11 WINDOWS TWEAKS AND TIPAS &TRICKS

11. Increase Performance by Adjusting Vista Visual Effects and Performance Properties!!!!




I'm going to take the time to really let you control your system through visual and performance effects right now.



Change your Power Setting



I'll start first with a simple trick that most will laugh once they learn. Have you ever wondered why sometimes your system runs very slow, expecially after plug in from battery power with Vista???



To help you in controlling performance and battery power, Vista has a new option that lets you decide at what level you want your system to perform. You simply 'left click' on the battery icon in your system tray and decide whether you want your system running in balanced, power saver or high performance mode. It as easy as that.



Yes...I know... this is really a cheat tweak that many know already but, its really a reminder for all that will be a performance increase at some point. How many times have we wondered why our system was running slow only to go into the power option and see that we are still on power saver mode?



Now... on to the real tweak!!!!! Dum Dum Dum Dum du Dum. okok not quite yet... another mini-cheat tweak.



Enable or Disable Vista Aero



Vista uses up alot of resources to allow it to look great, some of which slow the system down just for the visual effect. There is a simple way to decide, as far as the desktop goes, what exactly you want and don't want.



1. Right click on the desktop background and select 'Personalize' and 'Windows Colour and Appearance'.

2. Experiment with turning off Vista Aero by checking and unchecking 'Enable Transparency'.



This, along with others I will cover shortly, results in a performance increase because, each time you click on new windows, that window has to be rendered as the system is set up. So... if you don't need Aero, uncheck the box and the system does not have to work that much harder every time you open a new window.



Change your Vista Colour Scheme



We can actually carry this a step further. Click on 'Open Classic Appearance Properties for More Colour Options'. Here, you will find that you can adjust your colour scheme which results in a less demanding appearance.



For example, Windows Vista Basic is much less demanding than Windows Aero and similarly Windows Standard is less demanding than Vista Basic. One can see this by simply clicking on the menu selection. Play around and make the system your own and how you want it.



Adjust Vista Visual Effects



Now, lets get to the meat and gravy shall we? (or soya for those vegetarians)



1. Click Start/Control Panel/Classic View/Performance information and Effects/Adjust Visual Effects



Here you can play around with each and every little setting that you choose to make your system speedier and more in tune with what you want.



Want an example?



One of the boxes you can select or deselect is ' Use a background image for Each Folder type' If you deselect it, your folders (ie. picture folders) won't have to take the time to put a picture on its face every time you select it. This can be particularly obvious with systems with lesser memory and no graphics card.



Personally, I leave every boxed checked, but then again Im running with a dual 2 core processor,4Gb RAM and in 64 Bit mode. Life is great!



Security Settings



12. Remove that Annoying Security Center Notification!!



Sometimes I take for granted that things will work themselves out when they occur as should be the response to Vista 's Security Center alerts. For example, if you turn off UAC in the tweak above, you will continually get security balloon tip warnings that display the 'Red Armour X' with a balloon warning. I am surprised to learn that many leave it on and are alerted continually because they aren't sure of how to turn it off.



Well, for all those who fall into this category, your gonna chuckle at the simplicity of it. But first, a bit of a background if I may...



Security is placed in Vista to ensure that your system is as protected as it can be. It not only gives you an idea of what to do to protect your system and keep it protected, but it alerts you if something is not working.



It monitors your antivirus program, firewall, automatic updating, spyware, internet security settings as well as UAC. If I left mine on, I would be getting alerts every 2 seconds as I am tweaked and have many of these systems adjusted.



If you are computer savvy and want to rid yourself of this annoying 'Coat of Armor' and its balloon tips, just do the following:



1. Double click on the Armour icon in your system panel to go into Security Center;

2. On the left, click on 'Change the way Security Center Alerts me'; and

3. Choose to either have the icon remain and get rid of the balloon alerts or to remove the icon and not be alerted.



You can always change back or check it later if you would like by going into Control Panel/Security Center and modifying your options.



13. Turn Off User Account Control (UAC)(Ty and Rep Sequoia225)



This tweak is best followed after a 'clean' install with respect to the below listed advisory.



One of the most annoying things in Vista is the protection of your system through UAC. Before I knew how to disable it I considered throwing the system out the window. The purpose of UAC is to make you confirm a large number of everyday functions in order to somehow protect your system from malware infections. In any case heres how to shut it off (or turn it back on).



1. Click on start and then click on your username picture top right of the start menu.

2. Click on 'Turn User Account Control on or off.'

3. Uncheck (or check) User Account Control, select ok and restart.



Thats it except...



There needs to be a word of caution in turning UAC on and off. There is a process called virtualization that, when UAC is 'on' saves program data files (things like INI files, configuration files, saved game files etc.) within a totally separate area for each individual user. If you then turn UAC off, there have been reports that certain programs may be unable to find that saved data. The truth, in fact, is that the data is still there but only visible to the program in this 'virtualization folder' once UAC has been turned on again.



An example is... If UAC is on and you install some game, and the game then saves files to that program's main directory and subsequently you turn UAC off. Those files may appear to the game that they have been deleted when, in all actuality, they are stored in this folder and only accessible through virtualization when UAC is on. (Thanks to SchuderiaConchiglia and Crash for an enormous amount of background study on this.)



14. Turn off System Restore (just not quite yet)



One of the most powerful tweaks available to Vista has to do with the System Restore feature. Back in the days of 3.1/Me/Millenium and even XP, we would have screamed to have something this effective in restoring our system when we made a mistake. Quite simply, System Restore will restore your system to how it was when the last restore point was created....which is why the top title has 'just not quite yet'. The power during our tweaking is that, should we make a mistake, we can just revert back to a previous state.



First, you can access system restore by several methods, a few as follows:



1. Start/Control Panel/Backup and Restore Centre/Create or Repair a Restore Point; or

2. Start/All Programs/Maintenance/Backup and Restore Center.



System Restore is on automatically. To turn it off, you simply go into 'Create a Restore Point or Change Settings' and turn it off (or on) by checking or unchecking options.



Now to the meat and gravy of this tweak....I'm going to describe it to you through the words of an old Clint Eastwood movie:



The Good: When System Restore is turned off, it saves a large amount of disk space because it is not continually creating restore points. It also enhances performance significantly as it is not running in the background and creating these restore points.



The Bad: When it is turned off, you cannot revert to a previously saved restore point; and



The Ugly: If you make a significant mistake with it off, there is usually no turning back. You may need to completely reinstall, if its bad enough, which can be time consuming.



My Own Opinion??? Ok...sure I would suggest you leave it on for now, anyway, and reduce your saved restore points to just the one by:



Start/Computer/Right click on 'C'/Properties/Disk CleanUp/More Options/System restore and Shadow Copies (Clean Up).



When your tweaking is nearing an end and you are comfortable with what you have, make a disk backup and by all means shut it down. You will see a world of difference.



System Maintenance



15. Use TuneXP 1.5 (TY and Rep Trebuin)(Click for File)



Trebuin introduced me to this little XP program which works great on Vista and reduces your boot time by reorganizing it. The program is phenomenal andhas no side effects except a much quicker start speed. As you get more knowledgeable, there are a bunch of other great utilities in the program.



It takes all your boot files and places them at the front of the disk.



This is the best Tweak in our arsenal as there are several reports that it will cut your start time in half. I have verified this with my Vista 64Bit (20 sec) and have cut my sons 32Bit time in half to 40 seconds.



I use it on both my Vista 32 and 64 bit systems and it works great. Word to the wise though...dont use later versions. This version is the only tested for this.



1. Install Program and if asked to select a drive, select 'C';

2. Go to Memory and File System and Click on Ultra-Fast booting (it may appear to freeze but its working);

3. Once its done, it will inform you not to reboot your system until defragmentation is complete;

4. Bring up your Task Manager from your system tray by right clicking in the tray bottom right and select Task Manager;

5. Go to processes;

6. You will see two processes relating to defrag. Dont restart your machine until they dissappear.



WARNING!!! Although many have gotten phenomenal results from the Ultra Fast Booting option, DO NOT utilize any other options in TuneXP.



16. Get CCleaner!!! It Works with 32/64Bit (Click here!)



CCleaner (formerly Crap Cleaner) is a freeware system optimization and privacy tool. It removes unused and temporary files from your system - allowing Windows to run faster, more efficiently and giving you more hard disk space. The best part is that it's fast! (normally taking less than a second to run) and Free.



It cleans the following:



1. Internet Explorer Cache, History, Cookies, Index.dat;

2. Recycle Bin, Temporary files and Log files;

3. Recently opened URLs and files;

4. Third-party application temp files and recent file lists (MRUs);

5. Including: Firefox, Opera, Media Player, eMule, Kazaa, Google Toolbar, Netscape, Office XP, Nero, Adobe Acrobat, WinRAR, WinAce, WinZip and more...



It also contains an 'Advanced Registry Scanner' and cleaner to remove unused and old entries to include File Extensions, ActiveX Controls, ClassIDs, ProgIDs, Uninstallers, Shared DLLs, Fonts, Help Files, Application Paths, Icons, Invalid Shortcuts and more...



There is also a Windows Startup editor as well as a back-up tool just in case you delete something your not supposed to.



17. Commit to a Weekly Maintenance Schedule.



I think one of the best tweaks we can do is to commit to doing a proper cleanup of our system at least weekly. I will confess Im a nut for this and do it daily but, most importantly, it does ensure your system is in top shape and running its best.



Through internet use, trying new things and...yes tweaking, your system will save internet and tmp files which will build up over time to an incredible size, slowing your system down quite a bit. Further, installing and uninstalling new programs and applications leaves tons of unneeded registry entries in your system.



So...I will walk you through my regime. I hope it helps you along.



1. Clean Internet files. I use Internet Explorer but have used FireFox which is similar. Lets start by going into the 'tools' menu (IE) and deleting our browsing history. I choose to delete all the different allowable otions just to make sure we got everything.



2. Clean your Registry. In Tweak # 4 above, we downloaded CCleaner. Lets use it now to first clean our windows files, then applications and follow this with a registry scan and fix.



3. Scrub your System Clean. Im gonna let you in on a little secret that the God's are gonna condemn me for. I do a thorough scrub of my system with a program called Easy Cleaner 2.0 by ToniArts. BE CAREFUL THOUGH! This program was originally intended for XP and is over a year old. Do not touch the 'Registry' or 'Duplicates; buttons. Its more of a 64Bit concern but they are not fine tuned for Vista. Use 'Unnecessary' and click to choose all file types. 'Find' followed by 'Delete all'. You will be surprised at the vast amount of files that are found and cleaned.



4. Empty your Recycle Bin.Go to the Recycle Bin and empty it. EasyCleaner puts all its discarded files there.



5. Confirm with a Disk Cleanup. Start/Computer/Rt Click on 'C'/Properties/Disk Cleanup.



6. Finish with a System Defrag. Start/Computer/Rt Click on 'C'/Properties/Tools/Defragment Now.



Feels like your computer just had a good bath doesn't it. This regime has been used by me for the longest time and I have found my system stays in tip top shape with this.



For the hard disk users (Im SSD personally), lack of cleaning and continuous use will cause a huge buildup of garbage files followed by extreme file fragmentation which will slow your system immensely.



To put this into perspective, its like walking down a road and then walking down it again once its been hit by a few hundred bombs. Which would be the quicker trip?



General Tips, Tricks and Software



18. Windows Snipping Tool IS AMAZING!



I let the cat out of the bag in the last tweak so I figured I might as well spill the beans. If you have Vista Premium or above you have a great new tool called Snipping Tool. It enables you to freeze whatever is on your screen and take a picture of it. You may notice that I use this in tons of my threads as it is so easy.



To get to it...



1. Click Start/All Programs/Accessories and voila ; or

2. Start 'Run' and type 'snippingtool'.



Just for a bit of a background, tthis is Microsofts description of 'The Tool':

http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Win...605b41033.mspx



NOTE: If you delete Tablet PC above, this will not work!!



19. Improve your Battery Life with Vista Battery Saver!!!!!!!(TY and Rep ScuderiaConchiglia)



Its been awhile since I threw a program in here and, for the most part, its because they need to pass my standards to make it here. They must be complete freeware and not share/trial ware and there also can't be advertisements or limited execution of the program, prompting one to buy the 'better' version.



Having said that, I just have to throw this one in!!! Its called Vista Battery Saver by Codeplex and is created for the sole purpose of allowing more manipulation of battery modes as well as applying hidden tweaks that increase battery life automatically. It is a system tray icon that does reside in the system tray which, normally, would knock it out of contention automatically. It is an .msi installation file though that, from what I can see, creates NO cpu usage or increase of its own and, serves the purpose of increasing battery life. My start time hasn't suffered as well!!



There is a plus in this program that Vista, for some reason, hasn't included. It allows you to set the performance mode (high performance, balanced and power savor) automatically when it is plugged in or on battery. It also enables you to choose when to keep MS Aero and sidebar on or off, again to improve battery life.



Ok enough of my jibber jabber and go here:

Vista Battery Saver



20. Increase or Decrease Desktop Icon Size in just a click!!!!(TY and Rep Trebuin)



Its nice every now and then to find a neat little trick that you never knew. This is the case with this appearance tweak which allows you to increase or decrease the size of your desktop icons.



Simply....



1. Click on your Desktop screen.

2. Hold the Control key down; and

3. Move your mouse scroll wheel up or down.

Tadaaa. You can control the size of your icons.



21. Can't Afford Office? Get OpenOffice for Free!!!



Yes, this inclusion is going to be a programmers nightmare because I'm supporting yet another program that is absolutely free. To pass my standards, the program has to be free of any limitations, time constraints, upgrades that cost us money and openly distributed to everyone. This one fits that bill and more!!



The program is called OpenOffice and it is described in detail here. The direct download is here. Quite frankly, it looks like the other software, acts like the other software, saves documents just like the other software..plus lots more and doesn't cost you a penny.



I'de probably list this as the best freebee on the net with respect to the amount of money saved. Now that I am using this, I don't understand why one would get the other program.



As a brief overview it has a very detailed word processor (that resembles the other one almost exactly), spreadsheet (same same), presentation creator (again same same), database which seems actually simpler, and add to this a drawing tool and mathematical function creator. Just click on the word to see the specific function page.



Heads up as it is a large download but worth every bit of space it takes and dont take just my word for it, see what others are saying.