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TMM responsible for about a 3-5 second delay and blank screen flash when you start Vista. It searches for external monitors

If you are not using an external monitor, or dont switch back and forth always...turn TMM off. This is responsible for that 3-5 sec pause and blank flash you get when turning your computer on.

Here's how to fix that annoying black flicker on boot:

Go start/control panel/administrative options/task scheduler.

On the left-hand side, click "Task Scheduler Local" (you should already be there, but just in case).
Expand "Task Scheduler Library," then "Microsoft," then "Windows," then click "MobilePC."
Up top, you'll see a task called "TMM." Click it, and on the right-hand side, click "Disable."
You're done.

It takes all your boot files and places them at the front of the disk.

This is the best Tweak in our arsenal as there are several reports that it will cut your start time in half. I have verified this with my Vista 64Bit (20 sec) and have cut my sons 32Bit time in half to 40 seconds.

I use it on both my Vista 32 and 64 bit systems and it works great. Word to the wise though...dont use later versions. This version is the only tested for this.

1. Install Program and if asked to select a drive, select 'C';
2. Go to Memory and File System and Click on Ultra-Fast booting (it may appear to freeze but its working);
3. Once its done, it will inform you not to reboot your system until defragmentation is complete;
4. Bring up your Task Manager from your system tray by right clicking in the tray bottom right and select Task Manager;
5. Go to processes;
6. You will see two processes relating to defrag. Dont restart your machine until they dissappear.

WARNING!!!
Although many have gotten phenomenal results from the Ultra Fast Booting option, DO NOT utilize any other options in TuneXP in VISTA

All versions of Vista have Search Indexing enabled by default which is an unneeded resource for most. Its function is to continuously update files on your system so that they can be made available for faster searching. Unfortunately, this takes its toll on system performance which is why its listed in several tweaking programs as a top teak; I agree totally.

To disable Windows indexing:

1. Click Start, then computer;
2. Right click on Local Disk 'C:'
3. Left click on Properties;
4. Uncheck 'Index this Drive for Faster Searching';
5. Let it complete and select 'Include subfolders and files' in any subsequent dialog box

EDIT: From here we will go one step further and turn off Windows Search in your services.

1. Click on start/run and type in 'MSConfig' and hit ok;
2. Click on Services tab and find Windows Search
3. Uncheck/Apply and Ok...Your done!!!

CCleaner (formerly Crap Cleaner) is a freeware system optimization and privacy tool. It removes unused and temporary files from your system - allowing Windows to run faster, more efficiently and giving you more hard disk space. The best part is that it's fast! (normally taking less than a second to run) and Free.

It cleans the following:

1. Internet Explorer Cache, History, Cookies, Index.dat;
2. Recycle Bin, Temporary files and Log files;
3. Recently opened URLs and files;
4. Third-party application temp files and recent file lists (MRUs);
5. Including: Firefox, Opera, Media Player, eMule, Kazaa, Google Toolbar, Netscape, Office XP, Nero, Adobe Acrobat, WinRAR, WinAce, WinZip and

This tweak is best followed after a 'clean' install with respect to the below listed advisory.

One of the most annoying things in Vista is the protection of your system through UAC. Before I knew how to disable it I considered throwing the system out the window. The purpose of UAC is to make you confirm a large number of everyday functions in order to somehow protect your system from malware infections. In any case heres how to shut it off (or turn it back on).

1. Click on start and then click on your username picture top right of the start menu.
2. Click on 'Turn User Account Control on or off.'
3. Uncheck (or check) User Account Control, select ok and restart.

Thats it except...

There needs to be a word of caution in turning UAC on and off. There is a process called virtualization that, when UAC is 'on' saves program data files (things like INI files, configuration files, saved game files etc.) within a totally separate area for each individual user. If you then turn UAC off, there have been reports that certain programs may be unable to find that saved data. The truth, in fact, is that the data is still there but only visible to the program in this 'virtualization folder' once UAC has been turned on again.

An example is... If UAC is on and you install some game, and the game then saves files to that program's main directory and subsequently you turn UAC off. Those files may appear to the game that they have been deleted when, in all actuality, they are stored in this folder and only accessible through virtualization when UAC is on.

MAKE SURE YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING WITH TIP 5

This tweak is actually a 'two in one' as it saves disk space by turning off unneeded windows features as well as improving performance by shutting down Remote Differential Compression (RDC). Briefly RDC monitors changes in files in order to transfer them with minimum compression over a network, thus eliminating the transfer of an entire file which has been already moved. This checking and rechecking can hinder system performance. With respect to the other features that I will suggest shutting off, I myself only leave Games, Ultimate Extras (both self explanatory) and Tablet PC. I choose to leave tablet PC as it enables a little feature called Snipping Tool which I absolutely love. Anyone who hasn't used it, type 'snipping tool' in the 'Run' box and enjoy.

In anycase, the tweak is as follows:

1. Press Start/Control Panel/Classic View and select Programs and Features;
2. Choose 'Turn Windows Features On and Off;
3. You can safely unselect 'Indexing Service, Remote Differential Compression, Tablet PC Optional Components (if you don't want Snipping Tool), Windows DFS Replication Service, Windows Fax & Scan (unless you use Fax through a modem) and Windows Meeting Space.

Oh and if you want to be real smart, DFS Replication duplicates files for use among multiple PCs in a network and keeps them in sync. Its not very useful on a stand alone.

I let the cat out of the bag in the last tweak so I figured I might as well spill the beans. If you have Vista Premium or above you have a great new tool called Snipping Tool. It enables you to freeze whatever is on your screen and take a picture of it. You may notice that I use this in tons of my threads as it is so easy.

To get to it...

1. Click Start/All Programs/Accessories and voila ; or
2. Start 'Run' and type 'snippingtool'.

Just for a bit of a background, tthis is Microsofts description of 'The Tool':

http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Win...605b41033.mspx ! Broken Link !

NOTE: If you delete Tablet PC above, this will not work!!

Im going to give a bit of a background to this as it is probably the one tweak that can really screw anyone up if they make the wrong move. I think its better to walk through slowly and make sure we are all clear then to jump into and have someone go into a panic if they do something wrong. Windows Vista starts somewhere just short of a hundred processes running each and every time you boot into Vista, many of these being unneeded. Their are four options that describe how each process is started, these being manual (start), automatic, automatic delayed and disabled. Having said that, you dont want to disable something your not sure of, it could prevent you from getting into Vista again.

There are two ways to affect these changes, the first of which is by typing 'services.msc' into the run command which should be on your Vista Menu. (If its not rt click on the Vista Orb lower left/properties/start menu-customize and check Run).

The second is to simply enable or disable services by typing 'msconfig' into the Run bar or:

Press Start/Control Panel/Administrative Tools/System Configuration and Services.

There...I have taught you just enough to really hurt yourself (lol).

Now...a good acrobat has a safety net just in case so....

If you make a mistake, this link will allow you to reset your services back to the original Vista Values, no matter what version of Vista:

http://www.speedyvista.com/registry.html

A safe idea would be to actually copy and save the bat file that applies to you, on a disk, so you can get to it if you need it. Myself, I was fooling around one day and found that my Internet wouldn't work as I disabled the wrong service; it creates a bit more work.

For those wanting to venture even further, I am going to promote a site (www.blackviper.com) and include this link which will enable you to not only learn about each and every process, but also, explore his ideas on safe settings, his choices as well as bare bones settings.

When your computer starts, there are a number of programs that start automatically and remain running in the background which steal away much needed memory. They add up in time and although many have no real use to the average user, others can be eliminated from starting automatically and started from the 'All Programs' or 'Quick Launch' menu as required. My best example of this is Messenger (or AIM/ICQ) which starts and hogs valuable resources even when your not using it.

First lets see how to get there to see what we have shall we?

1. Type 'msconfig' in the Run command (Winkey + R) (new trick for you here lol);
2. Press Start/Control Panel/Admin Tools/System Configuration/Startup; or
3. Download this excellent freeware program called Startup Inspector
Startup Inspector

The good thing about disabling is, if you see a negative result...go into safe mode, Run, Msconfig and undo your changes.

One of the most powerful tweaks available to Vista has to do with the System Restore feature. Back in the days of 3.1/Me/Millenium and even XP, we would have screamed to have something this effective in restoring our system when we made a mistake. Quite simply, System Restore will restore your system to how it was when the last restore point was created....which is why the top title has 'just not quite yet'. The power during our tweaking is that, should we make a mistake, we can just revert back to a previous state.

First, you can access system restore by several methods, a few as follows:

1. Start/Control Panel/Backup and Restore Centre/Create or Repair a Restore Point; or
2. Start/All Programs/Maintenance/Backup and Restore Center.

System Restore is on automatically. To turn it off, you simply go into 'Create a Restore Point or Change Settings' and turn it off (or on) by checking or unchecking options.

Now to the meat and gravy of this tweak....I'm going to describe it to you through the words of an old Clint Eastwood movie:

The Good: When System Restore is turned off, it saves a large amount of disk space because it is not continually creating restore points. It also enhances performance significantly as it is not running in the background and creating these restore points.

The Bad: When it is turned off, you cannot revert to a previously saved restore point; and

The Ugly: If you make a significant mistake with it off, there is usually no turning back. You may need to completely reinstall, if its bad enough, which can be time consuming.

Start/Computer/Right click on 'C'/Properties/Disk CleanUp/More Options/System restore and Shadow Copies (Clean Up).

When your tweaking is nearing an end and you are comfortable with what you have, make a disk backup and by all means shut it down. You will see a world of difference.

To start, this does not apply to us SSD users as there is no significant access time increase from the SSD and the USB storage drive.

For the rest, lucky you!! You can literally add memory to your system by popping in a USB storage drive and enabling ReadyBoost on that drive. For systems with limited RAM, Vista has a file on the hard drive called pagefile.sys. When it gets low on ram, it uses pagefile to store and retrieve files accessed most often. If you can imagine, this results in a huge performance drop as accessing the hard drive for ram is exactly what we do not want to do.

Vista now enables us to pop in a USB drive and ceate a disk cache through the added memory which in some systems can be a huge step up, especially when 2Gb storage drives are so common now.

First, if your going to buy a drive, it has to have the following specifications:

1. It must be USB 2.0 compatible;
2. It must be at least 64mb in size; and
3. It must be able to read at 3.5mb/sec and write at 2.5mb/sec which all pretty much are in any case.

Next... How do we do it???

1. Plug in the USB storage drive;
2. Press Start/Computer and right click on the new drive;
3. If the drive is compatible there will be a tab for ReadyBoost, click on it;
4. Select 'Use this Device' and select the amount of space you want to use.

Now, there is no need for restarting the system and the effects occur instantaneously. It is nice to know that when you restart with this drive again, it automatically defaults to ReadyBoost again.

I would expect those running Vista with 512mb will see a huge difference by sticking a 2Gb drive in performance where those with 1Gb will still visibly see the difference.

Wanna learn more about ReadyBoost or any other new windows feature for that fact??? Just Click on the word!!

I need to precede this with a warning that we are going to advance ourselves a bit here by moving into editing our registry. It means that its absolutely necessary to follow the exact steps as a wrong entry or deletion my cause a reinstall of Vista at worst.

Before we start, by default, there is a 20 second delay in shutdown of Vista, a process that vista has set in order to allow software to shutdown correctly. You can adjust this to a much shorter time, thus significantly reducing the total time it takes to shutdown your computer.

1. Press the Start Orb (bottom left and then go into the Run command (remember Windows key + R).
2. Type 'Regedit' (without the quotes) and hit enter.
3. As the Registry File is so large, Im going to ask you to go top right and maximize this to full screen...and follow me.
4. Click the little triangle to the left of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/ SYSTEM/ CurrentControlSet/ Control.
5. Click on the "Control" Folder. Select "WaitToKillServiceTimeout" Right click on it and select Modify. The default value is 20000. Setting it to a lower 4 digit value, say 5000
6. Simply exit when done.

The 20000 signifies a 20 second delay wheres 5000 signifies a 5 second delay. I cut 20 seconds off my shutdown time by changing this as it suggests so don't try and figure out exact time reduction by numbers...just play with it bit by bit.

You may want to remain at the 5000 mark as Vista does need time to shut software down. If this is not enough, come back and increase the size.

This tweak speeds up the performance of your hard disk by enabling write caching.

There is a danger to this, if you have no backup power supply, as a loss of power would result in loss of any information within the cache at the time of the outage. So.... make sure to continually backup your files in data programs such as Word, Excel, and so on...

To enable write caching:

1. Press Vista Orb/Computer/right click on 'C'/Properties;
2. Click on Hardware and double click on your hard drive;
3. Go to Policies and check 'Enable Write caching on the Disk'
4. You can go one step further by checking 'Enable Advanced performance' but pay attention to the underlying warning.

This option isn't available to all. Newer systems are automatically set to run in AHCI mode through the BIOS and utilize a program called the 'Intel Matrix Storage Manager'. Together, these already enably higher performance of your system and prevent you from 'Enhancing Write Caching' on your own. You may be able to check it off but when you exit and return, its unchecked again. Don't panic!!! Thats just the way it presently works.

I haven't been able to add to this for a few days so I'm going to take the time to really let you control your system through visual and performance effects right now.

Change your Power Setting

I'll start first with a simple trick that most will laugh once they learn. Have you ever wondered why sometimes your system runs very slow, expecially after plug in from battery power with Vista???

To help you in controlling performance and battery power, Vista has a new option that lets you decide at what level you want your system to perform. You simply 'left click' on the battery icon in your system tray and decide whether you want your system running in balanced, power saver or high performance mode. It as easy as that.

Yes...I know... this is really a cheat tweak that many know already but, its really a reminder for all that will be a performance increase at some point. How many times have we wondered why our system was running slow only to go into the power option and see that we are still on power saver mode?

Now... on to the real tweak!!!!! Dum Dum Dum Dum du Dum. okok not quite yet... another mini-cheat tweak.

Enable or Disable Vista Aero

Vista uses up alot of resources to allow it to look great, some of which slow the system down just for the visual effect. There is a simple way to decide, as far as the desktop goes, what exactly you want and don't want.

1. Right click on the desktop background and select 'Personalize' and 'Windows Colour and Appearance'.
2. Experiment with turning off Vista Aero by checking and unchecking 'Enable Transparency'.

This, along with others I will cover shortly, results in a performance increase because, each time you click on new windows, that window has to be rendered as the system is set up. So... if you don't need Aero, uncheck the box and the system does not have to work that much harder every time you open a new window.

Change your Vista Colour Scheme

We can actually carry this a step further. Click on 'Open Classic Appearance Properties for More Colour Options'. Here, you will find that you can adjust your colour scheme which results in a less demanding appearance.

For example, Windows Vista Basic is much less demanding than Windows Aero and similarly Windows Standard is less demanding than Vista Basic. One can see this by simply clicking on the menu selection. Play around and make the system your own and how you want it.

Adjust Vista Visual Effects

Now, lets get to the meat and gravy shall we? (or soya for those vegetarians)

1. Click Start/Control Panel/Classic View/Performance information and Effects/Adjust Visual Effects

Here you can play around with each and every little setting that you choose to make your system speedier and more in tune with what you want.

Want an example?

One of the boxes you can select or deselect is ' Use a background image for Each Folder type' If you deselect it, your folders (ie. picture folders) won't have to take the time to put a picture on its face every time you select it. This can be particularly obvious with systems with lesser memory and no graphics card.

Personally, I leave every boxed checked, but then again Im running with a dual 2 core processor,4Gb RAM and in 64 Bit mode. Life is great!

Vista Battery Saver by Codeplex and is created for the sole purpose of allowing more manipulation of battery modes as well as applying hidden tweaks that increase battery life automatically. It is a system tray icon that does reside in the system tray which, normally, would knock it out of contention automatically. It is an .msi installation file though that, from what I can see, creates NO cpu usage or increase of its own and, serves the purpose of increasing battery life. My start time hasn't suffered as well!!

There is a plus in this program that Vista, for some reason, hasn't included. It allows you to set the performance mode (high performance, balanced and power savor) automatically when it is plugged in or on battery. It also enables you to choose when to keep MS Aero and sidebar on or off, again to improve battery life.

Vista Battery Saver

Its nice every now and then to find a neat little trick that you never knew. This is the case with this appearance tweak which allows you to increase or decrease the size of your desktop icons.

Simply....

1. Click on your Desktop screen.
2. Hold the Control key down; and
3. Move your mouse scroll wheel up or down.