dumbing down vista

[santucci218]

somebody posted this a while back for me, but since i reinstalled os's and blah blah blah, i cant find the post.

Anyways, they walked me through on how to take off some of the visual effects to make vista run a little faster. Such as shadows behind icons and animations of opening and closing task windows and such.

Anybody know how to get to it?

[Falkner]

1. Obtain a copy of XP
2. Install XP
3. Enjoy


But seriously, I don't remember how to do that in Vista. Try going to the Control Panel and look for graphics or display options or right clicking on My Computer and go to properties, see if there's anything like XP's "Advanced" tab where it has settings for performance.

[Philbiker]

You can change to the "Basic" theme, it bypasses all that stuff. However, since the "glass" theme uses the graphics processor and the "basic" one uses the main CPU, it will most likely be slower with the effects turned off.

[santucci218]

nah, thats not the stuff im talking about. i dont know how to describe it any better then i did sadly.

[mjolnir]

Originally Posted by Falkner

1. Obtain a copy of XP
2. Install XP
3. Enjoy

+1000000

[jady]

Are you talking about Aero? If so

create a shortcut and use the following path

turn Aero ON
Rundll32 dwmApi #102

turn Aero OFF
Rundll32 dwmApi #104

[Chunk-O-Funk]

I'm not at home in front of my Vista machine, but I think I know what you are talking about.

Go to control panel and look for something called "systems" and click the advanced menu. Then there should be a "performance" section which allows you to turn off certain visual effects.

You may be able to get there by right clicking on "my computer" and selecting "properties"

[Chunk-O-Funk]

Okay, here it is for Vista. I have 64 bit Ultimate, but I don't think it will be any different.

Go to control panel/system and then on the left pane click "advanced system settings". It will open a box, click on the "visual effects" tab.

(Right clicking "computer" in the start menu and choose "properties" will also get you to the "system" section.)

There you can choose "best appearance" or "best performance" or "custom"

Or just un-check what you don't want one by one.

Things like mouse shadow, fade or slide menus, etc....
If you lack processor power or memory turning off this stuff will help a bit. I did it with my XP machine when I used to run programs like 3D mark.


www.pcstats.com is a great place for windows performance tips.

Check this out:
http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=2238

[peterbright]

Have never had any difficulties with VISTA.

[iamlowsound]

Originally Posted by peterbright

Have never had any difficulties with VISTA.

Neither have I, only because I have a mac.

lowsound

[santucci218]

Originally Posted by Chunk-O-Funk

Okay, here it is for Vista. I have 64 bit Ultimate, but I don't think it will be any different.

Go to control panel/system and then on the left pane click "advanced system settings". It will open a box, click on the "visual effects" tab.

(Right clicking "computer" in the start menu and choose "properties" will also get you to the "system" section.)

There you can choose "best appearance" or "best performance" or "custom"

Or just un-check what you don't want one by one.

Things like mouse shadow, fade or slide menus, etc....
If you lack processor power or memory turning off this stuff will help a bit. I did it with my XP machine when I used to run programs like 3D mark.


www.pcstats.com is a great place for windows performance tips.

Check this out:
http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=2238

THank you much, that is exactly what i was looking for!

[L-A]

Come to think of it, I've never used a comp with Vista on it.

[Falkner]

I got Vista on a laptop when it was still pretty new, so there's a chance all the things I hated about it have been fixed, but I still won't touch it due to those bad memories.

[mjolnir]

Originally Posted by peterbright

Have never had any difficulties with VISTA.

You're a lucky man. ...Or you sacrifice small children to the Microsoft gods in return for bug and clutter free Vista use.

We know your secret.

Originally Posted by Falkner

I got Vista on a laptop when it was still pretty new, so there's a chance all the things I hated about it have been fixed, but I still won't touch it due to those bad memories.

Wishful thinking, I'm afraid. While there is a service pack out for Vista, my own experiences and the experiences of several other IT techs I know with it have been... less than promising.

[chicago_mike]

Tweakvista is a decent too. You can also go to vistaultimate.com and vistax64.com

Vista isn't bad, its just a little too much too soon. But, Server 2008 is a good os, checkout server2008workstation.com