PC Maintenance Software - Vista Performance Tips

I will with this article give you a few tips to increase your Vista system performance. While there are many things you can do to improve system performance, I will go over a few basic tips. Windows Vista while adding many advanced features to your operating system, can use up alot of system resources.

Number one in my opinion is system memory, while many agree that 2 gigabytes of system memory is enough for your system (I Agree) to run at a decent pace, 4 gigabytes will greatly improve your system performance (This is the maximum under Vista 32 bit Software). If you use Vista 64 bit software, then the maximum is 128 gigabytes, of course this depends on many factors, like mainboard support, which version of Vista, etc.



Add a USB Flash Drive for use with Vista ReadyBoost. Use a 2 gigabyte, or more so your OS can use ReadyBoost. Ready Boost will greatly enhance computer performance. Here's how to do it:

• Attach a 2 gigabyte (or more) USB flash drive.
• Goto 'Start' and left click on 'Computer'.
• Within 'My Computer', right-click on the USB Flash Drive, and choose the tab for 'Ready Boost'.
• Activate the option to utilize this device. Choose how much space to free up with RAM use versus storage.

Another good tip is to keep your hard drives defragmented on a regular basis. When windows looks for files on your hard drive, and your drive is fragmented badly, it may have to scan your entire hard drive to find the files it needs. If you keep your hard drives defragmented, then the files are placed closely together, so windows doesn't have to scan the entire drive to find the files it needs. Here's how to do it:

• Goto 'Start' left click 'All Programs', left click 'Accessories', left click 'System Tools'
• Choose 'Disk Defragmenter'
• Let it analyze your hard drives
• If your drives need to be defragmented, then choose 'Defragment Now' option.
• If they don't need to be defragmented, then you are good to go

Defragmenting, can take many hours to run, I suggest that you do this when you will not need your system for awhile, I do this mainly at night when i sleep, you can also have it run on a schedule, and set the time to a time you will not need your system for awhile. Larger drives take longer.

Another good tip is to run 'Disk Cleanup' often. This will clean out any temporary or unused files, and can give you a significant increase is performance. Here's how to do it:

• Goto 'Start' left click 'All Programs', left click 'Accessories', left click 'System Tools'
• Choose 'Disk Cleanup'
• Choose 'My files only' or 'Files from all users on this computer'
• Choose which drive to cleanup
• Program will choose default files, you may change these if you want
• Click 'OK' when you have selected the files to cleanup

Gary Strain is a PC Maintenance Software Reviewer for PC Maintenance Software.

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