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Improving Performance On Vista

Posted At : March 26, 2008 3:46 PM | Posted By : todd sharp
Related Categories: Off Topic, Vista

Just saw an interesting Vista tidbit in an article at infoworld, though I'm not sure if it's a good thing or a bad thing. I mean, on one hand, increased performance is always a good thing. But on the other hand, one would think the 4GB of onboard RAM and a 7200RPM hard drive would be enough...

Get flashy: If you have an extra USB flash drive that you don't use for much else, Vista can cache disk reads on it, thereby boosting performance beyond what you'd get from your hard disk alone. Simply insert your flash drive into a USB 2.0 slot. If the drive is fast enough, a prompt will appear, asking whether you want to open the folder for the drive or use it to "Speed up my system using Windows ReadyBoost." Choose the latter option, and follow the remaining prompts. When you're calculating how much space to set aside for ReadyBoost to use, Microsoft recommends that you let ReadyBoost use one to three times the amount of RAM on your system.
Play your cards right: USB thumb drives aren't the only way to boost system performance -- fortunately, as USB memory sticks protruding from a computer (particularly a laptop) are easy to dislodge, and they can be a pain to remove and stow for traveling. If your PC has a reader for SD (Secure Digital) or CompactFlash cards, you can use those media in place of a USB stick to handle your ReadyBoost needs.

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I use a Yego Flash drives on my pc ( http://www.ritekusa.com/product_main.asp?division_... ). For for a pimped out desktop, you won't get much usage out of it, but Photoshop and gaming seem to love Readyboost.

Friend of mine uses Readyboost on a aging laptop and it's awesome for performance.

# Posted By Todd Rafferty | 3/26/08 4:58 PM

Yeah I got a 4GB readyboost usb stick last black friday. It seems to have helped, though not a ton. It does seem like my random disk access is lower than before, so that's good.

BTW with 4GB of onboard RAM, are you doing 64 bit? Hope so, or else you're not getting to use it all. Meh. random thought. :D

# Posted By Nathan Strutz | 3/26/08 7:15 PM

I'm on 32bit, but SP1 seems to let me take full advantage of all 4GB.

# Posted By todd sharp | 3/26/08 7:39 PM

I feel so bad for you guys. You have to exert so much effort just to use your computers.

# Posted By Anonymous | 3/26/08 8:17 PM

Anonymous: You seem to like making Vista comments on my blog. Why not just leave your name next time? No need to be afraid, we're all friends here.

# Posted By todd sharp | 3/27/08 10:03 AM

Yeah Ray! ;) (Just kidding)

# Posted By Todd Rafferty | 3/27/08 10:11 AM

Mr. Sharp, I came across this little tidbit for cleaning up Vista after you install SP1 ( http://www.labnol.org/software/tutorials/finish-in... ). Note that if you run that command, you can't ever go back from SP1 (which, is kind of silly, why would I ever go back to the default install?)

~Todd

# Posted By Todd Rafferty | 4/4/08 9:13 AM

I picked up a USB stick last week. For general computing it seems to do nothing at all, but it really seems to help ColdFusion run like a champ on my machine. If I kick off a massive thread it runs super quick.

# Posted By todd sharp | 5/23/08 5:17 PM

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