Here is my growing list of things that could be responsible for slowing the start up, normal running and shutting down of your Vista computer. I haven’t removed the things that you have already tried, so not all of them will apply but look through the list and try those that seem appropriate:
1. Make sure you are free from malware as that can slow it down. If necessary, run your ‘anti’ programs.
2. Insufficient memory (RAM) can slow the system down. A minimum of 2GB is recommended, more if your system can cope with it. Also, SuperFetch preloads into memory the programs and data it expects you to use based on past usage. This does result in quite a lot of disk activity after startup as files are read from disk into memory but it can make a difference to the launch times of frequently used programs where a large amount of RAM is installed. Disable it on systems with less than 2GB of RAM via the Windows Orb (Start), type services.msc and press Enter. Scroll down to Superfetch, double-click it and change the Startup type to Disabled and click Stop to immediately turn it off.
3. Indexing takes a day or so to settle down on a new Vista computer. The settings can be changed in Control Panel > Classic View > Indexing Options. However, if you don’t do much internal searching, turn it off completely, look here
http://www.mydigitallife.info/2007/09/17...dexing-service/
4. Turn off Scheduled defragmentation via Windows Orb (Start) > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Defragmentation. However, every so often you need to check if any disks have become excessively fragmented, which can affect disk performance.
5. If you’re using Windows Defender, stop it from auto-scanning and check if your antivirus program is scanning at boot time.
6. You’ll get a slightly faster start up if you optimise the boot files and applications by running a special defragmentation from an elevated CMD prompt, i.e. click the Windows Orb (Start) > All Programs > Accessories and right-click Command Prompt, then ‘Run as Administrator’. Type defrag C:\ -b (note the two spaces) and press Enter. It will take about 10 minutes to run.
7. When you have a slow boot, check that no external drives have media in them. If they have, experiment by booting with it inserted and without. If you have a built-in card reader remove the little plastic cover that protects the slot, which can occasionally cause a slow down.
8. Reduce the number of programs that start up when you switch on the computer by downloading and installing the free Quick Startup, which is better than Microsoft’s msconfig, get it here
http://www.glarysoft.com/qs.html?tag=download Click on (highlight) an entry, then in the left pane choose Disable or Delete. If you are unsure about an entry and want to know more about it before disabling or deleting it, highlight it and then click ‘More information’ at the bottom of the screen.
9. To check if a particular program is slowing the machine when you switch on or shut down, e.g. an antivirus program, go to Control Panel > Classic View > Performance Information and Tools > Advanced Tools (in the left pane). The problem is sometimes shown on this screen.
If it isn’t shown, click the Windows Orb (Start) > All Programs > Accessories, right-click Command Prompt then ‘Run as Administrator’. Copy & Paste or type wevtutil qe Microsoft-Windows-Diagnostics-Performance/Operational /f:text > %userprofile%\Desktop\Event.txt (note the five spaces) and press Enter. If you Copy & Paste the command, use mouse right-click to Paste it into the prompt. Close the command prompt and double-click Event.txt on the Desktop to open it. Go to the end of the file (Ctrl+End) to see the most recent events. Those with an Event ID in the 100 series are start up events and those in the 200 series are shut down events. There may be a name or reason in the event listing.
10. To see which tasks are running, open a Run window (Windows key+R), type cmd /k tasklist /svc (note the three spaces) and press Enter. Close the cmd prompt when you have finished viewing it. To get a better description of the associated Service(s), go to Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc) > Processes Tab and on a specific Svchost, right-click it > Go to Service(s) to see all the Services, which are highlighted.
Alternatively, use Process Explorer to see what services are running. To see the svchost processes, let the mouse pointer hover over each svchost.exe in the left pane. Download it from here
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-gb/s.../bb896653.aspx
11. Although hard disk errors are rare, they can slow up the machine, so it‘s worth spending a few minutes checking. Click Computer > right-click the hard disk drive that you want to check > Properties > Tools Tab, and then, under Error-checking, click Check Now.
12. This website refers to XP but much of it still applies regarding programs that slow Windows down, here
http://www.thepcspy.com/read/what_re...windows_down/5
13. I don’t agree with all of these speed improvement tips but you may find something that looks familiar, read through the list here
http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/81...nce-vista.html and/or here
http://bibwoe.com/1/InfoPages/VistaT...tem%20Settings
Start-up issue with Windows Vista
Linear Mode
