Monday, November 19, 2007

Speed Up Windows Vista

Windows Vista features what some of us think is the prettiest GUI in the OS industry. Its stylish transparencies and nifty animations—driven by Direct3D and your graphics card—give it a polished look that's a pleasure to use.

Unfortunately, that shiny, new interface, called Aero, is also a resource hog. If you're running Vista on a PC that's near or just above the system requirements, you might want to shut off some or all of those features.

Here are some actions you might want to take to tweak interface niceties:

  • Lose the transparency. Right-click the desktop, click Personalize, and click Windows Color and Appearance. Uncheck Enable Transparency. Click OK.
  • Get rid of the Sidebar. It's cool, but some of those gadgets chow down on memory. Right-click the Sidebar, click Properties, and uncheck Start Sidebar When Windows Starts. Click OK. Then, right-click the Sidebar and click Close Sidebar. If you ever want it back, you can simply click the Start button and key in "sidebar" and hit Enter.
  • Get rid of some of the visual effects. Open Control Panel, click Performance and System Tools, and click Adjust Visual Effects. In the resulting window, you can uncheck line items for animations, fades, and other effects; or simply click Adjust For Best Performance.
  • Go with a non-Aero theme. To get rid of Aero entirely, use the Windows Classic, Windows Vista Basic, or Windows Standard theme. Right-click the desktop, click Personalize, and click Windows Color and Appearance. Click Open Classic Appearance Properties... and choose a theme in the Color Scheme list box. Click OK.
Visuals
Shut off some visuals to speed up the interface.
Use a non-Aero
Use a non-Aero theme to cut down on the GUI's use of resources.

When you perform such tweaks, Windows Vista won't look as pretty. It will, however, respond much faster.

No comments:

Monday, November 19, 2007

Speed Up Windows Vista

Windows Vista features what some of us think is the prettiest GUI in the OS industry. Its stylish transparencies and nifty animations—driven by Direct3D and your graphics card—give it a polished look that's a pleasure to use.

Unfortunately, that shiny, new interface, called Aero, is also a resource hog. If you're running Vista on a PC that's near or just above the system requirements, you might want to shut off some or all of those features.

Here are some actions you might want to take to tweak interface niceties:

  • Lose the transparency. Right-click the desktop, click Personalize, and click Windows Color and Appearance. Uncheck Enable Transparency. Click OK.
  • Get rid of the Sidebar. It's cool, but some of those gadgets chow down on memory. Right-click the Sidebar, click Properties, and uncheck Start Sidebar When Windows Starts. Click OK. Then, right-click the Sidebar and click Close Sidebar. If you ever want it back, you can simply click the Start button and key in "sidebar" and hit Enter.
  • Get rid of some of the visual effects. Open Control Panel, click Performance and System Tools, and click Adjust Visual Effects. In the resulting window, you can uncheck line items for animations, fades, and other effects; or simply click Adjust For Best Performance.
  • Go with a non-Aero theme. To get rid of Aero entirely, use the Windows Classic, Windows Vista Basic, or Windows Standard theme. Right-click the desktop, click Personalize, and click Windows Color and Appearance. Click Open Classic Appearance Properties... and choose a theme in the Color Scheme list box. Click OK.
Visuals
Shut off some visuals to speed up the interface.
Use a non-Aero
Use a non-Aero theme to cut down on the GUI's use of resources.

When you perform such tweaks, Windows Vista won't look as pretty. It will, however, respond much faster.

No comments: