Windows Vista

Rocket

Rocket

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Hi.
We purchased a new laptop for our daughter a few months ago, and already it has started to slow down, i read some where, that because of the fancy stuff that comes with vista which takes a few GBs of ram, it can slow the system down, i was also told you can turn the fancy stuff off.

Using XP ever since it appeared i have no idea on the workings of vista.

Can some one tell me if or indeed how we can turn off the fancy stuff of vista.

Thanks...
 
Turning the fancy stuff off (I assume side bar and aero, possibly search?) can be done, however it won't make a jot of difference. It's also the first time i've heard of Vista slowing down after a couple of months (I haven't reinstalled since I got Vista at release). The first thing you need to realise is Vista is not like XP when it comes to slowing down, XP does get clogged up after a few months (I used to reinstall every 3-6 months), however the way Vista was encoded means this doesn't happen. If the fancy stuff was running fine a few months ago then it will be running fine now (unless there is a hardware problem).

What do you mean by slow down? I assume you mean not as "snappy" as it used to be? If that's the case you need to look at the programs on it, are there loads starting up at startup (girls seem to have this brilliant way of installing everything on the internet onto their PC's in my experience:lol:). If so kill any that aren't needed, and maybe uninstall a few if there is little space on her C: drive (although it would usually come up with a warning about low space before slowdown occurs). Other than that check her AV (both whether it is a resource hog and that it still works, virus?) and maybe her side bar (if she has loads of things on there it can slow the computer down a bit (up to 6 standard ish ones I would say are fine, however if she has a dozen showing, maybe some quite large then that could be a problem).

What are the specs of the system and how much RAM is being used up? :)

EDIT: Nothing in Vista really takes a few GB of RAM, Vista itself takes up more RAM than XP, however less than twice as much IME, and considering when XP was released 512MB of RAM was a lot, now 2GB is seen as standard on even low spec PC's there is no problem with that. My sidebar with a few things on takes up around 15MB of RAM, and aero runs from your GFX card, I doubt it takes up any RAM space.
 
Amp34 said:
The first thing you need to realise is Vista is not like XP when it comes to slowing down, XP does get clogged up after a few months (I used to reinstall every 3-6 months), however the way Vista was encoded means this doesn't happen. If the fancy stuff was running fine a few months ago then it will be running fine now (unless there is a hardware problem).
Click to expand...

Vista is built on the XP operating system, the base coding is the same there's just a load of extra stuff dumped on top of it, If it was a problem in XP there is every probability it is still a problem in vista!

Windows 7 is a completely new OS and (so I've heard) a lot more stable.
 
Sniffing1987 said:
Vista is built on the XP operating system, the base coding is the same there's just a load of extra stuff dumped on top of it, If it was a problem in XP there is every probability it is still a problem in vista!

Windows 7 is a completely new OS and (so I've heard) a lot more stable.
Click to expand...

Wrong.:) There is a reason it took so long for them to bring out Vista after XP. Microsoft ripped XP apart and essentially rebuilt it from scratch, it's undercarriage is completely different. This is why there were so many "problems" when Vista first came out as all the drivers written for XP wouldn't work for Vista as it had changed massively. Once the drivers were sorted out Vista ran perfectly well (in truth it always ran perfectly well if the hardware vendors had written decent drivers for your hardware, which was pretty rare at the beginning).

W7 on the other hand has only taken 2 years because it is essentially a reskinned Vista, with a few bits and pieces tweaked. This is partly why it is so stable (even during beta), the deep code had hardly been changed, they just tweaked it a bit to go faster.

Or in car terms I guess. XP was the orignal Mini (60s-80s or whatever), Vista is the new BMW mini, 7 is the new BMW mini cooper s.:lol:

EDIT: Evidence for this is shown in the build numbers (from Wiki)

Windows ME - NT 4.90.3000 (which is actually the same base as Win 95 and 98)

Windows XP - NT 5.1.2600 (5.xx was acually started with windows 2000 but the the rubbishness of ME meant Microsoft chose to build XP on the 2000 base instead of the newer ME)
Windows Prof. x64 - NT 5.2.3790

Windows Vista - NT 6.0.6000 (completely new Kernel so moved up to 6)
Windows 7 - NT 6.1.7600
 
Hi Amp.
Most of what you are saying i can get my head round but some i can't, however the parts that make sense and most likly contribute is the start up programs etc, so will try and filter some of them out, we purchased the laptop with 3 gb of ram after disgustions with the salesman as he implied that the more RAM with vista would help as it takes some ? gbs to run ??????.,3 gb seemed to the best way to go. So i will take on board your suggestions and have a go tomorrow.
My mother inlaw has a similar problem but find that she has vista loaded on and old pc, so perhaps theres not enough RAM, what do you think?.

Thanks & regards

Amp34 said:
Turning the fancy stuff off (I assume side bar and aero, possibly search?) can be done, however it won't make a jot of difference. It's also the first time i've heard of Vista slowing down after a couple of months (I haven't reinstalled since I got Vista at release). The first thing you need to realise is Vista is not like XP when it comes to slowing down, XP does get clogged up after a few months (I used to reinstall every 3-6 months), however the way Vista was encoded means this doesn't happen. If the fancy stuff was running fine a few months ago then it will be running fine now (unless there is a hardware problem).

What do you mean by slow down? I assume you mean not as "snappy" as it used to be? If that's the case you need to look at the programs on it, are there loads starting up at startup (girls seem to have this brilliant way of installing everything on the internet onto their PC's in my experience:lol:). If so kill any that aren't needed, and maybe uninstall a few if there is little space on her C: drive (although it would usually come up with a warning about low space before slowdown occurs). Other than that check her AV (both whether it is a resource hog and that it still works, virus?) and maybe her side bar (if she has loads of things on there it can slow the computer down a bit (up to 6 standard ish ones I would say are fine, however if she has a dozen showing, maybe some quite large then that could be a problem).

What are the specs of the system and how much RAM is being used up? :)

EDIT: Nothing in Vista really takes a few GB of RAM, Vista itself takes up more RAM than XP, however less than twice as much IME, and considering when XP was released 512MB of RAM was a lot, now 2GB is seen as standard on even low spec PC's there is no problem with that. My sidebar with a few things on takes up around 15MB of RAM, and aero runs from your GFX card, I doubt it takes up any RAM space.
Click to expand...
 
@Amp34, never never compare an original Mini with a BMW Mini!! BMW do not make mini's!
They make small cars that perhaps look a little like them.. Mini's are Mini's!
 
Sniffing1987 said:
Vista is built on the XP operating system, the base coding is the same there's just a load of extra stuff dumped on top of it, If it was a problem in XP there is every probability it is still a problem in vista!
Click to expand...

I'm afraid that is not correct. AMP34 got it right.

To the OP - the other thing to look at is disk fragmentation but as it's a teenagers machine, I'd go with the start up/apps installed advice first.
 
Go in peace child and sin no more :)
 
Rocket said:
Hi Amp.
Most of what you are saying i can get my head round but some i can't, however the parts that make sense and most likly contribute is the start up programs etc, so will try and filter some of them out, we purchased the laptop with 3 gb of ram after disgustions with the salesman as he implied that the more RAM with vista would help as it takes some ? gbs to run ??????.,3 gb seemed to the best way to go. So i will take on board your suggestions and have a go tomorrow.
My mother inlaw has a similar problem but find that she has vista loaded on and old pc, so perhaps theres not enough RAM, what do you think?.

Thanks & regards
Click to expand...

3GB should be plenty. I have run Vista Ultimate on my PC with 2GB's RAM since it came out and other than the occasional issue with large panoramics in Photoshop it's never been a problem (Vista takes up less than 50%, so 1GB of ram for me). On her machine if it's a typical teenager one a few internet tabs and msn/word really aren't going to fill up the rest.:)

Your MIL's sounds like it may not be powerful enough yes, and is part of why so many people think Vista is slow, way too many machines released stating "Vista ready" when in fact they weren't.

Thinking of disk fragmentation as LemmingLover mentioned, Vista does it automatically and very well, however you may have to set it up to do it (think mine is set to once a week which means it only does a small amount each week and doesn't slow/stop the computer for hours like XP did when you defragmented every couple of months).:)

Brooksy said:
@Amp34, never never compare an original Mini with a BMW Mini!! BMW do not make mini's!
They make small cars that perhaps look a little like them.. Mini's are Mini's!
Click to expand...

:lol:

That's sort of what I was meaning, XP and Vista are totally different beasts, they just look similar.

alanwjones said:
There's a couple of good programs you can use to optimise your system,

1, Startup Inspector, - http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/OS-Enhancements/Startup-Inspector.shtml
Will advise you as to which programs need to run on startup

2, C Cleaner , will cleanout your computer and in most cases speed things up
http://www.ccleaner.com/download

Both the above are freeware programs which I use to help keep my computer running smoothly. Alan
Click to expand...

CCleaner is an excellent program +1 for that, never seen Startup inspector before so can't comment on that.
 
Duffman said:
No... Get a mac. Linux is worse than vista
Click to expand...

LOL, great quantitative statement there...not! Like saying bread is worse than cheese :thinking:

I'm off to remove that "useless" Linix from all my business critical servers and replace it with Mac OSx, back shortly :D

Carl
 
Bear in mind that Vista uses a prefetch system by default that will appear to consume vast amounts of physical memory to the detriment of system performance. It isn't :) It simply loads lots of frequently accessed files into physical memory rather than the (relatively) very slow hard disk.

If a Vista system has bogged down after a few months, it's more than likely some software that has been installed.

If you aren't comfortable troubleshooting Windows Vista, for the love of God don't inflict Linux on yourself! :)
 
B_M said:
Remove Limewire ...
Click to expand...

God, that stupid program, good idea. Sets itself to load up at startup by default and destroys computers.

mrgubby said:
Macs never slow down..........






That's because you can't get anything worthwhile to run on them :p
Click to expand...

:lol:

Wait, WINE runs on it doesn't it?;)
 
Interesting comments and thanks..Haven't had time to deal with the issue as yet.

LIMEWIRE, ah ha, never been a fan of these type of programs but i beleive she has this on her laptop, now to tell her it has to go or put up with it running slow..

Start up inspector and C Cleaner sounds like good advise as well..

regards....
 
I use IOLO system mechanic to do the hardwork for me when I'm feeling lazy.
You can download a trial ans use it for a month.
 
Rocket said:
Interesting comments and thanks..Haven't had time to deal with the issue as yet.

LIMEWIRE, ah ha, never been a fan of these type of programs but i beleive she has this on her laptop, now to tell her it has to go or put up with it running slow..

Start up inspector and C Cleaner sounds like good advise as well..

regards....
Click to expand...

Limewire and other similar garbage install crap all over your system....and aren't always easy to remove. You'll probably find Limewire is running permanently in the background consuming all your upstream bandwidth.
 
Duffman said:
Ever heard of photoshop? Readily available for mac and apparantley its very good.
Click to expand...

I think he may have been joking...

Rocket said:
Interesting comments and thanks..Haven't had time to deal with the issue as yet.

LIMEWIRE, ah ha, never been a fan of these type of programs but i beleive she has this on her laptop, now to tell her it has to go or put up with it running slow..

Start up inspector and C Cleaner sounds like good advise as well..

regards....
Click to expand...

You don't need to uninstall it, instead go into the settings and change them so it doesn't load at startup and when you press X it it doesn't minimise to tray but actually closes (which is what it does by default). That way it will only slow her PC down when she actually wants to use it.

Limewire isn't too bad in the installing crap side of things, as long as you make sure you unclick the toolbars when you install it it's a single entity that is easy to uninstall.:)

Also Duffman, if it is Limewire then it will do exactly the same thing to a mac, that is if they make a version for it...;)
 
AMP, How do i find what is loading in start up, sorry i'm a little :bonk:.



Amp34 said:
I think he may have been joking...



You don't need to uninstall it, instead go into the settings and change them so it doesn't load at startup and when you press X it it doesn't minimise to tray but actually closes (which is what it does by default). That way it will only slow her PC down when she actually wants to use it.

Limewire isn't too bad in the installing crap side of things, as long as you make sure you unclick the toolbars when you install it it's a single entity that is easy to uninstall.:)

Also Duffman, if it is Limewire then it will do exactly the same thing to a mac, that is if they make a version for it...;)
Click to expand...
 
Rocket said:
AMP, How do i find what is loading in start up, sorry i'm a little :bonk:.
Click to expand...

START > RUN then type "msconfig" without the ".

A window with a few Tabs will appear, click Startup. You can diasble them from running at startup by unticking the box.
 
Thanks, just waiting for my daughter to return from college and will have a go..

regards...

strobemonkey said:
START > RUN then type "msconfig" without the ".

A window with a few Tabs will appear, click Startup. You can diasble them from running at startup by unticking the box.
Click to expand...
 
With vista just type "msconfig" into the little search bar at the bottom of the start menu (there is no "run" option like xp) :)

As a reference I have 8 things loading on startup, most of them labelled Microsoft operating system. :)
 
I have used CCleaner for some time and it is fine. Lately though, I have been using Revo Unistaller from the VS Revo Group (http://www.vsrevogroup.com). It was recommended by the people on the Adobe Forums and it is very thorough in removing stuff.

I particularly like that it sets a restore point as first step, uninstalls what it is asked to and then goes hunting for all the bits-and-bobs that get left behind - asking first before removing them too. It also has a startup editor where things can be unticked so that there is a 'half-way house' before completely removing entries.

You might find this of value...

Incidentally, I would agree with the consensus here that the slowing down is likely to be the stuff that has been installed over the past weeks/months which is loaded at start time. We've all done it!

Anthony.
 
Vista is definately not built using old XP it is a completely new NFTS operating system and is the backbone of the new Win7 WHEN IT DOES APPEAR......
 
3 gig of ram is pleanty for vista. i build pc's all the time for people and don't get any problems with that. As for it running slow what have you got running in the background. It is a compleatly different OS to the xp version and windows 7 is a hybrid between them taking all the good points from vista and filtering out the crap nobody wanted. If you want to see what you have running at startup go to search then type msconfig and run it. Go to the start up tab and it will give you a list of the programs running on your pc. The ones with a tick are the ones that are running. If you are not sure what you can turn off eith pm me a list and i will check them out for you or turn them off one at a time and restart your system if it works ok then you can keep it off and move onto the next one. After streamlining that it should speed your system up. You will find things like adobe and flash are on all the time and you only need them running when you are using them.

You can get windows 7 now from microsoft it is a triel version so you will have to pay for it after a evaluation period.
 
Just face it the only cure to all your computer issues is to get a mac
 
Disableing the indexing service in Vista has been proved to increase performance, just means longer time to search for things, from seconds to minutes though.:eek:
 
1. Click on Start button, then select Control Panel -> System and Maintenance -> Administrative Tools, and double click on Services applet. Alternatively, simply type “Services” (without quotes) in Start Search box.
2. If User Account Control asks for permission, click Continue.
3. Locate an service named Windows Search. Right click on Windows Search, and then select Properties on contextual menu.
4. Click on Stop button to stop the indexing service immediately.
5. On the Startup Type dropdown box, select Disabled.
6. Click on OK button.

To re-enable the Windows Seearch, simply change back the Startup Type.
 
Thanks for that, i'am cooncidering all opitions at the moment, have to wait for my daughter to return home after a few days course..

regards


sbowler579 said:
1. Click on Start button, then select Control Panel -> System and Maintenance -> Administrative Tools, and double click on Services applet. Alternatively, simply type “Services” (without quotes) in Start Search box.
2. If User Account Control asks for permission, click Continue.
3. Locate an service named Windows Search. Right click on Windows Search, and then select Properties on contextual menu.
4. Click on Stop button to stop the indexing service immediately.
5. On the Startup Type dropdown box, select Disabled.
6. Click on OK button.

To re-enable the Windows Seearch, simply change back the Startup Type.
Click to expand...
 
Hi There, thanks for your time, i will PM you.

regards..

kapawayna said:
3 gig of ram is pleanty for vista. i build pc's all the time for people and don't get any problems with that. As for it running slow what have you got running in the background. It is a compleatly different OS to the xp version and windows 7 is a hybrid between them taking all the good points from vista and filtering out the crap nobody wanted. If you want to see what you have running at startup go to search then type msconfig and run it. Go to the start up tab and it will give you a list of the programs running on your pc. The ones with a tick are the ones that are running. If you are not sure what you can turn off eith pm me a list and i will check them out for you or turn them off one at a time and restart your system if it works ok then you can keep it off and move onto the next one. After streamlining that it should speed your system up. You will find things like adobe and flash are on all the time and you only need them running when you are using them.

You can get windows 7 now from microsoft it is a triel version so you will have to pay for it after a evaluation period.
Click to expand...
 
get a mac it is the only cure for this big big big problem known as windows, i have never lost any
data and i have been using macs for years
[S4]windows is crap face it[/S4]
 
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