Q: Vista runs too slow, what can I do? ( 41449 views)

 
  3/2/2006 5:36:49 PM | Posted By: Admin

Vista runs too slow, what can I do?
A:  Due to windows Vista‘s hardware hungry requirments many older pc‘s will have a hard time running Vista at a comfortable speed. Besides upgrading your PC with more ram (512MB Minimum), or a capable graphics card (at leaste 64mb of dedicated memory), or even a new CPU (1.5ghz or above is recommended). You can still disable many visual features in vista in order to take a lot of load off of your CPU and drasticlly increase speed.
  1. Disable the fancy Vista Interface and return to the "Classic" windows interface. To do so, go to the Control Panel and hit "Classic View" on the left side, this will bring up a lot more icons which are easier to navigate. Then click on the "Perfomance Rating and Tools" button. This will bring up a new window with a lot of features to help improve the perfomance of Vista. On the left side click on "Advanced Tools" and go to "Adjust the appearance and perfomance of Windows" near the bottom. Under the "Visual Effects" tab click on "Adjust for best perfomance".
  2. In the same window under the "Advanced" tab you can choose to change your page file or virtual memory size. This is what windows uses to store application data when there is not enough physical memory on the computer(RAM). It allocated a certain amount of space on the hard drive, and by increasing this value by a couple hundred it can cut down on the amount of time windows spends resizing this file.
  3. Reverting to the windows "Classic" theme can also cutback on CPU and GPU load to help improve perfomance by making the graphics less consuming. To do this right click on the desktop and go to "Personalize" you can then click on "Theme" and change it to "Windows Classic".
  4. You can also use the many tools in the Control Panel > Perfomance Rating and Tools to look for suggestions from Vista as to why your computer is running slow. Check under the "Perfomance Issues" area on the "Perfomance Rating and Tools" main menu.