are there any recommended tweaks for vista?

[ManBearPig]

im using vista home premium, and i heard there are a lot of tweaks...if so, where can i get a program for them?

also, should i upgrade to ultimate if i can get it at a really low price ($25)?

 

[ManBearPig]

bump

 

[Griffinhart]

There are a number of programs that "tweak" Vista, but, they really don't do anything to enhance performance in any meaningful way.

The best advice I can give you is, let Vista do its thing. Use Defender or an app like Winpatrol, to stop any unneeded applications from starting at boot.

A $25 upgrade to Ultimate is very tempting. While there aren't a huge amount of benefits for the average user when upgrading, there are a few. Most notably is Shadow Copy/Previous versions which allows you to restore folders/files to earlier versions if you accidentally make changes. For me that's worth the $25.

 

[techmanc]

I like and use Vista Manager but it is a $40- program. You can get a 15 day free trial to see if you want to buy it.
http://www.yamicsoft.com/vistamanager/index.html

 

[Intexity]

I would recommend you learn what these tweaks do and why they are necessary because if you trust program x (not knocking any software relax) to do your dirty work and it gets one thing out of line suddenly your computer won't be performing correctly and you will end up at square one. Start by reading Windows XP Hacks. I know its not Vista but it will give you ALOT of background on how operating systems work and what to do to make them do what you want. Start reading up on what and why to tweak. Google is awesome for this purpose. Don't just trust some program to make your computer do what you want.

 

[Muadib]

I would jump on Ultimate for that price. As well as what Griffinhart mentioned, it's worth it for the backup & restore program too.

 

[soonerproud]

You should avoid all tweaking software and only perform tweaks on Vista/Win7 once you understand what and why you are tweaking something. One of the biggest problems in the tech community is people that could tweak XP to death decided to apply those tweaks to Vista and had a horrible experience. Most of these people still blame Vista for problems they caused by just tweaking stuff and applying XP tweaks without truly understanding the differences between Vista and XP.

Here is the best resource about the features and changes in Windows Vista, how they work and why you may or may not want to tweak features in Vista.

Tweakguides tweaking companion

The one on XP is also excellent by the way!

Edit: If you can get the upgrade for that cheap, go for it! The image backup capabilities, group policies and a few other features are definitely worth having. (Not to mention there are encryption options not available to Home Basic and Home Premium for added privacy.)

 

[mechBgon]

I can suggest a couple of tweaks.

1) fully enable the general Data Execution Prevention.

2) fully enable the specific Internet Explorer Data Execution Prevention.

3) enable the Structured Exception Handling Overwrite Protection.

4) upgrade your automagic updating agent to the Microsoft Update agent, not just the Windows Update agent.

5) check it over with Secunia's free vulnerability checkups (online or installable) for insecure versions of stuff like Flash Player, etc.


I wrote up further details for those steps on this page if you need.

 

[soonerproud]

Originally posted by: mechBgon
I can suggest a couple of tweaks.

1) fully enable the general Data Execution Prevention.

2) fully enable the specific Internet Explorer Data Execution Prevention.

3) enable the Structured Exception Handling Overwrite Protection.

4) upgrade your automagic updating agent to the Microsoft Update agent, not just the Windows Update agent.

5) check it over with Secunia's free vulnerability checkups (online or installable) for insecure versions of stuff like Flash Player, etc.


I wrote up further details for those steps on this page if you need.

I second this!