82. Customize Vista desktop performance

Whether or not you use the Aero 3D interface, you can tweak a whole range of factors to customize your Windows Vista desktop, or drop features to gain speed on lower-end computer systems. All these options are available in one handy menu which can be found In the advanced properties of the 'computer' option in the Start menu.

To adjust Vista desktop performance settings:

Open the 'start' menu and right-click on 'computer'. Choose 'properties'.

Click on 'advanced system settings' on the left-hand pane.

Go to the 'advanced' tab and under the 'performance' heading, Click 'settings...'

In the 'visual effects' tab, you have a whole range of settings you can disable to boost desktop performance, or you can choose the 'adjust for best performance option' if your system is having great difficulty with Vista.

83. The ultimate Vista performance tweak (not really)

The Windows Experience Index (WEI) score is generated by the WinSat program. WinSat stores its results in an XML file on your hard drive, which is then read by the WEI in order to generate your 'score' as displayed in the performance information and tools window.

Wouldn't it be nice to have this instead though?

Open the 'start' menu and type 'wordpad' in the search bar. Right click on 'wordpad.exe' in the results and choose 'run as administrator.'

When wordpad opens, go to 'file\open' and navigate to 'c:\windows\performance\winsat\datastore'. Change the file types dropdown box to 'all files...' .

Open the file with the most recent date. Edit lines 12 through 19 and add whatever value you would like to see (in the format #.#). Save the file.

Now open the performance information window ('start' and type 'performance info') and click 'update my score.' When the update is finished, your new score will appear!

(Please note that this tip has absolutely no effect on how your computer actually performs, but it looks good!)