Windows Vista has revolutionized the ways how we interact with the computer. Many things has been changed significantly like the Start button which was used in previous Windows versions. A set of new cursors were also added, ( from windows 95 to windows xp the cursors were remained the same ).
Note: In the Tips below If any UAC warning appears then click Continue
Use Start Search Box a replacement for Run Dialogue
I have launched the Direct Dialogue through start menu search box. You can type the name of any program like Notepad or Paint press Enter and it will open up, so easy . You do not need to navigate through a list of programs. You can also use searchbox to navigate through your hard drives, you need to enter drive letter C: D: or else and its contents will appear in Start Menu.
Disable Some Services to speed up Windows Vista
Check out this post
Disable some Services to speed up Windows Vista
Index Your Hard Drive For Faster Searching
Windows Vista by default only indexes your start menu programs but you can also index other content. By Indexing the contents of your drives your search results will be more faster than ever. You can configure Indexing Options by launching Control Panel and then type Index in the search box (located at upper right corner) & in the results click Change how Windows searches You will see the following dialogue. Click Modify in the next dialgoue click Show all locations click Continue Now check those drives which you do want to include in your Index click OK and close the next dialogue. Indexing will start but you should see the difference in you searches after two or three days when Indexing Engine completes indexing your hard drives.
Resize Desktop Icon Sizes
In Windows Vista when your right click on Desktop you have three options to change Desktop Icon View Large, Medium, Classic. But there is some another tweak to have a bigger to smaller icons. Press Ctrl and scroll your mouse Upward to see bigger Icons and scroll mouse Downward to see smaller Icons. In this way you can select a size between 128 different icons sizes. In the same way you can resize folder icons also in Computer
Biggest Desktop Icons
Smallest Desktop Icons
See it in slow motion
Add an entry to the Registry. Then, simply hold down the SHIFT key. For example, when triggering Flip 3D with the Windows Key+TAB key combination, also hold down SHIFT to see it happen much more slowly. You can also use this while minimizing a window or restoring a window from the taskbar.
To make it happen, tap Windows Key+R to bring up the Run dialog and enter the following text:
reg add HKCUSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsDWM /v AnimationsShiftKey /t REG_DWORD /d 1
A command line window will open asking you if you’d like to add this value to the Registry. Type Y and hit Enter. You may need to restart before it works.
Tip taken from www.winsupersite.com
Disable System Restore to free up space
You should disable System Restore if you do not use System Restore, also make sure you do not use Previous Versions option in the file properties dialogue box.
To disable System Restore, Open Computer properties, click System Protection on left pane Continue warning, uncheck all the drives in the Create restore points automatically on the selected disks: field click on OK to exit.
Run Disk CleanUp frequently to free up space occupied by Thumbnails
To start Disk CleanUp open Start Menu type clean and press Enter Disk CleanUp will ask to Choose Which Files to CleanUp click on My file Only the default C drive will be selected press OK to start cleanup. Disk CleanUp will show you which files to cleanup before clicking OK be sure If you do Hibernate Windows Vista the Option Hibernate File Cleaner should be unchecked. Otherwise you will not able to hibernate.
If you want to enable hibernation again check my post Re-enable Hibernation in Windows Vista
Note: If you do Cleaning up thumbnails then you need to wait for thumbnails to be regenerated when you open a folder with picture or vidoes.
Use Stack to Filter the Contents of a Folder
Stacking is a very useful feature of Windows Vista. See the figure below to see how you can stack
Folders can be stacked by Date Modified, Name, Type and size. By clicking on checkboxes as shown below the files that match those criteria will be listed.
Stack By Date Modified
Stack By Name
Stack By Type
Stack By Size
