Yesterday I installed Windows Vista Ultimate. It’s the final version, the full thing… I’ve spent many months moaning about how earlier versions were too over-cautious and kept driving me mad with prompts saying…
..and..
.. it nearly drove me insane. However, I decided to work through it today. Firstly, my laptop doesn’t have the necessary “OOMPH” in it’s graphics card to support the full “groovy” Windows Vista experience, however it WILL run after you turn some stuff off. If anyone is interested in how I got this working to an acceptable level, here’s the steps I took..
1) Backup your data. I did this by copying my stuff to another machine and burning some of “My Documents” to a DVD.
2) Run the Vista install and format your drive. I’ve installed a whole heap of crap over the years and it’s time for a fresh start – an upgrade would just give me a flashy interface on
top of my existing rubbish.
3) After install, restore your data. Now do a DEFRAG of your hard drive. You’ve just shoved loads of crap back on your drive, so it needs sorting nicely again.
4) If, after the defrag, you notice the hard drive going INSANE AT ALL TIMES you should consider a memory card. I’m lucky enough to have a Sony Vaio laptop which has an internal Memory Stick reader, however if you put any memory stick / USB stick or SD card onto your machine you’ll get the option of using “Windows ReadyBoost”, which means that Windows will use your memory stick as a cache. It does this because your memory stick is FASTER than the HD!
5) Still slow? Go to Control Panel -> System -> Advanced System Settings -> System Protection. Turn OFF restore points.
6) Still slow? Go back to Control Panel -> System -> Advanced System Settings -> Performance (Settings). You should leave as much as possible in here, however if you’re really having problems and you graphics card isn’t up to it then JUST leave a tick in “Use Visual Styles on Windows and Buttons” – nothing else.
That’s it ! :)
It’s actually quite good, and I’m getting to like the new interface more and more. I’ve also just created a Network Drive to the CoolSmartPhone server via FTP – how cool is that eh ? :)
Finally, if you DON’T like the constant pop-up warning messages I mentioned earlier and you’re a “power user”, go to…
Control Panel -> Security Centre -> User Account Control
..turn this off. You’ll then get a very helpful “warning” shield stuck on the bottom right of your screen. To get rid of this, click “Change the way Windows Security Center Alerts me” and turn it off.