The only thing that is SUCK about vista is it's DEFAULT SETTING. They are effin annoying! If you like Apple's MAC; you'd probably wanna do this to tweak VISTA. And you'd experience Faster Performance and allowing you to do your JOB even faster! 1) Disable USER ACCOUNT CONTROL (freakishly annoying) :Control Panel\User Accounts and Family Safety\User Accounts (TURN IT OFF) requires RESTART 2) Do not use PAID ANTIVIRUS. USE AVAST HOME EDITION. It's FREE 3) If Windows Sidebar Gadget working too SLOW for your computer DISABLE it! And reconsider using Yahoo! widget. 4) Get a little MAC touch. Use ROCKETDOCK (http://www.rocketdock.com/) It's DASHBAR CLONE. and yah tweak it a little bit. Install it, go to settings > place it on the left hand side or right hand side. If you like I have some cool icon files to make it even prettier. PM me. ///And set it to "Always ON BOTTOM" I do not recommend using "minimize to dock feature" 5) Turn off Windows Notification. >>"CHANGE THE WAY WINDOWS NOTIFY ME > TURN IT OFF" 6) Use IE7 but turn off all the TOOLBARS. They are stupid. 7) Update yourself. Use Microsoft Office 07, Use Adobe CS3 instead of CS2. That's why most of the stuff isn't working cuz you never update em. Take Office fr example. Use 07, its been 4 years! since Office 03. Update please! //you may add any other tweaks.
Why you shouldn't use "PAY ANTIVIRUS" for Microsoft users: Because when it's expired you won't gonna pay the yearly/monthly payment. And that's when the popups come each time you are surfing the web, and everytime your windows starts.
And don't forget to defrag your HDD frequently. I'm using the free one by Auslogic, which is doing the work quite well. Last but not least, I am using ReadyBoost which significantly reduces my Disk IO. Thanks!
I am using Vista ultimate and I can say that it is not recommended to turn off UAC(User Account Control), it protects you from viruses, spyware and other kinds of intrusions(malware etc). It will popup if you install any kind of software or if you perform other tasks, but if you don't do anything and it cames suddenly then it means smth is wrong. In this way you will prevent harmful damage to your system. Anyway if you are 100% sure of your antivirus, antispyware protection it is ok to turn it off.
I am using Vista Ultimate. You can turn off the User Account Control. You are quite right that it is protecting you against viruses but I don't say that you can't turn it off. User Account Control is good at protecting your computer against viruses. And it is also good at crashing your software/applications on your Vista. Here's why; say if you are not sure why is the USER ACCOUNT CONTROL warns something. That warning could be SAFE or NOT SAFE. Let say if you DO NOT ALLOW "an application" because you thought that this warning was trying to hijack your pc or something. and you disallowed it. This will make the application you've been trying to install USELESS. And the application might crash anytime soon... If it is just Virus/spyware protection that you are worried about, you should just use Avast Home Edition. It's good. Most of the viruses that are on the net nowadays are those low risk ones. They won't send high risk viruses to you; they'd send it to Obama or Clinton's PCs. not yours.
I had hard time seting up printer with Vista. Tried 2 different ones not the lousy one that came with computer. Vista does protect you but it is such a pain to add anything.
You are right, one of the main hardwares that is hard to install on Vista is PRINTER. This is because most of the old printers arn't compatible with Vista. To fix this; you need to download the latest DRIVER for your Printer. or buy a new one? You can get the cheap HP printer. HP deskjet 3940, it is cheap and it is PLUG and PLAY for Vista. You don't need the provided CD. Just plug it in wait for few sec, and its ready.
lol next tip VISTA REQUIRES RAM! Its time to get more ram.. its called updating.. i hate people complaining about vista when they only have like 500 mb ram.. Silents thingy.. i dont the exact name, maybe someone can help me its a program that kills the stupid vista processes such as showdesktop and switch between windows
Exactly the same setup I've been using since vista release. Running better than XP for me.. Extra tip: If you got a 1gb+ memory card or even better, an USB with 1gb+ memory, plug it in to your computer, right click the drive->Properties and then go to the ReadyBoost tab, and enable it. Makes photoshop, and all other apps run MUCH faster. Maybe you'll not see the difference, but try to run with it in 2 months, and then disable it.. You will feel it
1) Vista will NEVER be better than XP. Xp will live until Windows 7, which is going to be just like ME edition and XP. ME was there edition they wanted out, while they were still producing XP, which is the exact same with vista and 7. Vista will die. 2) Why use ie7? That just fail's terribly. FF FTW
I have to disagree. Most of internet users still prefer IE7 to firefox. except for the mac maniacs. They use Safari. you can tell with google analytics. Users still prefer IE7.
if you guys been using Vista (with tweaks) for a while you'll forget about XP. I've just got this new vista laptop from my dad and it seems that the UAC is already disabled. One annoying part still is the antivirus. They installed Panda Antivirus. gosh.. really annoying. The panda on the toolbar is cute but not the protection. I'm gonna change it to Avast soon. And yah; about the RAM. you need at least 1GB that's the requirement because are not going to enjoy vista with 512MB of RAM. I say; Vista is the latest os from Microsoft if you don't like it that's fine don't use it. If you are using Pentium III with 512MB Ram and planning to upgrade to vista; I say - no. You need latest stuff to enjoy latest stuff. You can't play your PS3 games on PS2. It's not gonna work. It is time to forget about "minimum requirements" try the "average requirements"
Great tips, already done those myself (apart from UAC thing. It's annoying, but it hardly pops up for me anymore..) especially the sidebar, I hated that thing but a few essential programs 1) auslogics disk defrag 2) registry mechanic 3) crap cleaner
never be better than xp my ass the pros outweigh the cons but some people who have been using xp for 5? years and are just too reluctant to change, because it'd require **gasp** spending $20 on some new RAM
Nice tips 5) Turn off Windows Notification. >>"CHANGE THE WAY WINDOWS NOTIFY ME > TURN IT OFF" where can I find that?