Performance tuning Upgrading to Vista on Window XP Laptop

[BobTurner]

As my title has given you a short idea of what I actually want. I have a Windows XP Laptop. I am going to upgrade Vista on it. Here I have 1GB ram and I can afford to go for 2GB more. I am not interested to go for extra storage. Just for testing purpose. I had install Vista as Dual boot. But the system takes too much time to load up. This happens only in Windows Vista. My processor is Dual Core. It is a old system given by my Uncle. Does adding up ram can help me out to gain more power. I cannot remove Windows XP just like that. I have to ensure that Vista will work properly on my existing hardware. I will spend amount on 2GB only if it is possible to gain faster system. I use to view a online training course which runs through a software. On Windows Vista that software takes more time to open up.

[Mahalingam]

What I know that compare to Windows Vista, Windows 7 is far more better. If you adding up more ram then better go for new operating system. I was using this operating system long before and was really fed up with it. It is nice but the performance is what matters. Windows XP is almost outdated now. In my views adding up ram can make this operating system more faster.

[JoanaJhon]

Any operating system works fine with more physical ram. What you need to do is remove those services which you are not going to use. Like disable theme, disable effects and animation kind of stuff, keep it more plain and simple. In comparison to Windows 7, Vista needs more ram. The reason lies in the operating system itself. I had seen Windows 7 working smoothly on 1GB hardware. Another issue with Vista is driver support. I hope you have driver available for that. First install Vista and from control panel remove all additional stuff that you do not need. Second install only the needed software. There is a tool that can help you to tweak vista. But this tool can cause serious system error, because of which I will not mention the name. Vista is fine to use. Boot time cannot be improved. It depends on the operating system services. What the most you can do is check mconfig and manage the startup services. Your an enable or disable things as needed. Vista do not put much effort on the cpu. Buy ram and add them, it will be helpful for your future use also.

[CassandraD]

Do one thing, in your existing installation disable Aero theme. This theme is resource intensive. I think you only needs a better performance instead of theming and colorful output. Disable the same and then check back.

[TamaraAce]

Vista is filled with many optional features. This can be removed to make it fast. And obviously for slow system you will find such problem. I know some of them. First the games. I think they are not needed. You can remove them. Second IIS server. You can also get rid of it from Control Panel. This service can be installed after when you need SQL based applications on your system. Also you can remove telnet, tftp, help files, etc from the system. There is a tool called Vista Tweaker. This tool helps you to remove any additional component from your system. It is much easier to use. The more resource intensive part of this operating system is its interface. You can use this tool to remove any elements and make it simple for usage. Along with tweak it also provides you a backup and restore features. By this you can restore the old settings as per your need. So if there is error you can restore the changes.

[Gaganvihari]

I think adding up ram will be good. Because after that you will not need to go with any changes in installation. No operating system yet comes with customization features like the button you see on Office 2007 installation. Because if that kind of features are added you can choose what to install and what not to. This helps you to customize your system at the start of installation. While there are some tools which can help you to make a tweaker version of Vista via your existing bootable disc. This thing is called as slip streaming. In this you can modify vista files and remove all those which are not needed. Then you can build up the entire operating system back. It is much better and easier to use.

[Donatien]

There are lots of things that can be done to improve Vista performance. You can add a ram booster type applications. This app boost your physical memory when your system slows down.

[Aalap]

Vista has a feature which no one is discussing here. It is called as Ready Boost. This technology offer a much better amount of ram for resource intensive apps. You do not need to use any memory boosters. Ready Boost also included in Windows 7. Ready boost helps Vista to use more ram when it is needed. This technology offers better use of applications with existing ram. Other than this if you have a good amount of storage space in your system then the empty space is utilized as virtual ram. I had tested this with a usb device. After attaching 8GB usb drive the system performance boosted automatically.

[jaykant]

If we go for disabling items in Windows vista then there are many things that can be removed. Like indexing feature, disabling hibernation, etc. This are something that can be removed only one by one. They still lie in the system to completely remove that you have to use a tweaking tool.