12 FEATURES OF VISTA TO BE DISABLED

Vista, thy name is bloat! The latest Windows packs a lot of code—more than any version of Windows ever— and some of it is just plain unnecessary. All that excess code has a way of slowing down an operating system. You can regain some PC performance by deactivating unneeded capabilities. I’ve identified a dozen Vista features that you can turn off right now. Some are shiny baubles that slow your graphics performance, while others are optional utilities that hog memory when they shouldn’t. A few can in fact be quite useful, even though they play a major role in bogging down your PC.

Should you really kill all of the following features right this minute? That depends on your computer, your work habits, and your tastes. (I’ve put only seven and a half of them out of action on my PC, because while none of these elements are required for Vista to function, some are still kind of nice and my computer, fortunately, is fast enough to handle them.) Just to be on the safe side, make sure to create a restore point before you turn any of these items off.

That way you can quickly return your machine to its present state should you decide that you don’t like the change. To make a restore point, click Start, type sysdm.cpl in the search field, and press <Enter>. Choose System Protection•Create, and follow the prompts. Windows will take care of the rest.

Sidebar
You pay a heavy price in performance for the joy of looking at the analog clock, the thumbnail slide-show viewer, and the Microsoft-centric RSS news feed that all dock in the Windows sidebar. But switching the whole sidebar off can give your machine a significant speed boost, especially at startup. To remove the sidebar from view, simply right-click anywhere on it and select Close Sidebar. Uncheck Start Sidebar when Windows starts, and then click OK.

Aero
Microsoft put many of Vista’s visual enhancements under one technological and marketing umbrella: aero. among those features are the thumbnails of your windows that appear when you hover the mouse pointer over the taskbar, as well as the Flip 3D view you get by pressing <Windows>-<Tab>. Aero adds a little practicality and a lot of panache to the Vista user interface, and personally, I like it.

If your PC is underpowered or overloaded, however, aero may be more trouble than it’s worth. to shut it off, right-click the Windows desktop and select Personalize•Window Color and Appearance. In the resulting ‘Window Color and appearance’ dialog box, click Open classic appearance properties for more color options (if you don’t see the option, that means aero is already turned off). Then select Windows Vista Basic and click OK.

Assorted Interface Beautification Options
You can save more clock cycles by retiring other interface elements that prettify Vista, not all of which are directly connected to aero. To see the options, click Start, right-click Computer, and select Properties. Click the Advanced System Settings link, the Advanced tab, and then the Settings button in - side the Performance box. You can uncheck all of the listed items by selecting Adjust for best performance, or you can simply uncheck just the ones that you don’t care for. I unchecked Fade or slide menus into view, Fade or slide ToolTips into view, Show shadows under menus, and Slide open combo boxes. The remaining options I left on.

Remote Assistance
If you run Vista Business or Ultimate, you can use Re - mote assistance to control one PC from another—a useful tool if you regularly provide tech support for, say, a distant relative. But if you are not providing long-distance support, or if you prefer a third-party remote-control app, Remote assistance is just a waste of resources. To get rid of it, click Start, right-click Computer, and select Properties. Click Remote Settings. Uncheck Allow Remote Assistance connections to this computer.

Internet Printing Client
Do you ever print out documents over the internet? Neither do I. so chances are good that you won’t miss out on anything by disabling Vista’s internet Printing Client. Open the ‘Programs and Features’ control panel and click the Turn Windows features on or off link on the left; you’ll get the Windows Features dialog box. Expand the Print Services section and uncheck Internet Printing Client. Click OK at this point, and then wait several more minutes for the system to ask to reboot. Or you can read the next three items in this article, which also use this dialog box.

Windows meeting Space
I like Windows’ built-in peer-to-peer collaboration program, meeting space, which lets you share files across a network while editing them with a remote colleague. But I don’t have any use for it in my daily life, and neither do most of the people I know. so I shut Windows meeting space off. you can, too. Simply uncheck Windows Meeting Space while you’re in the Windows Features dialog box. if you’re not already in this particular dialog box, see the previous tip for instructions on getting to it.

Windows Ultimate extras
One of the best things you can do exclusively in Vista Ultimate edition is turn off the really pointless features that are found exclusively in Vista Ultimate edition. I refer, of course, to Ultimate extras, downloadable add-ons available only to Ultimate users. If you didn’t pay for the priciest version of Vista, these useless add-ons aren’t a concern. if you do own Ultimate, go to Windows Update (Start•All Programs•Windows Update), click View available updates, and check out all the worthless stuff Microsoft offers exclusively to people who paid for the most bloated version of Vista.

At this writing, the extras include a poker game, some BitLocker and encrypted File system enhancements that hardly anyone uses, several audio schemes, and an odd tool called Windows Dreamscene that lets you waste your precious system resources by using video as your wallpaper. If PC World ever asks me to write an article on pointless ways to slow down Vista, I’ll start with Dreamscene. You can kill Windows Ultimate extras in the Windows Features control panel by clicking Turn Windows features on or off to open the Windows Features dialog box, and then unchecking Windows Ultimate Extras.

Tablet PC Stuff
I own a tablet PC, and I love Vista’s tablet features, especially the input Panel for writing with the stylus. But if you don’t have a tablet, these elements are useless. Switching Vista’s tablet PC features off is a two-step process: First open the ‘Programs and Features’ control panel and click the Turn Windowsfeatures on or off link on the left; you’ll get the Windows Features dialog box. Once there, uncheck Tablet PC Optional Components. You complete the job in the services window, which you open by clicking Start, typing services, and pressing <Enter>. Find and doubleclick Tablet PC Input Services. In the ‘startup type’ dropdown menu, select Disabled, and then click OK.

Ready Boost
If you are not employing this much-hyped Vista feature— which supposedly speeds up Vista by caching memory to a flash drive—it is slowing your system down, albeit just a tiny bit. (And if you are using ReadyBoost, it’s probably still a drag on your computer.) You turn off ReadyBoost in services. if you aren’t already there, click Start, type services, and press <Enter>. Find and doubleclick ReadyBoost. In the ‘startup type’ drop-down menu, select Disabled, and then click OK.

Search Indexing
This one is a real trade-off. Deactivating Vista’s indexing will slow searches to a crawl—I’m talking about minutes, not just seconds. But ditching this convenient feature could very likely speed up your general PC use significantly. in other words, turning off indexing will help your PC’s performance only if you seldom search by file content, or if you use a third-party search tool such as Copernic Desktop or Google Desktop (in which case you probably have two indexing routines running at the same time, which is an even bigger waste of resources).

If you match either of those descriptions, spike Vista’s indexing by clicking Start, typing services, and pressing <Enter>. Find and double-click Windows Search. in the ‘startup type’ dropdownmenu, select Disabled,and then click OK.

Offline files
If you work on files stored on a server somewhere, and you can’t depend on that server always being available, Vista Business and Ultimate editions’ Offline Files feature makes your life easier by copying the remote files to your hard drive and keeping them synced. Of course, that sort of thing isn’t for everybody, which is probably why Microsoft didn’t include Offline Files in the home editions of Vista. But if you have Business or Ultimate and still don’t need Offline Files, turn it off by clicking Start, typing services, and pressing <Enter>. Find and double-click Offline Files. In the ‘startup type’ dropdown menu, select Disabled, and then click OK.

Windows error reporting Service
Every time Windows experiences an error—either with one of its own processes or with a third-party program—it offers to report the problem to Microsoft for you. in theory, doing so can help the company locate troubles with its Os (and heaven knows that would be a good thing). But more than likely, your report will either go unresolved or end up in a big ol’ pile of other people’s reports on the same problem. Either way, you’re wasting your system’s precious resources on a feature that isn’t doing you any good.

To disable this unhelpful service, open the services window: Click Start, type services, and press <Enter>. Find and double-click Windows Error Reporting Service. in the ‘startup type’ dropdown menu, select Disabled, and—finally—click OK