Top Vista Tweaks and Hints @ [H]

oozish said:
I've known about that HD tweak for some time, figured it out rooting around in device properties, but when I check to use the cache (I can check both boxes); exit and re=enter the policies tab, it hasn't saved the settings. My config is in my sig, what am I doing wrong or is it a limitation of my Raptor HD?
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Yeah, I'd also found this setting and enabled it. However, just checked and found the same as you, it doesn't stick. Running two WD SATA drives (one a Raptor, the other a 500GB).

Looking at the options again, notice 'optimize for performance' is marked in grey and 'Enable writing cachine on the disk' has the following written underneath (but is still selectable, as is 'Enable advanced performance'):
"This device does not allow its write cache setting to be modified."

Guess could be due to either:
(i) running Intel storage drivers not the Vista built-in ones
(ii) the chipset (i965 with 8R southbridge)
(iii) the drives genuinely not supporting the feature(s)

Anyone else?
 
dementer said:
give it time, i installed it ~24 hours ago...
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Ok, will do, not worth having if it is a resource hog as I have a shortcut to my computer on the desktop which in VISTA really kicks but with the options you can do from a computer double click.

Is it a certain process or the whole desktop process that is spiking your cpu time?
 
"This device does not allow its write cache setting to be modified."
Click to expand...

Same here. You can go into the Intel RAID software and enable it for the RAID array.

Not sure how to enable my other 2 WD SATA drives though.
 
Vaiks said:
The gadget that displays your drives free space has a memory leak. Leave it running for a few days and see what happens...
Click to expand...

I had it running for weeks and never noticed anything odd. Vista SuperFetch eats up a ton of RAM though, up to 1GB just at bootup for me.
 
Josh_Norem said:
I had it running for weeks and never noticed anything odd. Vista SuperFetch eats up a ton of RAM though, up to 1GB just at bootup for me.
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Odd... what do you have for HD's?
It destoryed my computer after ~24 hours....
 
have had the HDD display up since early feb. Haven't noticed anything. I'm using 3 SATA drives and on external RAID display with it.
 
dementer said:
Odd... what do you have for HD's?
It destoryed my computer after ~24 hours....
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I really doubt a simple gadget destroyed your computer. You shouldve looked into what really caused your problems and if you really think the gadget is to blame why didnt you boot into safemode and stop the sidebar from starting with windows to see?

A gadget even with a memory leak will do nothing but slow your computer down it wont go eating system files or doing anything to destroy your computer...

I for one have had it running for a while and see none of these issues.
 
Do you all think the "workin [H]ard" machine in my sig will run Vista well? the only part I am wondering about is the 6600 card.. it's a 256mg model, but it's not the most powerful card and was wondering how much real world impact that would have while running aero. Obviously I will have no DX10 support.. does it matter?

edit: I am looking at getting maybe a geforce 8500 for basic DX10 goodness if it will improve my aero experience.. comments?
 
revenant said:
Do you all think the "workin [H]ard" machine in my sig will run Vista well? the only part I am wondering about is the 6600 card.. it's a 256mg model, but it's not the most powerful card and was wondering how much real world impact that would have while running aero. Obviously I will have no DX10 support.. does it matter?

edit: I am looking at getting maybe a geforce 8500 for basic DX10 goodness if it will improve my aero experience.. comments?
Click to expand...

Your 6600 would handle Aero just fine; integrated graphics cards in laptops cope, don't they? A DX10 graphics card won't really help with Aero.
 
I guess that's true about aero on lappies, huh. well, I think then if I upgrade anything on that machine then it will be memory... to 4gb.. but I'll see how 2gb does first. Thanks for your response. :)
 
revenant said:
I guess that's true about aero on lappies, huh. well, I think then if I upgrade anything on that machine then it will be memory... to 4gb.. but I'll see how 2gb does first. Thanks for your response. :)
Click to expand...

Dont put too much thought into it if your not gaming on your system Vista and aero will run just as fast as XP did for you. Dont let the FUD fool you besides gaming there really is no performance loss to Vista.
 
oozish said:
I've known about that HD tweak for some time, figured it out rooting around in device properties, but when I check to use the cache (I can check both boxes); exit and re=enter the policies tab, it hasn't saved the settings. My config is in my sig, what am I doing wrong or is it a limitation of my Raptor HD?
Click to expand...

How come I don't have these check boxes for either of mySATA drives showing?

Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
 
Some of the tips were pretty interesting like the flash drive page file and on the fly partitioning thing. Some stuff was kinda not worth mentioning though especially for an "enthusiast article" like getting new wallpapers.
 
msny said:
How come I don't have these check boxes for either of mySATA drives showing?

Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
Click to expand...

1. Are you looking under the item(s) in device properties, going to properties, and then clicking on policy?
2. Might be a good question for the HD section of this forum.
 
oozish said:
1. Are you looking under the item(s) in device properties, going to properties, and then clicking on policy?
2. Might be a good question for the HD section of this forum.
Click to expand...

Yes, that is where I'm looking. I'll post it over there, thanks
 
You missed the most crucial gadget, more useful than the HD space one!

Shutdown Gadget!

Why take three clicks to shutdown/restart when you can do it in one?

~Ibrahim~
 
ikjadoon said:
Why take three clicks to shutdown/restart when you can do it in one?
Click to expand...

Why fill your computer up with useless gadgets just because you're lazy?
Seriously, if you start using gadgets like this there'll be no end; it's like filling a web-browser with unneeded toolbars.

Does "Win-key" "U" "U" still perform shutdown in Vista or are there different shortcuts?
 
Mansize_tissue said:
Why fill your computer up with useless gadgets just because you're lazy?
Seriously, if you start using gadgets like this there'll be no end; it's like filling a web-browser with unneeded toolbars.
Click to expand...

Because with people running 2GB as the standard amount of ram the gadgets use barely a fraction of that and why not?

Its not lazy to use the gadgets do you think its lazy to watch the news for the weather? Hell might as well get all of your forecasting equipment get of your couch/chair and go tell the weather for yourself. things should be easier and if people want to save 2 clicks why the hell not? Hell computers where invented to make peoples lives easier why turn it into a lazy thing?
 
Mansize_tissue said:
Why fill your computer up with useless gadgets just because you're lazy?
Seriously, if you start using gadgets like this there'll be no end; it's like filling a web-browser with unneeded toolbars.

Does "Win-key" "U" "U" still perform shutdown in Vista or are there different shortcuts?
Click to expand...

Whoa, no need to get offended dude and no need for the name-calling, either. I was just listing a gadget. If you don't like the Sidebar, go make your own rant on some other thread.

If you want old school, what the heck are you doing using a computer? Go get your typewriter out and mail your posts to [H].

We use computers to make things more efficient. It isn't cluttered unless you make it so. If it is an inconvenience to you, don't use it! But don't try to bash us for using something YOU don't like. A picture of my desktop:

Desktop.jpg


Does that look cluttered to you? Too many things drawing away attention? Granted, I don't need the CPU/Memory usage meter nor the clock, but they take up space so that I can have the Shutdown Gadget at the bottom of the screen.

~Ibrahim~
 
While that pic above is very well laid out, I still have to question why people would install software that takes up more RAM, more CPU time (even miniscule amounts, but still the point is valid) to do things the OS does natively already as part of the normal routine?

You've got 2 clocks there; if you expand the Taskbar you can get a lot of info there with the clock like the actual calendar date, the day itself, and the time like this:

doubletaskbarli9.png


With that I just killed off two of your Gadgets. :D

I'm not criticizing your choices, I really do think it's an exceptional layout and follows the logic of a "desktop" since you'd probably have a real desk with a calendar on it, perhaps a tiny clock, a notepad off to one side, etc. It's amazing how many people never seem to realize that's what Windows and other GUI OSes are emulating: the top of a desk where the windows are the documents, folders are like manilla folders, etc, all laying on top of each other and some fully exposed, some partially.

Also, the QuickLaunch bar can serve for the purposes that "QuickLaunch"-style gadget can be. But then again, it seems you're running at 1024x768, so space *is* at a premium. I had a laptop at 1024x768 for years, so I know exactly why you'd do some of what you've done. It appears you have 3 different icons that will fire up Firefox: two on the QuickLaunch and the one on that Gadget.

And a gadget just to shut down or put the machine to sleep? By default Vista will go to standby/sleep just by pushing the power button, and most keyboards nowadays have that, soooo... ;)

All in all, it's a nice layout, I'm just thinking out loud, that's all.
 
Hard enough to find useful gadgets to fill up the bar, so another useful one isn't that bad. BTW, I love that tip in top 12 vista tips the user posted to change your sleep button to shut down. Now that's a good tip! (sleep sucks! freezes my computer so it can't wake up everytime)>
 
oozish said:
(sleep sucks! freezes my computer so it can't wake up everytime)>
Click to expand...

If your machine isn't restoring from standby/sleep properly it'll be indicative of a driver problem more than likely. If every single driver in your system isn't fully ACPI compliant (and some aren't, so blame the manufacturers), it'll cause issues with power saving modes like standby and sleep. Hibernate is typically "safe" from those problems because it basically just images/mirrors the RAM content to a file on the hard drive then sets a boot flag and shuts down. Upon power up, the boot flag instructs the boot loader to run the hibernate restore routines and it just repopulates the RAM with content and you're ready to roll.

If you have any devices that don't have the latest drivers, or you have one "?" in Device Manager with no driver at all, that would be the reason.

Hope this helps...
 
bbz_Ghost said:
While that pic above is very well laid out, I still have to question why people would install software that takes up more RAM, more CPU time (even miniscule amounts, but still the point is valid) to do things the OS does natively already as part of the normal routine?
Click to expand...

The same reason you dont run your computer with the pretty themes disabled.:D Why do you insist on running with the pretty black taskbar when the OS natively runs teh old school theme more efficiently and uses less ram:p. I bet you even have a wallpaper they do eat some ram ya know. :p

Kinda hard to point the finger while you yourself are doing similar things. Just because you dont like the program in question unless your running on the classic theme with 8 bit icons :eek:and every visual improvement disabled its pretty hard to make your point.



:) :confused: :eek: :mad: :rolleyes: :cool: :p ;) :D :eek: :(
 
pfunkman said:
The same reason you dont run your computer with the pretty themes disabled. Why do you insist on running with the pretty black taskbar when the OS natively runs teh old school theme more efficiently and uses less ram. I bet you even have a wallpaper they do eat some ram ya know.

Kinda hard to point the finger while you yourself are doing similar things. Just because you dont like the program in question unless your running on the classic theme with 8 bit icons and every visual improvement disabled its pretty hard to make your point.
Click to expand...

Geez, people just fly right off the fuckin' bat these days for the slightest imagined things. I didn't say I didn't like the setup; in fact, I complimented that poster on the layout several times. I merely commented on several aspects - not once did I say what he was doing was wrong, nor did I ever say "I don't like the program in question" so...

It seems like this forum has turned into "Oh that guy opened his mouth, now I gotta fuckin' pounce on him for it" of late. Wonder why that is... and yes, I fully expect another pounce or two because well, you folks (the pouncers) are quite predictable.
 
bbz_Ghost said:
Geez, people just fly right off the fuckin' bat these days for the slightest imagined things. I didn't say I didn't like the setup; in fact, I complimented that poster on the layout several times. I merely commented on several aspects - not once did I say what he was doing was wrong, nor did I ever say "I don't like the program in question" so...

It seems like this forum has turned into "Oh that guy opened his mouth, now I gotta fuckin' pounce on him for it" of late. Wonder why that is... and yes, I fully expect another pounce or two because well, you folks (the pouncers) are quite predictable.
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I didnt mean it the way you took it. I was being sarcastic and just find it ironic that back when XP was released people where saying the same things about XP's UI and how it eats memory my point is in the days of 2GB+ these things dont even make a dent in memory and with dual cores the CPU performance hit is non existent.
 
Gotcha, but as a tip unrelated to Vista you might consider using an emoticon once in a while to give that impression, especially for those persons that might not quite get your sense of humor or intent. And yes, I did take it wrong in light of that explanation, no worries.

But I mean really: doesn't it strike most of you as odd that people run additional software to tell them stuff the OS already tells them? ;)
 
bbz_Ghost said:
Gotcha, but as a tip unrelated to Vista you might consider using an emoticon once in a while to give that impression, especially for those persons that might not quite get your sense of humor or intent. And yes, I did take it wrong in light of that explanation, no worries.

But I mean really: doesn't it strike most of you as odd that people run additional software to tell them stuff the OS already tells them? ;)
Click to expand...

Maybe i should make a gadget that just says the version of windows thats running :D Or one that just says the persons name;) There are some ridiculous ones out there.

I just use the CPU/Ram monitor, The picture gadget, weather and an RSS feeder constantly keeping me updated on [H]OCP's news the downside to the sidebar is there are alot of junk gadgets and very few good ones. But i run a dual monitor setup and have all my gadgets on one monitor and game on the other so it really helps me keep track of things and the clock is actually helpful in those situations. Anything i would normally need to alt tab to check on i can keep up either on the other screen or in gadget form if available .
 
I run 2 monitors and have the analog clock/gadget on the right one so I can tell what time it is if the left monitor is busy or if I've got a game going. It's really useful and something I wanted for a long time; repetitive function but needed unless they come up with a way to undock the taskbar clock and even then I still like analog clock for some reason.

Ghost: RE: sleep
For some reason when I first installed VISTA I think my computer could sleep; then I couldn't wake up one time and promptly deleted the .hib file and disabled sleep entirely. I leave my computer on 24/7 and access it all the time so that's no big deal. From what I've read VISTA has some serious issues with sleep and anyway, I'm not willing to trouble shoot any more than I've already done to get it to work.

Regarding any obvious driver problems in device manager, no I run a clean system and everything is working as it should on the software front.

Thanks for taking time for helping though! :D
 
Yes, they are kind of useless, but they are there to move the shutdown gadget to the bottom. (What I'd love would be a Blank Gadget or something of the like) The Sidebar takes about 15MB of RAM and it bounces between 0-2% of CPU power. I'll take that. Honestly, I would be just as good without the Sidebar. It just looks cool, lol.

Firefox is the only program I use other than games.

I can't do standby or sleep because the system will not come back awake! Stupid nVidia bug. Or I wouldn't mind that much. I *have* to shut it down. My keyboard is cheap, it's even made by Dell.

It isn't healthy to keep thinking inside your head, lol.

Thanks for the response!

~Ibrahim~
 
I got tired of the gadgets after about a week and shut it off. If I need to know what the weather is like I'll step outside. In the summer here we have two weather conditions, it's either hot or it's fucking hot.
 
bbz_Ghost said:
Gotcha, but as a tip unrelated to Vista you might consider using an emoticon once in a while to give that impression, especially for those persons that might not quite get your sense of humor or intent. And yes, I did take it wrong in light of that explanation, no worries.

But I mean really: doesn't it strike most of you as odd that people run additional software to tell them stuff the OS already tells them? ;)
Click to expand...

I can see there reasoning behind it. ;)

It may go:
I paid a lot of $$ for Vista, want my money's worth
I have the ram
It will be less keystrokes or mouse clicks to get there
It is similar to a shortcut in some cases and even better, so why not
I can group the the most frequent things I use together
(toolbars are limited in that you can't change "options" like w/ gadgets)
It just like spiffy gadgets, you give I take

So even if the OS does it natively gadgets are the "new" shotcuts we all can
appreciate. :eek:

Seriously, being a .NET programmer myself I could think up some
interesting business intranet uses for gadgets.
 
One small addition to Tweak #9 for those users running Ultimate. Regardless of if you system is powerful enough to run DreamScene you can benefit from installing it. DreamScene includes two addition background scaling option that work for both the Video DreamScene backgrounds and tradition static backgrounds. The two options maintain aspect ratio but scale to fit. The first option to the longer size (ala letterbox) and the second to the shorter size.
 
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