MASTER TUTORIAL: Make Your Windows VISTA Super Fast

[Vishal Gupta]

So you are using Windows Vista and feel that its slower than Windows XP? Then you have come to the right place.

Following tutorial will help you in tweaking your Windows Vista to the max and you'll feel a significant improvement in your system performance. So without wasting any time lets start:

1. Following code contains a few registry modifications, which are completely safe and can increase the performance of Windows Vista. Just paste following code in Notepad, save the file with name "Vishal.reg" (including quotes) and then run it:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AllFilesystemObjects\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\Copy To]
@="{C2FBB630-2971-11D1-A18C-00C04FD75D13}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AllFilesystemObjects\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\Move To]
@="{C2FBB631-2971-11D1-A18C-00C04FD75D13}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shell\cmd]
"Extended"=-

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\cmd]
"Extended"=-

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Notepad]
"StatusBar"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Notepad]
"fWrap"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop]
"AutoEndTasks"="1"
"HungAppTimeout"="1000"
"MenuShowDelay"="8"
"WaitToKillAppTimeout"="2000"
"LowLevelHooksTimeout"="1000"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
"NoLowDiskSpaceChecks"=dword:00000001
"ClearRecentDocsOnExit"=dword:00000001
"LinkResolveIgnoreLinkInfo"=dword:00000001
"NoResolveSearch"=dword:00000001
"NoResolveTrack"=dword:00000001
"NoInternetOpenWith"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control]
"WaitToKillServiceTimeout"="2000"

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\RemoteComputer]

2. Right-click on My Computer icon on Desktop and select Properties (or press <WIN> key + <Pause/Break> key), click on Advanced system settings link in left side pane (You can also open it by typing sysdm.cpl in RUN or start menu search box and press Enter). Now click on Settings button in Performance section:

Now disable all unnecessary options in Visual Effects tab, you can remain following options enabled according to your requirements:

• Enable desktop composition (If you want to use Windows Aero theme)
• Enable transparent glass (If you want to use transparency in Windows)
• Show preview and filters in folder (If you use Details Pane in Explorer)
• Show thumbnails instead of icons (If you want to show thumbnails in Explorer)
• Show window contents while dragging (If you want windows to show content while moving them)
• Smooth edges of screen fonts (If you want to show smooth fonts)
• Use drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop (If you want to show shadows under desktop icon labels)
• Use visual styles on windows and buttons (If you want to use Windows Aero or Basic theme.)

3. Open Folder Options and click on View tab:

Now disable following options:

• Display file size information in folder tips.
• Display simple folder view in Navigation pane.
• Hide extensions for known file types.
• Show encrypted or compressed NTFS files in color.
• Show pop-up description for folder and desktop items.

Other options don't affect the system performance. You can enable/disable them according to your requirements.

4. Right-click on My Computer icon on Desktop and select Manage (You can also open it by typing services.msc in RUN or start menu search box and press Enter).

Now goto Services & Applications -> Services. Here you can set a few unnecessary services to Manual, which will not start with windows and will decrease the boot time and will increase system performance.

Please follow the following tutorial to know about which services can be safely set to MANUAL:

Windows Vista Services that can be Safely set to MANUAL

5. Type msconfig in RUN or Startmenu search box and press Enter. Now goto Startup tab and deselect the unnecessary entries, which you don't want to start automatically with Windows, e.g. you can disable VGA driver utility, Sound Card utility, etc to speed up the startup time and to increase system performance.

You can also disable these items using Windows Defender. Open Windows Defender and click on Tools and then click on "Software Explorer".

6. Open Sound in Control Panel (or type mmsys.cpl in RUN or Startmenu search box and press Enter), goto Sounds tab and select No Sounds in Sound Scheme section. Or you can remain some of your favorite sounds but set Exit Windows, Windows Logoff, Windows Logon and Start Navigation to (None).

7. At last I'll advise to defrag the HDD regularly, install only necessary software, use the latest drivers and keep your Windows updated.

Edited May 24, 2011 by Vishal Gupta

[Vishal Gupta]

Following is a description of all above mentioned registry codes:

Adds "Copy To" option in context menu:

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AllFilesystemObjects\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\Copy To]

@="{C2FBB630-2971-11D1-A18C-00C04FD75D13}"

Adds "Move To" option in context menu:

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AllFilesystemObjects\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\Move To]

@="{C2FBB631-2971-11D1-A18C-00C04FD75D13}"

Add "Open Command Window Here" in context menu of folders:

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\cmd]

"Extended"=-

Add "Open Command Window Here" in context menu of drives:

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shell\cmd]

"Extended"=-

Enable Statusbar in Notepad:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Notepad]

"StatusBar"=dword:00000001

Enable "Word Wrap" feature in Notepad:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Notepad]

"fWrap"=dword:00000001

Following tweaks helps in making the shutting down process faster:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop]

Automatically End Task of Hung application:

"AutoEndTasks"="1"

Specify the Response Time for Hung Applications:

"HungAppTimeout"="1000"

Makes the menu opening faster:

"MenuShowDelay"="8"

Specify the time to wait before ending task of hung application:

"WaitToKillAppTimeout"="2000"

Setting a low value (in milliseconds) means that if the hooked program does not respond within timeout period, one that has set the hook would not become unstable or go in infinite wait but would kill itself saving windows resources and improving performance.

"LowLevelHooksTimeout"="1000"

Following tweaks makes system faster:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]

Don't prompt that you are on low disk space:

"NoLowDiskSpaceChecks"=dword:00000001

Clear recent documents/applications history while exiting windows:

"ClearRecentDocsOnExit"=dword:00000001

Disable Automatic Network Shortcut Resolution:

"LinkResolveIgnoreLinkInfo"=dword:00000001

Disable Comprehensive Search for Broken Shortcuts:

"NoResolveSearch"=dword:00000001

Disable Tracking of Broken Shortcut Links:

"NoResolveTrack"=dword:00000001

Doesnt prompt you to search the required application on Internet, when you select "Open With" for opening a file:

"NoInternetOpenWith"=dword:00000001

Speed up shutdown:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control]

"WaitToKillServiceTimeout"="2000"

Speed up Network Browsing by removing Network Scheduled Tasks:

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\RemoteComputer]

[jaclaz]

Thanks for the guide.

But, to be picky, a number of those settings should not influence performance AT ALL, being mostly "tool addons" like the MoveTo, CopyTo or cmd prompt or specific "visual" tweaks, like the ones for Notepad.

Also, you sure one should name the .reg file

with name "Vishal.reg" (including quotes)

FYI (cannot say if it works for Vista, but it works on 2K and XP) this .DLL is VERY handy:

http://www.msfn.org/board/util-shell-exten...4.html&st=8

http://www.roggel.com/NGNeer/BackgroundCMD/index.shtml

jaclaz

[Vishal Gupta]

Thanks for your comments. Thats true that a few registry codes are not to increase the performance and I have clearly mentioned them in the second post. But those few codes makes the daily task easier like Move to and Copy to option. No need to navigate through folders to paste files, just use the option in context menu.

And yeah its not necessary to name the file "Vishal.reg" but double quotes are necessary to save it as .REG file otherwise Windows will save it as normal text file if "Hide known file extensions" option is enabled in Folder options. Thats why I asked to save the file with this name. One can choose any other name.

Anyway thanks again for your reply.

[oskingen]

Thanks for your comments. Thats true that a few registry codes are not to increase the performance and I have clearly mentioned them in the second post. But those few codes makes the daily task easier like Move to and Copy to option. No need to navigate through folders to paste files, just use the option in context menu.

And yeah its not necessary to name the file "Vishal.reg" but double quotes are necessary to save it as .REG file otherwise Windows will save it as normal text file if "Hide known file extensions" option is enabled in Folder options. Thats why I asked to save the file with this name. One can choose any other name.

Anyway thanks again for your reply.

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop]

"HungAppTimeout"="1000"

"WaitToKillAppTimeout"="2000"

This part have no effect in windows Vista