Vista Horizons

Boosting Windows Vista Performance - disable search indexing
By webstuffscan
Once I disabled this, I found that hard disk access reduced substantially and also my Internet connection was running in top speed. You can also explore Google Desktop Search which seems to be gentle when it comes to system performance.

I haven't tried this yet. Might be fun to experiment with. Every extra smidge of performance is worth a tweak. Not sure of the complete ramifications of disabling the native indexing but since I use GDS it might just be extra overhead.

 

Labels: Microsoft, Vista

Microsoft has posted an overview of Service Pack 1 for Vista. You'll find PDF or XPF versions here:

Windows Vista SP1 is an update to Windows Vista that addresses feedback from our customers. In addition to previously released updates, SP1 will contain changes focused on addressing specific reliability and performance issues, supporting new types of hardware, and adding support for several emerging standards. SP1 also addresses some management, deployment, and support challenges.

Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Beta Overview

Labels: Microsoft, Vista

This tiny program will save up to 70% of your battery by disabling those nice, but greedy Vista features. The program runs in the task bar and enables and disables features when the power sources changes or the battery power falls under certain percent.

I haven't had a chance to try this yet as I am running Vista on a desktop. If you use it please report back in the comments.

Vista Battery Saver on CodePlex

Microsoft has a Internet Connectivity Evaluation Tool. It is designed to be run on a home network that is behind a NAT router. The Internet Connectivity Evaluation Tool runs the following set of tests on your router:

• Basic Internet Connectivity Test
• Network Address Translator Type
• Traffic Congestion Test
• TCP High Performance Test
• UPnP Support Test
• Multiple Simultaneous Connection States Test

You'll get a report at the end. If your router doesn't pass the tests, the site gives you recommendations on other routers that are Certified for Windows Vista.

[via]

Intel has an article covering best practices for benchmarking Windows Vista. It covers prefetch and recommended settings.

 

ITsVISTA Tip 51: How to change your password in Vista
Nice how-to with screenshots for when it's time to change that Windos Vista password.

Arsgeek explains how to increase the number of downloads in IE7.

If you want, copy these lines to an empty text file and name it download.reg. Then run it to add the lines to your registry.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings]
"MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server"=dword:00000003
"MaxConnectionsPerServer"=dword:00000003

 

There is a lot of FUD and confusion going around regarding restoring files in Windows Vista Home Premium.

I have Vista Home Premium and I backup and restore just fine. In fact I can prove it with a flash demo.

Now what Home Premium cannot do is the file shadow copy.

One thing that is a little irritating if true is that, according to this site Vista Home Premium is actually doing the shadow copy but keeping you from doing shadow restores by leaving that bit of the UI out. That I can't really prove with out going to Vista Ultimate which isn't likely because of budget issues.

Update: I've thought some more about this.

Vista does shadow copy in the home versions. That makes sense because that is how it's new back up system works. There is a very technical video on Channel 9 if you want to learn more about it. Non geeks will probably not get much out of that video. Essentially once the initial back up is done then they only worry about the changes. You don't get that info without some kind of shadow copy service running.

Yeah tiered pricing is lame. Not including this UI is like the car that is wired for an iPod or cd changer but doesn't come with one unless you pay for the addon trim package. Not sure that car sales is the best model for software to follow.

Definitive product information and expert insights straight from the Windows Vista team and Microsoft MVPs -Provides the information that every Windows administrator needs about troubleshooting, security enhancements, group policy, and automating administration -CD includes additional job aids and a fully searchable version of the entire RESOURCE KIT book

Amazon: Windows Vista(TM) Resource Kit (Pro - Resource Kit)

 

Neil Monday has some nice instructions on installing and using ISORecorder. ISORecorder is a new power toy for Windows Vista that lets you burn ISO images. This is brilliant. I've been using Nero 7 but sometime there are issues. Plus, Nero used to be great but they have become bloatware if all you need to do is burn the occasional file or ISO.

Windows Vista has a 'Burn' button right in each view. I've used it and it works well. Now with ISORecorder there may be no need for other 3rd party Apps.

Download the ISORecorder Power toy.
Windows Vista 32
Windows Vista 64
Windows XP SP2 and 2003

 

If you have a video card in your Vista machine that doesn't support Aero you may have noticed that Movie Maker doesn't work. Microsoft has just remedied that situation by posting a new version (2.6) witch is non-aero compatible.

Before you download it, try launching Movie Maker. If it launches, don't download. Otherwise, you can get the new version here.

Yes, there is other great software out there but I believe something that comes with the OS should work and not be crippled because I'm not running the latest whiz-bang UI.