
Posted

^^ Thanks. :)

I posted the things which I usually do in my system to speed up Windows. I also posted the same tutorial in a few other forums and got lots of positive feedbacks but here most of the ppl didnt like it. But its OK. I always welcome all kind of comments whether its appreciations or criticism. I believe in sharing and I'll keep sharing my tutorials in future. :)

Proficient

piehouserat

Posted
Posted
I also posted the same tutorial in a few other forums and got lots of positive feedbacks but here most of the ppl didnt like it.

maybe that's because here on neowin members generally tend to be far more knowledgeable than on other forums...

the tweaks you have detailed are misleading as they claim to improve vista performance, however, focus mainly on changing minor user preferences. for example, how would adding a shortcut to a command window in the context menu improve performance?

As stated previously, vista does not respond well in terms of performance to such 'tweaks'.

Apprentice

koskoz

Posted
Posted

I'm using Vista since 8 months, and I think this guide won't accelerate Vista a lot.

The little tweaks about displays informations or enhancement will only work if your computer isn't enough powerfull, but for a recent computer that's useless.

I've already tried to desactivate some Vista services, but there are pretty essential if you want a Vista and not a XP instead.

In my opinion, we can't do a lot if we want to have faster Vista.

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