Vista Tweaking Tips

Once most users get comfortable getting their needed software, applications and such set up on their Windows machine, they move on to making it their own.

Maybe some new icons.

Maybe some new desktops.

A screensaver different from others.

Tweaking Vista to your personal preferences isn't too difficult. If you are already comfortable doing so in XP, you shouldn't have too hard a time in Vista.

However Vista does present some of it's own "quirks".

Here are some links and tips I've needed as we get Lavie's new Vista laptop set up.

Maybe you will find them useful as well.

TweakUI for Vista

Totalidea Software: TweakVI for Windows Vista - freeware/$ tweaking utility

Microsoft hasn't released a TweakUI PowerToy for Vista like they did for XP. So for now, it is difficult to find a singular Vista tweaking tool, unlike the many that exist for XP.

However, Totalidea's TweakVI is worth checking out for power tweakers. The free/basic version comes with a great number of helpful system tweaks and the interface is quite nicely designed. You can purchase additional "plugins" that extend the ability to tweak your system. My guess it that you will want to spend some time getting through the basic version first before finding a need to move on to the advanced tweak plugins.

It's a very nice product that installed great and is very slick.

Vista Power Button Tips

On our Gateway notebook, the Vista Start menu powerbutton was configured by default to put the notebook to sleep, not shut down.

Here is how to change it back (or to another action).

• ITsVISTA Tip 1: How to Make the Vista Power Button Shutdown Instead of Sleep - ITsVISTA

• ITsVISTA Tip 8: The Vista Power Button Revisited - ITsVISTA

• Change the Windows Vista Power Buttons to Shut Down - the How-To Geek

• The XP User's Guide to Windows Vista, Part 7: Power Management and Power Plans - Windows Insight

Vista Boot Screen Tweak

• Enable Hidden BootScreen in Windows Vista - the How-To Geek

Vista Window Border Tweak

• Trim Windows Vista’s Bloated Window Borders - the How-To Geek

Vista File and Folder Tweaking

• How To Share a Folder the XP Way in Windows Vista - the How-To Geek

• ITsVISTA Tip 14: Use Checkboxes to Select Explorer Items in Vista - ITsVISTA

• ITsVISTA Tip 15: Vista's 267 File and Folder Detail Columns - ITsVISTA

Vista Emergency Keyboard Tricks

• ITsVISTA Tip 12: How to Open the Vista On-Screen Keyboard with a Mouse - ITsVISTA

• ITsVISTA Tip 13: Accessing Vista's Other On-Screen Keyboard - ITsVISTA

• Windows Vista Help: Keyboard shortcuts - Microsoft

Vista Drive Partition Tip

• Ask Lifehacker: How do I store my data on a separate partition in Windows Vista? - Lifehacker

Vista Drive Defragmentation Tips

• Whatever Happened To ... The Defragmentation App?- Windows Insight

• How to: Automatically Defragment Drives Other Than C: - Windows Insight

I've been using both Auslogics Disk Defrag and the power-combo of Contig (Sysinternals) and Power Defragmenter GUI (eXcessive Software) quite successfully on our Vista laptop. Both seem to run pretty fast, but I don't know if the built-in Windows defrag tool is better overall or not. I've read that 3rd party defragging tools might be rough on some special system files. I've not had any problems, however, that I am aware of with either of these particular applications.

More Vista Tweaking and Tips Galore

• How to troubleshoot a problem by performing a clean boot in Windows Vista

• Vista Made Easy: 50 Tips And Tricks - Vista Made Easy: 50 Tips And Tricks

• Teching It Easy: Windows Vista: Windows Vista RTM FAQ and Quick Start Guide - March 2007 Edition

• Windows Insight: XP User's Guide To... Archives

• Tips | ITsVISTA - The Ultimate Windows Vista Resource

• Windows Vista :: the How-To Geek

Have Fun making Vista your own!

--Claus