How to Speed up Windows Vista

Windows Vista adds many features that, while useful, decrease system performance. Windows Vista can be configured to reduce the overhead of most of the newer features. Windows Vista has three different power plans.

Method 1 of 5:

Change Your Power Plan

Windows Vista has three different power plans.

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Click ⇱ Home. Type Power Options, and press enter.
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Selecting the power plan that you want to use, or create your own plan by clicking Create a Power Plan in the Power Options window. Each plan has it's own advantages, as well as disadvantages.
1. "Balanced": Vista balances both energy consumption and performance.
  
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2. "Power Saver": Vista saves power by reducing system performance.
  
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3. "High Performance": Vista offers the highest possible performance at the cost of shortening battery life.
  
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Method 2 of 5:

Optimize Visual Effects

Vista's visual effects can cost you ram and consume power. Follow these directions if your gaming performance has decreased, or if you need your battery to last longer.

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Open the Start menu.
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Open the start menu and type in control.exe system. Press enter to open the system control panel applet.
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Click Performance, which should be on the left, and then on the left under Tasks you should see Adjust Visual Settings.
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Select Adjust for best performance and scroll to the bottom and check the box Use visual styles on windows and buttons.

Method 3 of 5:

Manage Startup Applications

Many applications have components that will start with Windows, and continue to run in the background. These programs cause a delay in loading your desktop, and consume more than their fair share of ram, and cause spikes in CPU usage.

Disable Unwanted Startup Programs.
1. Click on the Start button and type "System Configuration".
  
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2. Click and open the Startup tab, and select applications that you you want to start with your computer.
  
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3. Click OK, or Apply. A dialogue will appear asking you to restart. Save your documents and restart the computer.
  
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Method 4 of 5:

Defragmentation

Defragmenting your partitions can lead to faster reading and writing of data from your hard drive.

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Click and open the Start menu. Access Disk Defragmenter from All Programs>Accessories.
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Click Defragment Now.