User:Symtec/NCITS guide to speeding up vista

G'day Everyone,

I'm compiling a list of things that can be done in Windows Vista to speed it up

If you believe any of the below items have side effects and would be uncomfortable enabling/disabling - please let me know.

Performance Enhancements:

Automatic Disk Defrag to Monthly:


 * Right Click C: Drive -> Properties.
 * Tools Tab and click on Defragment Now.
 * Uncheck Run on a schedule (or change to weekly).

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Enable Advanced Performance for HDD:


 * Device Manager -> Disk Drives.
 * Properties on the main hard drive.
 * Policies Tab.
 * Check both the Enable write caching on the disk and Enable Advanced performance box.

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Disable the Windows Indexing Feature:


 * Start -> Run -> services.msc
 * Properties on Windows Search service.
 * Disable.

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Disable & Delete Hibernation File:


 * Start -> Run -> Run powercfg - H off
 * Right Click C: Drive -> Properties -> Disk Clean Up.
 * Tick the box next to 'Hibernation file'.
 * OK.

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Disable & Delete Swap File (If RAM > 2Gb)


 * Start -> Run -> gpedit.msc
 * Computer Configuration -> Windows Settings -> Security Settings -> Local Policies -> Security Options.
 * Double click 'Shutdown: Clear virtual memory pagefile'.
 * Select 'Enable'.

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Disable Superfetch:


 * Start -> Run -> services.msc
 * Properties on Superfetch service.
 * Disable.

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Disable System Restore:


 * Start -> Run -> taskschd.msc
 * Task Scheduler Library -> Microsoft -> Windows -> System Restore.
 * Right click the SystemRestore task and select 'Disable'.

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Turn Of Remote Differential Compression:


 * Control Panel -> Program and Features -> Turn Windows Features On and Off.
 * Uncheck Remote Differential Compression.

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Disable Vista's Remote Assistance:


 * Control Panel -> System.
 * Select 'Remote Settings' from the side panel.
 * Remove the check beside the option to 'Allow Remote Assistance connections to this computer'.

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Disable Unnecessary Startup Applications:


 * Start -> Run -> msconfig
 * Startup Tab.
 * Uncheck unnecessary applications.

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Disable Autotuning:


 * Start -> Run -> cmd
 * netsh int tcp set global autotuninglevel=disable

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Disable NTFS Creation of 8.3 Filenames:


 * Start -> Run -> regedit
 * HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Filesystem
 * Double click 'NtfsDisable8dot3NameCreation'.
 * Modify data to 1.

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Change No or Processors Used Booting Vista:


 * Start -> Run -> msconfig
 * Boot tab -> Advanced Options.
 * Tick 'No of Processors'
 * Select from the drop down list maximum number of processors -> OK.
 * Make sure you tick 'Make all boot settings permanent'.

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Delete Vista Temp folder directory:


 * C:\Users\(User Name)\AppData\Local\Temp

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3rd Party Software:

Avoid Virus Scan at bootup:


 * Ensure scanning doesn't happen during normal hours... i.e. make it at 3:30 am.

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Update Firefox/IE to open more threads:

network.http.pipelining network.http.proxy.pipelining network.http.pipelining.maxrequests
 * Firefox:
 * Type "about:config" into the address bar and hit return. Scroll down and look for the following entries:

Set "network.http.pipelining" to "true" Set "network.http.proxy.pipelining" to "true" Set "network.http.pipelining.maxrequests" to some number like 30. This means it will make 30 requests at once.
 * Alter the entries as follows:


 * Lastly right-click anywhere and select New-> Integer. Name it "nglayout.initialpaint.delay" and set its value to "0".


 * Internet Explorer:


 * Start -> Run -> regedit
 * HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings
 * Create a new DWORD value called MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server, and give it a value of 10.
 * Create a new DWORD value called MaxConnectionsPerServer, and give it a value of 10.

-- Important Maintenance:

Update to the latest Service Pack.

Update to the latest Graphics Card Drivers.

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Services to disable:

• Tablet PC Optional Components. • Windows DFS Replication Services • Windows Fax & Scan. • Windows Meeting Space. • Computer Browser • Distributed Link Tracking Client • IKE and AuthIP IP Keying Modules • Offline Files • Windows Error Reporting
 * Start -> Run -> services.mcs

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Experience Improvement:

Disable UAC:


 * Control Panel -> User Accounts.
 * Select 'Turn User Account Control On or Off.
 * Uncheck User Account Control Box.
 * Restart to take effect.