Windows Vista has become a widely used operating system that is supported by most well known laptop and desktop makers. The one major complaint that is heard from lots of people using Windows Vista is that it is very slow when booting up.

Vista had some majors flaws when it was first released, which turned many people off it. Although some patches were released that fixed them, the time it takes to boot up when turned on still is a very annoying problem. Here are some potential solutions that may help in speeding up Windows Vista.

If you are using an older computer with Vista running on it, then one problem that may be slowing it down is the limited ‘RAM’ (random access memory) that it is working with. So, I recommend freeing up some memory by removing some unnecessary features.
By disabling the Windows Vista side bar for example you can save some memory space. The sidebar is turned on by default, but most of the software in it is never used by most computer owners. You’ll want to ‘right click’ on the sidebar, then hit ‘close’. There should be a dialogue box that states, “start sidebar with windows start”, make sure that the box beside it is unchecked.

Another possible solution is a feature of Vista called Windows ReadyBoost. This is the actual feature that Microsoft recommends to add some extra memory to the system and enhance performance. It helps by allowing Windows Vista to use the empty storage space on removable media (e.g USB sticks) that helps speed it up. Insert a portable hard drive or USB stick and then Vista should offer you the option of using ReadyBoost to speed up your computer. Be sure to only use a fast flash memory card, as Windows Vista can not use the slow version. It is recommended to use up to three times the RAM in your computer. Therefore, if you have 512 megs of RAM, you’ll need to use 1.5 GB for the optimal performance.

A feature that can also be used to speed up Vista is the System Health Report.

  1. You go to the control panel, then ‘performance and information tools’, then ‘advanced tools’.
  2. You can click on ‘generate a system health report’. It takes about a minute to run, then it will show you all the details of your PC, and it will also offer solutions as well.
  3. The report contains both the hardware configurations and also the software configurations and their errors.
  4. You can then search out the best product to fix the specific needs of your PC.

One of the best known ways to increase the speed of Windows Vista is by adding more RAM to your computer. If you have a fairly recent model you can go down to you local computer supply store and buy more RAM that is inserted into the inside of your machine. If you are not familiar with how or where the extra RAM should be installed, have a professional do it or you’ll end up causing more damage than just a slow system. This has proven to be one of the most successful ways in which to increase the speed of Windows Vista.

Another step you can take to speed up Windows Vista is to disable the Indexing Service. As we mentioned in the post about speeding up Windows XP , the Indexing Service is somewhat unnecessary. What this service does is to keep an index in memory for all your Windows files’ location so that to give you faster results when searching your PC for a specific file. This operation takes up significant memory. To disable Indexing Services:

  • Go to My Computer, Right Click on C Drive and uncheck “Index this drive for faster searching” under the General Tab.

Related posts:

  1. How to speed up Windows XP
  2. Fix Windows XP or VISTA Startup Problems with Spotmau Powersuite 2010
  3. Speed up windows with a Registry Cleaner

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Filed under: Windows

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