how to speed up a slow laptop (or any computer) with vista? (laptop specs included)

[legacyfan]

here are the specs for my laptop

my laptop

my specs: Intel hd graphics 4000 toshiba 298gb hdd  Intel core I5 -3320m cpu @2.60ghz 3 generation 8gb ram

my operating system: vista x64

my pc: dell latitude e6430 laptop

 

Edited May 24, 2023 by legacyfan

[Jody Thornton]

Well it could be a number of things:

• Vista had the first implementation of Superfetch, and even with SP2 could be sluggish at relinquishing RAM to apps that called for it.  Try disabling it (but keep Prefetch enabled)
• Is your graphics adapter adept at rendering Aero and transparency?  You could try the Windows Basic theme.
• Do you have a lot of widgets loaded?  Perhaps turn those off.

There is a registry setting (I think it's EnablePrefetchParameters) that can allow you to disable Superfetch, but keep Prefetch enabled.  I'm a bit tired right now, but I'm sure someone can chime in on that one.

 

[Jaguarek62]

Honestly IDK what you want to hear. Is it a clean install? if so then disable superfetch, windows update. Vista has always been slower for me on the same hardware in comparision with windows 8 for example but never "super slow"

[Jody Thornton]

11 hours ago, VistaEX said:

The Slowness Has Been Fixed

You should (in my mind) leave your original post intact, because now our responses make less sense for someone else stumbling across this in the future.

 

[legacyfan]

Can I Have This Topic Pinned Please

Edited February 4, 2021 by VistaEX

[Tripredacus]

9 minutes ago, VistaEX said:

Can I Have This Topic Pinned Please

No.

[legacyfan]

OK Sorry

[Tommy]

22 minutes ago, VistaEX said:

Can I Have This Topic Pinned Please

This is one of the worst threads I could think of to have pinned. Pinned threads are reserved for important information that generally affects everyone using the OS. If there was a crucial fix that applied to everyone or just about everyone, then it warrants a pin. But pinning a thread will not give it more attention. I don't even know what the original post said but even then, this is more of a per user basis issue and not a widespread problem. I mean, you don't even have much explanation about what's so slow about it or when it occurs so how does that help anyone?

[The Shroomer 98]

Well, how much RAM do you have? I often find Windows 7 taking up most of my 10+ GB of ram on two computers(browser mostly). How fast is your hard drive, 5400RPM, 7200RPM, etc. and how old?

Edited February 5, 2021 by The Shroomer 98

[Jaguarek62]

13 hours ago, The Shroomer 98 said:

Well, how much RAM do you have? I often find Windows 7 taking up most of my 10+ GB of ram on two computers(browser mostly). How fast is your hard drive, 5400RPM, 7200RPM, etc. and how old?

How many tabs do you have open? I never exceeded 9gb with 25 tabs.

[The Shroomer 98]

*chuckles* uh, around 428 tabs on my Lenovo Thinkcentre. BUT they just accumulated over time with me keeping everything open (most just unloaded) so that I can go back to everything easily, and setting up firefox to restore previous session every time i open it. Anyways, that's totally on me, and I think that usually just uses around 3GB upon first run of firefox, until I start opening more tabs like youtube and such. Right now I'm using a Dell Optiplex with 12GB RAM with 10 tabs open (3 are just google) in Firefox and I'm seeing approximately, well, at the moment, exactly 3GB used by the entire system. Only Firefox is running.

My session manager and tab unloader extensions come in handy sometimes.

Edited February 5, 2021 by The Shroomer 98

[legacyfan]

does anyone know what the best way to speed up a slow windows vista laptop is? here are my specs for my laptop to help more

my specs: Intel hd graphics 4000 toshiba 298gb hdd  Intel core I5 -3320m cpu @2.60ghz 3 generation 8gb ram

my operating system: vista x64

my pc: dell latitude e6430 laptop

 

Edited April 12, 2021 by VistaEX

[Dixel]

First off , go to system config/services and disable : superfetch , webclient , indexing , read more here. Also , what is your RAM amount ?

https://www.dummies.com/computers/operating-systems/windows-xp-vista/how-to-disable-unnecessary-services-in-windows-vista/

[legacyfan]

my ram is 8gb

[Dixel]

8 GB is absolutely fine ! Try to get these services disabled . Oh , and I wouldn't touch the Desktop Window Manager Session Manager, like they suggested there. The rest is fine. You can always switch them back on.