Minimal Windows Vista

[dmd3x]

I have gave Vista a few tries but have kept booting into XP because of my dissapointment in the bloatage. I was thinking of giving it another shot, and I was wondering what steps I could take to slim it down. Here are the specs:

Laptop w/Intel Centrino

1.6GHz Pentium M

Mobility ATI Radeon 9000 Video

2GB DDR333 RAM

120GB OS Hard Drive (multiboot)

250GB Data Hard Drive

Intel Pro/Set Wireless 2200BG

Broadcom 440x Gigabit Network Adapter

I already disabled the Aero Glass and use the classic Windows 2000 look (my preference). However, it seems that Aero Glass and the classic look run at the same speed and the only difference is the appearance. What else can I do to try to speed things up?

UPDATE(S): While there has been many helpful posts, This was the most useful to me right off the bat:

You can always try vLite but that would require a new installation of Vista.

> vLite is a very cool utility to avoid installing things you don't want in the first place. A must have for minimalists such as myself.

You might have problems installing SP1 after using vLite to remove components. A better approach is to integrate SP1 into the installation first. Go to Microsoft and download the ~350MB SP1 setup file. Once the integration completes, go back and remove things you don't want.

NOTE: Don't integrate SP1 and remove/add components at the same time. vLite will give you a similar warning when you choose the integration method.

In order to slipstream SP1 into a Gold image, make sure you are running vLite under Windows Vista or Windows 2008. I tried slipstreaming a Vista Image using vLite in Windows XP, and it failed. I still, was however able to create a minimal Vista Gold install.

And here are some pretty decent guides, the blackviper one being my favorite and the notebook one also useful:

http://www.blackviper.com/WinVista/servicecfg.htm

Also this one on Notebooks:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=166532

Edited July 29, 2008 by dmd3x

[thealexweb]

Your right about the speeds of the themes it didn't do anything to my laptop when I turned off Aero.

[+Gary7 Subscriber²]

You can always try vLite but that would require a new installation of Vista.

Below are some sites that may help:

http://www.speedyvista.com/services.html

http://www.howtogeek.com/tag/windows-vista/

http://www.blackviper.com/WinVista/servicecfg.htm

Also this one on Notebooks:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=166532

Edited July 21, 2008 by Gary7

[Lant]

IMO, I wouldn't bother, as I find my laptop (x2 3800+ and 2GB of RAM) runs it slowly. But on my desktop it runs great, so if you really want to use it you would need a new computer - which is probably not the best solution.

[reactionary007]

Honestly - run Windows Live One Care for your antivirus - that is how I sped things up on a machine with similar specs.

[Jeff-Flowers]

Vlite can get you a minimal system, but as stated above, you will have to reinstall Vista to use it (although you could do some testing with VMware or VirtualPC). I have tried Vlite in the past but in the end I have decided to just go with the system as shipped by Microsoft.

[Unto Darkness]

I have tried nLite, dunno much about vLite... All I can say is that if you don't have an idea as to what you are doing, your installation is going to be messed up... Sometimes even minute changes might cause unforeseen problems... So I suggest you install Vista as it is, it is more [irony]stable[/irony] that way...

[franzon]

I already disabled the Aero Glass and use the classic Windows 2000 look

With Aero enabled you have the highest level of performance and stability (desktop composition, smooth window re-draw, better responsiveness, instant crash recovery, etc.)

[+jamesyfx Subscriber²]

Grab a copy of Vista Home Basic...

Then just leave it.

Thats Minimal Windows Vista right there.

[dmd3x]

You can always try vLite but that would require a new installation of Vista.

Not a problem at all, I am a frequent reformatter. (Almost to the point where it is a problem haha)

I really like this program from looking at the screenshots, and they have one for XP too... I'll have to give it a try. Nice suggestion! This way I can remove options before I even install instead of having to do a cleanup afterwards. Me like :D

[Skulltrail-old]

Both themes, Windows Classic and Windows Aero, use little to no CPU performance because of their methods of activity. Windows Classic is the minimal configuration of appearance and is so "lightweight" the CPU doesn't even feel it (Applies to only XP and Vista). But Windows Aero is mostly used by the GPU relieving all stress and use of the CPU. Hence the similar performance.

The only way Aero could make your computer lag is if you had a sucky video card; it would cause Aero to run on the CPU rather than the GPU.

[Brandon Live Veteran]

"Aero" (DWM) also uses a bit more memory. But with 2GB you wouldn't notice the difference (on a 512MB system, however, you would).

[Linkinfamous]

At a glance, your DDR333 RAM seems to be the biggest problem. That's awfully slow.

[soldier1st]

indeed ddr333 is slow but go with ddr400 min.

[Boeing 787]

Dramatically Speed up Vista

[UAC]

Dramatically Speed up Vista

dramatically ignorance! :D

[dmd3x]

At a glance, your DDR333 RAM seems to be the biggest problem. That's awfully slow.

I could use DDR400, but I recently bought this DDR333, I had upgraded from 1GB of RAM to 2GB, so I'm going to go with the stripping down of the OS route.

[tsupersonic]

Honestly the jump from DDR400 to DDR333 is so not worth the money. If you follow blackvipers, guide, you can get Windows to use around 280MB of RAM, which is around XP territory.

Your laptop has similar specs to my laptop, and I ran Vista just fine.

I have a Turion ML-32 1.8GHz

1.5GB DDR 333 RAM

60GB 5400RPM Drive

ATI X200m

[hapbt]

indeed ddr333 is slow but go with ddr400 min.

hey why dont you see if you can fit your entire personal philosophy into your tagline so we can all know that about you

[dmd3x]

Honestly - run Windows Live One Care for your antivirus - that is how I sped things up on a machine with similar specs.

I'm trying to minimize things running, this would be adding something :D

I have Avira.

[jesseinsf]

Does your processor haves a single core or dual core? If it's a single core then 1.6 GHz is not good enough. Check out your "Windows Experience Index" and post the full results here. The full results are below. :)

[tsupersonic]

Does your processor haves a single core or dual core? If it's a single core then 1.6 GHz is not good enough. Check out your "Windows Experience Index" and post the full results here. The full results are below. :)

Pentium M is a single core processor and welcome to the days of 2000. You're thinking of plain processor speed is wrong. It's all about how efficient the processor is and the Pentium M was a good laptop processor in its time.

[Guest]

With that spec you are better off sticking to XP...

[Budious]

I have a Pentium M 2.0GHz w/ 2GB DDR2 533 memory and find Vista usable but disappointingly slow compared to the XP installation that I upgrade from. I have always dual booted the laptop and for the past two months, have been using Ubuntu about 95% of the time. I do use Vista when on the battery because power management is better, my 7800GTX GO sucks the battery dry under Linux too quickly.

[dmd3x]

http://www.blackviper.com/WinVista/servicecfg.htm

This is a very nice reference.

Does your processor haves a single core or dual core? If it's a single core then 1.6 GHz is not good enough. Check out your "Windows Experience Index" and post the full results here. The full results are below. :)

I'll run that and post it as soon as I get a chance. Currently I'm going to reformat and use that vLite, do the tweaking and run that test. :yes:

Also, is it just me or does that Windows Experience Index thing look kind of cheesy? lol