how to improve Windows Vista performance

Last week I wrote a post on how disabling search indexing can boost Windows vista performance. In this I will look at various methods which you can use to drastically Windows Vista performance.

Ok. You just bought your brand new laptop which comes pre-installed with Windows Vista. But unfortunately your new laptop performance looks worse than your pretty old laptop! Is there any way to improve it?

Well, as an operating system, Windows Vista is stable and I think it is just a matter of tuning to get it performing. Before I go into the methods, here is a word of advise. Get your machine atleast 1GB of RAM since Vista is really memory hungry!

1. Remove all junk software from your PC - Most of the online stores (Dell for example) bundle a lot of software when they sell a Windows Vista installed laptop/pc. You don’t need many of these software and hence removing them can substantially boost Windows Vista performance. First thing to do when you get your PC/Laptop is to remove everything except the bare minimum you need!

2. Disable Windows Defender - One of the biggest complaints about Windows operating systems was its vulnerability to viruses. To address this issue, microsoft added a lot of stuff into Vista, essentially making it bloated and cumbersome. Windows Defender is one such feature. If you are a power user who knows what can cause virus infection or security problems you don’t need Windows Defender.

To disable windows defender, go to control panel->administrative tools -> services -> windows defender and stop it. Also change the startup type to manual.

3. Disable UAC (User Access Control) - This is one of the most annoying features. Whenever you click on anything which affects system configuration, a popup comes up asking whether you want the operation to be executed! Of course, I want that, that is why I clicked on it! For a power user this is the first thing to disable.

To disable user access control, go to control panel->user account->turn user account control off.

4. Use ReadyBoost to extend RAM - If you have below 2GB or below, you can use readyboost feature of Vista to improve performance. For this, you will need a high speed USB 2.0 memory stick (flash drive). Vista will use this as an extension to RAM. This improves system performance and also reduces load on harddisk there by extending its lifespan.

5. Reduce graphics and other UI features - Windows Vista by default has a pretty jazzy user interface. If you are a power user, you rarely bother about these UI features. Disabling these features will dramatically reduce load on your processor and memory. This is one method sure to speed up your experience on Windows Vista.

To optimize system configuration for maximum performance, go to control panel->performance information and tools->advanced tools (on the left menu)->adjust the appearance and performance of windows->Select Adjust for best performance radio button and press Apply.

6. Remove unnecessary startup programs - You might have couple of startup programs configured. Remove all the unnecessary programs to reduce startup time and to improve overall system performance. Anti-virus programs are notorious for reducing system performance and increasing harddisk load.

You can check out startup programs using regedit command (use with caution!). Find all the startup programs under computer->HKEY_CURRENT_USER->Software->Microsoft->Windows->CurrentVersion->Run. (User can also use Windows Defender for this)

7. Disable unncessary services - Your system might have a lot of services which you may not need. But identifying them may not be very easy. Open up control panel->administrative tools->services and stop/disable services. Some of the services I disabled are Windows Search, Windows Defender, Windows Cardspace etc.

8. Disable Windows Search Indexing - As i have written earlier, disabling Windows Search indexing may improve performance substantially, especially when you have a new system.

9. Monitor tasks running - Monitor your task manager regularly. Look for any processes which hogs memory/processor resource. Also monitor for programs which may be accessing harddisk frequently. Find out the real use of resource intensive processes and if not required, remove them.

10. Buy a new PC/ upgrade RAM - If your system performance is still low, you probably need to buy a new PC to run Windows Vista. Also remember to have atleast 2GB RAM for optimal performance!

7 Powepoint Tips you ought to know

by james yeang

Here are 7 little known tips which will help you save time, and make the most of out of PowerPoint!

1. How to turn embedded files into images

Put any chart or table inside a PowerPoint file and you may have a lot more information embedded, than what you actually display on the slide.  That would be fine if you want your users to double click on the embedded object and edit it themselves, but what if you wanted the embedded information truly hidden?

All you need to do is select an area around the object, then select Grouping–> Ungroup –> Group.  This will instantly convert any objects in your selection into images so you don’t have to worry about your users double clicking on an embedded object and digging around.

2. How to save images from a PowerPoint deck

To extract pictures from a PowerPoint file, just export it as a HTML web page. (Click File –> Save As –> then Select .html from the File Format drop down menu).  All the images will neatly be stored in a directory for you.

Of course, if you only need a few images from the deck, just right click the image and select Save As Picture

3. How to master keyboard shortcuts for PowerPoint

Like all MS-Office programs, PowerPoint comes with it’s own set of keyboard shortcuts as well.  I’ve summarized 15 of my favourite ones which will shave off time from your presentation preparation.

  

4. How to save space with PowerPoint decks that have large images

To make your presentations more lightweight you should consider compressing images by slightly lowering the resolution or removing cropped areas which you’re never going to see anyway.  To do that, try the following:

• Step 1: Right click on any image to bring up the menu and choose Format Picture
  
• Step 2: Click on the Picture tab, then Click the Compress button
  
• Step 3: Select All pictures in document, Print, Compress pictures, and Delete cropped areas of pictures.

5. How to align objects better in a slide

PowerPoint has a very useful option called ‘Snap to Grid’ which allows all objects to be easily aligned on a slide, but snapping it onto a virtual grid on your slide.  To enable this:

• On the Drawing toolbar, point to Draw, and then click Grid and Guides
  
  
• Under Snap to, check it the Snap objects to grid check box is selected

Now drag a few objects around in a slide, and you’ll note that it’s much easier to align them properly.

6. How to move an object one pixel when your grid is turned on

Rather than turning the grid on and off every time you want to do some finer alignment, (e.g. moving an image one pixel to the left or right), all you need to do is hold the ‘Alt’ button and move the object with your mouse.  Holding down the ‘Alt’ button will override the grid settings.

7. How to easily change from CAPS to lower case (or vice versa)

If you have text that is in the wrong case, select the text, and then click Shift+F3 until it changes to the case style that you like. Clicking Shift+F3 toggles the text case between ALL CAPS, lower case, and Initial Capital styles.

Bonus tip #1: Change the default slide layout in PPT

Bonus tip #2: Summarize PPT slides efficiently

Bonus tip #3: You can also share PowerPoint presentations online with Slideshare

What other Powerpoint tips do you have?  Tell us in the comments! 

powerpoint

Microsoft Fixes Critical Windows Bug

The November security updates fix the so-called
URI problem, a critical Windows bug that has been exploited
by online criminals.

Please Wait...Microsoft has released its November security
updates, fixing a critical Windows bug that has been exploited
by online criminals.

Microsoft released just two security updates this month, but
security experts say that IT staff will want to install both of
them as quickly as possible. The MS07-061update is particularly
critical because the flaw it repairs has been seen in Web-based
attack code, said Amol Sarwate, manager of Qualys's vulnerability
research lab. "This was a zero day [flaw] that was being used in
the wild by hackers," he said.

The flaw has to do with the way Windows passes data between
applications, using a technology called the URI (Uniform Resource
Identifier) protocol handler. This is the part of Windows that
allows users to launch applications -- an e-mail or instant messaging
client, for example -- by clicking on a Web link. Because Windows
does not perform all of the security checks necessary, hackers
found ways to sneak unauthorized commands into these Web links
and the flaw could be exploited to install unauthorized software
on a victim's PC.

This type of flaw lies in both Windows and the programs being
launched by the Web link and Microsoft had initially said that
it was up to third-party software developers to fix the issue.
It later reversed this position and decided to fix the flaw in
Windows as well. These URI protocol handler problems have turned
up in Adobe, Firefox and Outlook Express.

Microsoft was forced to revise its position on the URI bugs after
researchers discovered that they were far more problematic than
first thought, said Nathan McFeters, a security researcher with
Ernst & Young, who has been studying this problem. "I think that
early on it wasn't clear that this was an issue," he said via e-mail.
"There's really a handful of issues with this URI use and abuse stuff."

Microsoft's patch for this problem is rated critical for Windows XP
and Windows Server 2003 users, but the bug does not affect Windows
2000 or Vista, Microsoft said.

The second vulnerability, rated "important" by Microsoft, has to do
with Windows DNS (Domain Name System) servers, which are used to
exchange information about the location of computers on the Internet.
Attackers could exploit this flaw to redirect victims to malicious
Web sites without their knowledge, something known as a "man in the
middle" attack. "All system administrators should look very closely
at this vulnerability," Sarwate said. "I would have personally rated
it as critical," he said.

Security experts were surprised that Microsoft did not include a patch
for a known vulnerability in some Macrovision antipiracy software that
has been shipping with Windows for the last few years. Microsoft has
said that it plans to patch the problem and that it is aware of
"limited attacks" that exploit this vulnerability to get elevated
privileges on a victim's machine.

The bug lies in the secdrv.sys driver built by Macrovision that ships
with Windows XP, Server 2003 and Vista, but Vista is not vulnerable
to the problem, according to Microsoft.

Macrovision has also published a ...patchpatch for this problem.

Its a "bit worrisome" that Microsoft hasn't pushed out a patch for
the bug, given that Macrovision has already made its fix available,
said Andrew Storms, director of security operations with nCircle Network
Security, via instant message. "However, [it's] understandable that
Microsoft would want to run the patch through its QA [quality assurance]
and software release cycles," he added. "Given the choice between the URI
bug and the Macrovision fix, enterprise security operations teams would
much rather have the URI fix."

Users of Microsoft's WSUS (Windows Server Update Services) update system
had been wondering if they were going to get Tuesday's patches, after a
Microsoft programming error knocked WSUS administration consoles offline
on Sunday and Monday. Microsoft had misnamed an entry in WSUS's database
causing the consoles to crash.

The problem was fixed on Monday, said Bobbie Harder, a Microsoft senior
program manager, in a blog posting. But WSUS servers that synchronized
with Microsoft between 5 p.m. Sunday and 11 a.m. Monday Pacific Time
will need to resynchronize to avoid the problem.

Though she had heard of one user who had to manually updated his WSUS
server, Tuesday's updates went off without a hitch, said Susan Bradley,
a WSUS user who is chief technology officer with Tamiyasu, Smith,
Horn and Braun, Accountancy.