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All Deviations
All Deviations
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Recommendations for vista

Journal Entry: Tue Aug 12, 2008, 3:03 AM
  • Mood: Content
I think everyone who has vista would want to make it just as fast\faster than XP, and it seems that this is possible with some simple tweaks and programs. So I'll share the stuff I use on my vista system.


Faster performance and tweaking:

The most important program I would like to recommend is TuneUP Utilities - it's a all-in-one utility to optimize a windows OS. For those who are unaware of it - it includes many useful utilities that will boost performance, solve system problems and that allow to customize the appearance of windows. Every PC should have that installed. (Note it's shareware)

CCleaner - probably the best cleaner ever. There is also a CCleaner Slim available.

Another very effective program is Diskeeper 2008 - even though it's shareware too - it boosts the system performance alot. Like it's said in the description of this program "Performance better than a new OS", and indeed the boot is faster, and overall performance too.

WinBubble - probably the most compact tweaking program for vista, I recommend trying it out.

Patternajeke just released a vista optimizer which enhances performance, you can get it here: [link]

Better look and feel:

DFX Audio Enhancement and SRS Sandbox - vista already has enhanced video audio experience, and the music in vista sounds so much better than it would on XP, but you can still make it sound even better with one of these programs. I'm currently using DFX, though it works only in wmp and windows media center, but Vathanx recommended me SRS Sandbox, and it works on the whole system! (both are shareware)

VistaGlazz - I think everyone knows what it does... it allows to use 3rd party themes on vista.

Style Selector for vista - a small, but very usefull program for changing themes in vista easy and fast. It displays correct titles of the themes (unlike in classic window colors and appearance box)

StyleBuilder
for vista (to come soon?) (shareware?)

TuneUP Styler 2 - part of TuneUP utilites - it can change various windows items like icons, bootscreens, logons and themes.

Also most stardock customization programs work on vista, like WindowBlinds but i there aren't many good themes for them at the moment, also I think Aero is THE perfect theme... :D


Tips for better performance:

The biggest performance hog I noticed on vista is Windows Sidebar, even though it doesn't take too much RAM it's better to turn it off on older systems.

Aero - for some reason actually enabling aero WILL make windows and programs open faster, so I would recommend enabling it not only for eyecandy, also for performance. (Example: a explorer window in basic opens slower, while in aero it loads almost instantly)
But if you have a older video card which barely supports aero, disabling aero would help.


Disabling some services for better performance:

Disabling the Remote Differential Compression is probably the most effective thing I've done on vista so far, not only it enhanced the performance a little - it also unlocked the networking cap I had on vista for so long, usually it was no more than 1 MB\s on torrent downloads, but today the torrent download speed was 3.3 MB\s, amazing, faster than on XP SP3 (3 MB\s). You can find the guide here: [link] (system restore point should be created, do it at your own risk, though it is safe) Thanks to Kruper11 for mentioning that while we argued :D

Not long ago i discovered that the more services you disable in msconfig - the SLOWER boot you'll get. So currently I have almost all services enabled and I see no problem with that. This affects XP too, when i re-enabled all services the boot seemed faster (!).

Disabling some normal startup items will make the login faster though.


Vista protection:

The best antivirus and security suite I have used so far is Kaspersky Internet Security 7. The WORST antivirus I have used so far is ESET SmartSecurity (NOD), it's in fact completely useless as a internet security program, and it missed at least 2 viruses, you can read my topic which i posted on winmatrix regarding this thing: [link]
So if you want good protection against malware, DO NOT USE NOD, if you're using it, and visit potentially dangerous sites like torrents - do a system scan online asap.

If you already have KIS, vista firewall and windows defender aren't necessary. But they are quite effective if you're using just a simple antivirus.

I recommend HijackThis program, it doesn't work in the background, you just execute it to see what kind of processes are running on your system. I advise doing a quick system scan from time to time if you're not using a active AVP, or none at all.

User Account control - the new innovative security feature from microsoft to annoy you and pop up a permission dialog for every action you do on vista, microsoft thinks that you don't know what you're clicking and it needs to confirm actions. :D You should disable it instantly:
Go to control panel, select control panel home (if you have classic view), then User Accounts and Family Safety \ User Accounts. Click on "Turn User Account Control On or Off" and uncheck the box. Click OK and reboot. Thanks to ~andyqhw for reminding me :)


Multimedia alternatives (recommended):


KMPlayer - my favorite video player - it has a lot of features, and i personally think it's better than VLC, WMP, GOM and others. The only minus is that it doesn't have extended aero like wmp11 does :P

ACDsee
- since Windows Photo Gallery is quite slow to load (it loads all library), and doesn't recognize many formats, ACDsee is the best alternative, compact, fast and functional. Though it's shareware.

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You can find much more useful vista tips on AskVG.com
Don't forget to check this: [link]

That's all.

If you know a cool tip for vista, you can share it here ;)

Comments are welcome too!

[over] 16th Birthday

Journal Entry: Fri Aug 8, 2008, 1:47 AM
  • Mood: Joy
  • Listening to: House music sets
  • Playing: -
  • Eating: Cake (It's not a lie, really)
  • Drinking: Fanta
On this awesome day, when the Olympics 2008 start, I'm informing everyone, that I will gladly accept congratulations regarding my 16th birthday! :D


Thank you so much for your sweet comments guys! I never thought I'd recieve so many congratulations :D

Aero Ultimate TT for XP

Journal Entry: Tue Jul 29, 2008, 11:40 AM
  • Mood: Artistic
  • Watching: Prision Break
Aero Ultimate TT Port by ~Balderoine

Balderoine finally released the new Aero Ultimate skin for TrueTransparecy. Since I allowed him to use my images from the wba, it's actually the most vista like skin for TT which features all colors just like in original Aero Ultimate. Active-Inactive-Maximized frames have their own images unlike in some existing TT skins.

If you're still in the vista look, you can try TrueTransparecy. It isn't better than WindowBlinds, but probably the best alternative for getting the glass effect. It will look great on any msstyle, or even on WB if your machine doesn't support per pixel borders ;)
Not to mention TrueTransparey works quite fast, you won't even notice the slow down (unlike Vystal and similar programs)

DOWNLOAD HERE also visit his gallery for more TT skins

Click here to watch Balderoine and keep track of his deviations. (He'll release THE vista iconpack soon)

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PS Have you noticed that best vista stuff for XP is being released so late? :D

We'll move on to vista customization quite soon now, but won't forget XP users :)


More recommended stuff:

Vista Rainbar V4.3 Vista's security screen for XP (installer coming soon)

WinModify - skinning community

Journal Entry: Mon Jul 21, 2008, 6:08 AM
  • Mood: Artistic
  • Watching: Jericho
I recently found a cool Skinning community dedicated to Windows Customization. You can find various application skins there as well as Tweaks for Windows! Similar to DeviantArt - it offers the possibility for members to submit their customization works and make them available for wide public. Also receive comments and ratings on their submissions.

You can submit some of your deviations there so more people could find and download them :)

This site could use more members to expand it's community, so I invite you to join it if you haven't yet ;)

www.winmodify.net

PS The site will be upgraded next year and will offer much more possibilities

Element Browser RC2 - feature

Journal Entry: Tue Jul 15, 2008, 2:29 AM
  • Mood: Sadness
  • Watching: WALL•E