Tips About Computers ( Vista Tips and Tweaks!)

Well, here is a list of tips and tweaks found on the net that make your vista more user friendly and faster.

1. Increase max IE7 downloads

Internet Explorer 7 only allows you to download two files from the same server at a time. This is not a software limit but rather a limit imposed based on the web standard. Since this is simply a software setting, it can be modified and you can increase the limit to something much high such as 10. Follow the steps below to increase your max downloads from the same server:

1. Click on the Start Button and type in Regedit.
2. When Registry Editor loads navigate through HKEY_CURRENT_USER,
Software, Microsoft, Windows, CurrentVersion and Internet Settings.
3. Right click on MaxConnectionsPerServer and select Modify. Set the
decimal value to something greater than 2.
4. Right click on MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server and select Modify. Set the
decimal value to something greater than 2.
5. Reboot.

2. Enhance SATA disk performance

Do you have a SATA disk drive in your computer? If so, you can squeeze a little more performance out of your hard disk. This speeds up the performance of your hard disk by enhancing write caching. However, if your computer is not connected to a battery backup and you loose power you have a increased risk for data loss or corruption. If you have a laptop your chances are data loss or corruption are dramatically less since your laptop battery will kick on if your power source is lost. Let's get started:

1. Click on the Start Button and key in Device Manager and hit Enter.
2. Expand Disk Drives.
3. Right click on your hard drive and select Properties.
4. On the Policies tab, check Enable advanced performance.
5. Hit OK and close Device Manager.

3. Stop User Account Control (UAC) screen flicker / flash

Follow the steps below to disable UAC secure desktop:

1. Click on the Start Button and key in secpol.msc and hit Enter.
2. Navigate through Local Policies and Security Options.
3. Scroll to the bottom and right click on "User Account Control: Switch to
the secure desktop when prompting for elevation" and select Properties.
4. Set the option to Disabled and hit OK.

4. Boost your performance with ReadyBoost

Windows Vista has many new features that are designed to help older computers run Windows Vista better. One of those features and the topic of this tweak is called ReadyBoost. ReadyBoost helps your computer by giving it more high-speed memory. If your computer is running low on RAM then it has to kick a lot of applications out of high-speed physical memory to the paging file on your hard drive. This usually results in a big hit in performance and increased activity on your hard drive. ReadyBoost helps this situation by giving Windows an alternative to having to stick data into the slow paging file on your hard drive. Instead, ReadyBoost uses a USB storage device that is faster than a hard disk. This results in a performance boost because Windows will have a high speed alternative than using the slow paging file on your hard drive.

In order for ReadyBoost to work, it requires a USB storage device that meets minimum performance and space requirements:

* The device must be at least 64 MB
* The device must be USB 2.0
* It has to be able to read at 3.5 MB/s
* It has to be able to write at 2.5 MB/s

If you are unsure if your USB storage device meets these requirements, just give it a try anyways. To get started using ReadyBoost, follow these steps:

1. Plug in USB storage device.
2. Go to Computer and right click on the removable storage device and select Properties.
3. If your device is compatible, you will see a ReadyBoost tab. Click on that.
4. Select Use this device and select the amount of space on it you want to dedicate for the ReadyBoost system file.
5. Click OK and you are finished.

5. Speed up Start Menu Search (New Method)

The search box on the new Start Menu in Windows Vista can be very useful for everyday tasks. This search box is very powerful because not only does it search the start menu and control panel, but it also searches your pictures, documents and even your e-mails. The scope of the search is very wide and you can see some performance benefits if you narrow it down to just searching the start menu and control panel. Follow these steps to optimize your start menu search:

1. Right click on the start button and select Properties.
2. Click on the Customize button.
3. Remove the check from Search Communications.
4. Set Search Files to Don't search for files.
5. Click OK.
6. Click OK once more.

6. Disable User Account Control (UAC) only for Administrators

I'm sure you are well aware now of the advantages and disadvantages of UAC. It is great for non-admin users because it protects their computer from themselves. For advanced users, it can be a much different story causing many annoying authorization pop-ups. This is most common when you are doing a lot of activities that require admin rights such as installing applications and configuring Windows Vista after a fresh install. There is one practical solution to this issue that will help you with the UAC pop-ups if they annoy you and still benefit from the security of UAC.

This can be achieved by adjusting the local security policy to essentially disable UAC for administrators while leaving it enabled for low rights users. When you are using your PC for normal day-to-day use, log in with your low rights account. If you need to install a bunch of applications and make major system configuration changes then log in with your admin account. With fast user switching in Windows Vista you can easily switch between your accounts with little effort.

Follow these steps to disable UAC only for administrators:

1. Click on the Start button and type in secpol.msc and hit Enter.
2. Expand Local Policies and then Security Options.
3. Scroll to the bottom and locate "User Account Control: Behavior of the elevation prompt for administrators in Admin Approval Mode".
4. Right click on this setting and select Properties.
5. Set the value to Elevate without prompting.
6. Reboot.

7. Start Menu Privacy Tweaks

Every time you open up a document or launch a program Windows Vista keeps track of this information to build the list of application for recently run applications and recent documents list. This can be a convenience or it can be a privacy problems if you use a shared computer. If that is the case, then anyone that uses the computer after you can see what applications you like to run and also see the name of the documents or photos that you looked at.

In Windows Vista Microsoft has provided a easy way to tweak this setting. Follow the steps below to protect your privacy:

1. Right click on the taskbar and select Properties.
2. Click on the Start Menu tab.
3. Uncheck Store and display a list of recently opened files.
4. Uncheck Store and display a list of recently opened programs.
5. Hit OK and you are finished.

Now the applications that you launch and the documents & photos that you look at are no longer recorded.

8. Extend Activation period

Would you like to extend the activation period to the maximum 120 days instead of the 30 day period that is set by default? It is possible and legal to do this using the software licensing manager in Windows Vista. Simply run slmgr -rearm in CMD or at START-RUN to get another 30 days. You can do this a maximum of three times before Microsoft blocks further ******************s.

9. Enable Vista Glass on Intel GMA 950 Graphics Cards

Currently Windows Vista does not have WDDM support for the Intel GMA950 integrated graphics card. Even though this card is integrated, it supports all of the requirements for Vista Glass. It is just a matter of getting a driver that is compatible with it and vista.

After doing a ton of research, I found that there is another driver that you can actually use for now. There are some problems with it, such if you have a laptop, the external monitor port does not always work but other than that it works great for me on my Lenovo X60.

This is how I got Vista Glass to run on a GMA950:

1. First, I had to open up device manager. Click on the start menu and type in devmgmt.msc and Enter to load it up.
2. Once there, expand the Display Adapters section and right click on each device and select Uninstall.
3. Reboot the computer.
4. When it restarts, it should install a generic video driver so your screen will still work.
5. Go back into Device Manager, expand the Display Adapters section again and then right click on the device and select Update Driver.
6. This time select Browse My Computer for Driver and then Let me pick it from a list.
7. Go the the Intel section and select the Intel(R) Lakeport Graphics Controller.
8. Hit OK and install the new driver. Restart your computer.
9. Once you have rebooted, right click on your desktop and select Personalize again.
10. Click on Windows Colors and Appearance.
11. Click on Open classic appearance properties for more color options.
12. In the Color Scheme box, select Windows Vista Aero.
13. Hit OK and glass will now load.

If glass does not work for you, go back to Device Manager and ensure the new display driver is working. You may have to update your system BIOS version. I had to update the BIOS version on the X60 in order for the new driver to work.

10. Resize Partitions with Vista Disk Management

In Windows Vista it is now possible to resize partitions without any data loss in the new Disk Management console.

Resizing Partitions with Windows Vista:

1. Click on the Start Button and right click on Computer and select Manage.
2. Expand the Storage section and select Disk Management.
3. Then just right click on any partition and select either Expand or Shrink to change the size of the partition.

This will allow you to safely resize your partitions without any data loss.