Is Vista really absolutely carp?

[Deleted User]

Avoriaz wrote: »

My own 6 year old Dell Inspiron Windows XP laptop has failed* so I have borrowed a friend’s laptop running Vista.

His Acer Aspire 4315 has a decent spec but it is an absolute dog. It takes about two weeks to boot up and spends half an hour thinking about life, the universe and everything before deigning to react to any mouse input. Everything takes so long to happen.

Many factors can contribute to an unresponsive system including malware, poor security software, too many third party applications being loaded into the background or at once, hardware problems.

The laptop's base spec of 1GB RAM isn't much to work with, so have you started to troubleshoot the cause? What security software is installed? Is it up to date? Does it scan on boot? Have you checked what is set to load at boot through msconfig, there's usually an awful lot that's unnecessary.

Eric_Pisch wrote: »

speed issues are 100% down to the badly coded kernal on vista

Without being able to analyse in any great depth, I don't think anyone is in a position to comment on the quality of written code that makes up the kernel. It was however changed massively from what it replaced, many changes to bring about greater efficiency and stability, which upon release initially caused huge problems for hardware and software manufacturers for months until they could update drivers and software to be equally as well performing given the changes in architecture.

Once again, third party software and drivers are bigger culprits to a poor experience than the operating system. One's easier to point the finger at though, even if it's pointing the wrong way..

gwyne

Google 'streamlining vista' or something similar. I've been using Vista and it's fine after a bit of care and attention.

Millionaire

Vista can be OK with a bit of Tweaking. Windows 7 is better.

GSXRCarlos

but you shouldn't have to 'tweak' a off the shelf product to make it work

bring on windows 7

OneADay

GSXRCarlos wrote: »

but you shouldn't have to 'tweak' a off the shelf product to make it work

bring on windows 7

I had to tweak win7 more than vista to put back what has been removed from it by mickysoft.

Avoriaz

timmmers wrote: »

Apart from what Rik already said...how much HDD space have you got left and how much RAM ?

Once you get to 25% free Vista can be painfully affected and sluggish, and if RAM isn't much and you have alsorts running it's all going to build up.

Test the machine over at www.pcpitstop.com with the freebie tests and see what it flags up ...it will tell you in simple terms what's not great and how to improve things.

I prefer XP any day but Vista isn't all that bad if your machine is powerful enough.

I think the problem is possibly more the laptop specs than Vista.

It only has 1gb of memory whereas by XP laptop has 2 gb.

It has an 80gb disk partitioned into 2 equal parts. There is less than 1gb free on C drive and 8.5 gb free on D drive. My XP laptop had 250gb with a 20 gb partition for XP that was only half full.

That almost full C drive is probably a major factor.

I'll talk to my friend and see if he is happy for me to do some "improvements".

But I still think Vista is carp. I don't like using it. Does Windows 7 look much the same?

Avoriaz

anewhope wrote: »

Many factors can contribute to an unresponsive system including malware, poor security software, too many third party applications being loaded into the background or at once, hardware problems.

The laptop's base spec of 1GB RAM isn't much to work with, so have you started to troubleshoot the cause? What security software is installed? Is it up to date? Does it scan on boot? Have you checked what is set to load at boot through msconfig, there's usually an awful lot that's unnecessary.....

I have removed the out of date Norton that came with the laptop and installed AVG.

I have also used ccleaner tools to disable a lot of the rubbish that was set to load at start up.

I don't want to do too much more on a borrowed laptop.

Richie-from-the-Boro

Is Vista really absolutely carp? .. .. Yes , unless ;

1. Turn off Windows Search Indexing
Windows Vista search indexing is constantly reviewing files on your system to make their contents available for quick searching. This is handy, but can severely impact system performance.
To disable this constant indexing:
• Click Start then Computer
• Right Click the C: Drive
• On General Tab, Uncheck Index this drive for faster searching
• On the subsequent dialog box, Select Include subfolders and files
2. Turn off Remote Differential Compression
Remote Differential Compression measures the changes in files over a network to transfer them with minimal bandwidth rather than transferring an entire file that has previously been moved. By constantly checking for file changes, this service can hinder system performance.
To disable this service:
• Open Control Panel
• Switch to Classic View
• Select Program Features
• Choose Turn Windows features on and off
• Scroll down and uncheck Remote Differential Compression
*Special Note: Windows Vista has the same tendency as XP to get bogged down with a bloated and corrupt Windows registry and file system. We strongly recommend keeping Vista running in optimum condition using an app like RegCure PC Optimizer: Free Download (Recommended)
3. Turn off Automatic Windows Defender Operation
Windows Defender real-time protection against malware continues to run despite having Automatic operation disabled.
To disable this feature:
• Open Control Panel
• Select Windows Defender
• Choose Tools from the top menu
• Select Options
• Uncheck Auto Start at the bottom of the window
4. Turn off Automatic Disk Defragmentation
Windows Vista and its always-on defragment feature isn't really that necessary and can cause system slow down. Just remember to run a defrag manually every week or so.
To disable this:
• Click Start then Computer
• Right Click the C: Drive
• Select the Tools Tab
• Uncheck Run on a schedule
*Important: Keeping your hard drive defragmented is key to great system performance, but it's very important not to neglect Vista's core files, dll structure, and file/path reference system. PCTuneUpTips advises regular Vista system scans and maintenance with RegCure: Free Download (Highly Recommended)
5. Add a 2GB or higher USB Flash drive to take advantage of Windows Ready Boost (Additional Memory Cache)
Ready Boost is Microsoft's name for using a USB thumb/flash drive to provide some quick access memory the operating system can use as extra RAM. The Ready Boost system can significantly improve system performance.
To set this up:
• Insert a USB Flash Drive (preferably 2GB or more)
• Click Start then Computer
• Right Click the USB Drive in My Computer
• Select the Ready Boost Tab
• Choose Use this device
• Select as much space as you can free up for RAM usage vs. Storage

Part 2.

6. Turn off Windows Hibernation
Windows hibernation background services can use a large amount of system resources. If you don't use the Hibernate feature on a regular basis you may want to disable it to give Vista a performance boost.
To disable Hibernation:
• Select the Control Panel then Power Options
• Click Change Plan Settings
• Click on Change Advanced Power Settings
• Expand the Sleep selection
• Expand the Hibernate After selection
• Crank the selector down to zero
• Click Apply
7. Turn off System Restore
Analysis and restore point creation by Windows Vista can eat a fair amount of system resources. Disabling this service will obviously mean the system restore feature in Vista will not be available in the event of a system crash. Change this at your own risk.
• Control Panel>System
• Click System Protection on the left panel
• Uncheck the main system drive
• Agree to the confirmation
*Note: The best protection against ever needing to restore your PC is regular file cleaning and maintenance. We strongly recommend regular Vista error detection and repair scans using RegCure PC Optimizer: Free Download (#1 Recommended)
8. Disable User Access Control (UAC)
This much-loathed new Vista feature attempts to protect your system from malware infection by making you manually confirm a whole host of everyday user operations. While it doesn't directly impact performance, it can be annoying and might be more hassle than good.
To disable User Access Control:
• Click Start then Control Panel
• Select User Accounts
• Select Turn User Account Control on or off
• Uncheck User Account Control Box
• Restart as recommended
9. Disable excess Windows Services that Auto-Launch at Startup
Just like Windows XP, Vista ships with all kinds of services enabled that load at startup and may never be used by most users.
To see what loads at startup and disable the ones you likely won't be needing (they can always be started manually later):
• Click Start then Control Panel
• Select Administrative Tools
• Choose System Configuration
• Click the Services Tab
• You can safely deselect:
o Offline Files (unless you're using Offline File Sync)
o Tablet PC Input Service (unless you have a tablet PC)
o Terminal Services
o Windows Search (If you have already disabled indexing)
o Fax (unless you're using a fax modem)
*You can also control Windows Vista strartup programs very easily with RegCure: Download Now
10. Disable Excess Windows Features
Windows ships with other features that are listed separately in the Vista operating system from the startup services.
You can view and disable these features by:
• Clicking Start then Control Panel
• Select Program Features
• On the left panel, select Turn Windows Features on or off
• You can safely deselect:
o Indexing Service
o Remote Differential Compression
o Tablet PC Optional Components
o Windows DFS Replication Service
o Windows Fax & Scan (unless you use a modem for faxing)
o Windows Meeting Space (unless you use the Live Meeting Service)


Remove or disable Windows Search Indexer:


It took me a while to work out how to kill/disable it so for anyone else out there who wants to know:


1.Click Start > Control Panel
2.Go to Click System and Maintenance
3.In Control Panel Home view, click Administrative Tools
4.Double-click Service (If asked for permission just continue)
5.Find “Windows Search” in the list
6.Right click and hit Properties
7.Click Stop
8.Select Disable from the drop-down next to Startup Type
9.Click Apply and OK

. Gain Speed
Does Vista seem slower than XP to you? A default power setting in the "Power Saver" plan limits the CPU to 50 percent. Open the Power Options control panel and change it to "High Performance" to give it full throttle.

- and even then your just starting to tame the bag-of-spanners called Vista

amarg

Vista is the worst operating system of all time IMHO.

I have had nothing but problems with it.

I have had XP Pro and Windows 7 and never had any problems at all with those.

Old_Wrinkly

amarg wrote: »

Vista is the worst operating system of all time IMHO.

What? :shocked: Worse than ME? :think: