Windows Vista Tips

Eliminate Recent Documents Folder

Source: Maximum PC - Holiday 2008

For privacy reasons, many users on shared computers like to clear the Recent Documents folder or delete it altogether. Totally understandable, but there’s no need to turn to the registry to do the job. It’s all in the OS.

Right-click the taskbar, click the Start Menu tab, and uncheck “Store and display a list of recently opened files.”

Minimize Menu Loading

Source: Maximum PC - Holiday 2008

By default, both XP and Vista wait 400 milliseconds before presenting expansion menus (those menu items with right-facing triangles on them). You can eliminate the wait completely for instantaneous menu expansion (though be warned, you may not actually like it). Note that this will not make, say, your primary File or Edit menu show up faster—those menus automatically load as fast as possible.

Run regedit at the Run prompt. Browse to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Coontrol Panel\Desktop. Double-click the MenuShowDelay key in the right-hand pane and set the value to 0.

Tweak Virtual Memory

Source: Maximum PC - Holiday 2008

In the Windows 95/98 era, conventional wisdom held that you should manually set your virtual memory (i.e., pagefile) size to at least 1.5 times the amount of RAM in order to optimize performance. (By default, Windows will manage pagefile size on its own: You will likely find the initial pagefile size set to 0.5x or 1x the amount of RAM you have). We were skeptical about this tip, but our benchmarks surprised us: Some systems showed no change at all, but some (particularly older machines) showed substantial improvement beyond the usual random noise we see in benchmark results. We got at least a 10 percent jump after we upped the initial pagefile size to 2x the amount of RAM on two separate machines. It won’t work for all computers, so the jury’s still out on this one, but because it’s so easy to do and there are no negative consequences, it’s worth a shot just to see if it has any effect.

In Vista, click “Advanced system settings” in the System Control Panel. Then (under Performance) click Settings, Advanced. In the Virtual Memory module, click Change. Click Custom size then up both Initial and Maximum size to roughly double your amount of RAM. Click Set (important!), then OK out of all windows

Superfetch Boosts Performance

Source: Maximum PC - Holiday 2008

Windows SuperFetch enables programs and files to load much faster than they would on Windows XP–based PCs.

When you're not actively using your computer, background tasks, including automatic backup programs and antivirus scans, run when they will least disturb you. These background tasks can take up system memory space that your programs had been using. On Windows XP–based PCs, this can slow progress to a crawl when you attempt to resume work.

SuperFetch monitors which applications you use the most and preloads these into your system memory so they'll be ready when you need them. Windows Vista also runs background programs, like disk defragmenting and Windows Defender, at low priority so that they can do their job but your work always comes first.

How to do it:

Superfetch is 'ON' by default. To verify that it is active, go to the Control Panel, open Administrative Tools, and select Services. Scroll down to Superfetch and ensure that it is set to "Started" and "Automatic".