If you use Windows Vista, you know that it can be really slow on startup and take a lot of time to become responsive after the desktop loads. I’ve always found it really annoying, to put it mildly. Fortunately, it’s possible to speed up Vista startup.

The reason why Vista takes so long to load is that it does a lot in the background – it loads up processes, services, and applications, which is pretty time- and resource-consuming. The more there is to load, the longer it takes.

Of course, your Windows might take too long to load because of viruses or spyware, or because you need to upgrade your hardware, but that’s another story.

Here is how you can speed up Vista startup in two easy steps.

Tame Your Software

The first thing we start doing after getting a new computer is installing software. Some of the programs are essential, others are there just because we wanted to check them out and forgot to remove them. And a lot of those programs load on startup too, which causes significant system slow-downs.

So, the first thing you should do to improve Vista boot time is remove software you never use and stop applications you don’t always use loading on startup.

To remove programs you don’t need:

1. Click on the Start button, then go to Control Panel
2. Double-click on Programs and Features
3. There you can view all programs you have installed and remove the ones you don’t need

To manage your startup list, use Windows Defender:

1. Click on the Start button, type in defender and hit Enter
2. In Windows Defender, click Tools and then Software Explorer
3. You will get a list of your startup items. Don’t overdo it and disable your antivirus or other vital programs!

Control Windows Services

Apart from applications, Windows loads various services. Some of them are vital, others you never use. So why let them hog your computer?

To customize services, do the following:

1. Click on the Start button, type in services, and hit Enter
2. You’ll get a window with all the services and their short description
3. Be careful what you disable, because you might make your PC unbootable by mistake

If you’d like to be able to remove software, manage your startup items and services in just two clicks, try Auslogics BoostSpeed. Not only does it make removing programs and startup items fast and easy, it also gives you tailor-made advice on which services are safe to disable.

Hope these tips were helpful and your Vista now loads faster!

Compared to Windows XP, Vista is a much heavier operating system. It has lots of great features, but they can slow down your computer a lot, especially if it hasn’t got a powerful CPU or enough RAM.

Before your patience snaps and you spend a lot of money on new hardware, follow these simple tips to make Vista lighter and faster.

1) Disable Windows Vista Aero

Great looks come at a cost. In case of Aero it’s heavy CPU, RAM, and video card usage. Aero can use as much as 15% of your CPU. And if you are using a laptop, keep in mind that it affects your battery life. With the Aero theme turned off battery life is equal to or even better than if you’re using Windows XP. So it would be a good idea to disable Aero if you want your battery to last longer.

Turning off the Aero theme is easy:

1. Right-click your desktop and click Personalize
2. Click on Window Color and Appearance. It will look different from what you are used to.
3. Click Open classic appearance properties for more color options
4. Now select any theme you like, for example the Windows Classic theme

2) Use ReadyBoost to Increase Performance

Windows Vista has a lot of features to help older and less powerful computers run it. ReadyBoost is one of them. It lets you use a USB drive as a secondary memory cache, before hard drive caching. Of course, it is no substitution for RAM, but it does make your computer faster.

There are certain requirements your USB drive has to meet:

• It has to be USB 2.0
• It must be at least 256MB (though there is no point in using a device smaller than 1GB)
• It has to be able to read at 3.5MB/s
• It has to be able to write at 2.5MB/s

If you don’t know whether your USB drive is ReadyBoost compatible, plug it in and give it a try anyway. If it is, an AutoPlay box should appear with a dialog stating that you can use it for ReadyBoost. If you have AutoPlay disabled, do the following:

1. Go to Computer, right-click the removable storage device and select Properties
2. If the drive is compatible, you will see a ReadyBoost tab. Click on it.
3. Then select Use this device and set the amount of space that you want to be used for ReadyBoost system file
4. Click OK and you’re done

3) Speed Up External Hard Drives

Windows Vista operates internal and external USB hard drives differently. The great feature for USB thumb drives is that write caching is disabled. That means you can safely remove them without any risk of losing data. However, if a large external hard drive is always connected to your computer, disabled write caching can decrease performance.

To turn write caching back on to improve your external hard drive performance:

1. Go to Start, right-click Computer and select Manage
2. Then go to Device Manager on the side menu
3. Expand Disk drives and find your external hard drive
4. Right-click it and select Properties
5. Open the Policies tab and select Optimize for performance
6. Check Enable write caching on the disk and Enable advanced performance
7. 
8. Press OK and reboot

4) Boost SATA Disk Performance

It is also possible to speed up SATA disk drives by enhancing write caching. Here’s how:

1. Click Start, then right-click Computer and select Manage
2. Go to Device Manager
3. Expand Disk Drives
4. Right-click your hard drive and go to Properties
5. On the Policies tab check Enable advanced performance
6. Press OK and close the Device Manager

The downside of enhancing write caching is that if you experience a power cut, the risk of data loss and corruption increases. So be careful if you don’t have a battery backup. If you are a laptop user, the danger of losing data is less, since your laptop battery is always there to save you.