Improve your computer’s performance on Windows Vista

One of the great things about Windows Vista is its Performance Management. In other Windows Operating Systems, you either had to buy a third-party tool to analyze your computer or you had to know the intricate details on how to pinpoint performance trouble spots.

On Windows Vista, the performance analysis tool is part of the OS which you can access through the Control Panel. To do so:

1. Open the Control Panel and select Classic View.
2. Click Performance Information And Tools.
3. On the left side under Tasks, select Advanced Tools.

The first Item you will see is Performance Issues. If you click this, it will give you an outright performance diagnostic on which program installed is causing the slowdown. You can either replace it with an alternative product (in cases of antiviral/spyware programs, productivity helpers, etc.) or remove it altogether if it is not a critical application for you.

If you don’t want to replace it or remove the affected program installed, you may want to dig deeper and optimize in some other aspect or find the root cause of the performance lag. To do this, go back to Advanced Tools. Choose View performance details in Event log.

The next screen will show you the Event Viewer (Diagnosis-Performance Section). You can further check on the logs and find out what specific software or component is causing a slow performance.

Lastly, cutting down on some visual effects will improve your software’s usabilityYou turn on or off some visual effects of Windows Vista by clicking on the Adjust The Appearance And Performance Of Windows option.

Rule of thumb: The fewer programs or services you install on your computer, the faster it will run. Be smart in what you put in your computer.

Happy tweaking!