Sample Chapter

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Whether you use Windows Vista at work orat home, you probably want to spend yourtime on the computer creating documents,sending and receiving e-mail, browsing theWeb, playing games, and doing otheruseful and fun activities. You probably donot want to spend your time wrestling withWindows Vista or waiting for it to finish itstasks.

Using a few simple techniques, you canmake working with Windows Vista fasterand more convenient. For example, ratherthan opening a number of Start menufolders to get to a program, you can createa shortcut in a more convenient location.

In addition, you can work with a fewsettings to ensure Windows Vista is workingquickly and efficiently. For example, youcan speed up your display by reducing thenumber of visual effects Windows Vistauses to draw screen elements.

Sometimes getting the most out ofWindows Vista is a simple matter of takingcare of the little details. For example, if youfind yourself wasting precious time retypingerrant text every time you accidentallypress Caps Lock, you can avoid theproblem altogether by setting up WindowsVista to warn you when you turn on CapsLock.

Make Windows VistaFaster and MoreEfficient

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ATERIAL

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Create Shortcuts for Your Favorite Programs................................................4

Adjust Visual Effects for Best Performance....................................................6

Ensure Windows Vista Is Optimized for Programs ......................................8

Improve Performance with a USB Flash Drive............................................10

Run a Program with Elevated Privileges ......................................................12

Make Your File Searches Run Faster ............................................................14

Hear an Alert When You Press the Caps Lock Key ....................................16

Display More Programs on Your Start Menu ..............................................18

Launch Control Panel Icons Faster by Using a Menu................................20

Update a Device Driver to Ensure Top Device Performance ....................22

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1 Right-click the locationon your desktop whereyou want to create theshortcut.

2 Click New.

3 Click Shortcut.

Create Shortcuts forYour Favorite Programs

If you have a program that you useregularly, you can access the programmore quickly by creating a shortcut. Ashortcut is a special file that points to aprogram. When you double-click theshortcut, Windows Vista automaticallyloads that program.Shortcuts become particularly handywhen you create them in a convenientlocation. For example, you can create a

program shortcut on your Windows Vistadesktop. That way, instead of clicking theStart menu and opening a number ofsubfolders to find and launch a particularprogram, you can simply double-click theshortcut on the desktop.You can create as many shortcuts as youwant; the Windows Vista desktop offers anumber of features that help you keepyour shortcuts organized.

The Create Shortcutwizard appears.

4 Click Browse.

The Browse for Files orFolders dialog boxappears.

5 Select the program thatyou want the shortcut tostart.

Note: You can also create shortcutsto documents.

6 Click OK.

7 Click Next.

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Chapter 1: Make Windows Vista Faster and More Efficient

Desktop Trick!If you frequently use the Windows Vista desktop to store your programshortcuts, the desktop can quickly become a jumble of icons that makeit difficult to find the shortcut you want. To solve this problem, right-clickan empty spot on the desktop, click Sort By, and then click Name. Thissorts the shortcuts alphabetically by name.

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8 Type a name for theshortcut.

9 Click Finish.

l An icon for the shortcutappears on the desktop.

Note: You can also pin shortcuts toyour Start menu, as explained in“Pin an Item to Your Start Menu” inChapter 2.

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1 Click Start.

2 Right-click Computer.

3 Click Properties.

Adjust Visual Effectsfor Best Performance

You can turn off some or all of the visualeffects that Windows Vista uses to displayscreen elements. This reduces the load onyour computer, which improves theoverall performance of your machine.These visual effects include the animationWindows Vista uses when you minimizeor maximize a window. For example,when you minimize a window, it appearsto shrink down to the taskbar. Sucheffects are designed to help a novice user

better understand what is happening ontheir computer.Graphics performance is mostly determinedby the amount of memory on yourcomputer’s graphics adapter. Most newcomputers have at least 32MB, so turningoff visual effects will have little impact onperformance. If your adapter has 8MB orless, turning off visual effects can improveperformance.

The System windowappears.

4 Click Advanced SystemSettings.

Note: If the User Account Controldialog box appears, click Continueor type an administrator passwordand click Submit.

The System Propertiesdialog box appears.

5 Click the Advanced tab.

6 In the Performance area,click Settings.

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Chapter 1: Make Windows Vista Faster and More Efficient

Did You Know?If you do not know how much memory your graphics adapter has,Windows Vista can tell you. Follow steps 1 to 3 to display the Systemwindow, and then click the Windows Experience Index link. In thePerformance Information and Tools window that appears, click the Viewand print details link. The Dedicated graphics memory value tells you theamount of memory in your graphics adapter.

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The PerformanceOptions dialog boxappears.

7 Click the Adjust for bestperformance option( changes to ).

8 Click OK to return to the System Propertiesdialog box.

Windows Vista turns offthe visual effects.

9 Click OK.

The System Propertiesdialog box closes.

0 Click the Close box.

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1 Click Start.

2 Right-click Computer.

3 Click Properties.

Ensure Windows Vista IsOptimized for Programs

You can set an option that ensuresWindows Vista maximizes theperformance of your programs. Thisoption controls processor scheduling inWindows Vista.The processor (or CPU) is the chip insideyour machine that coordinates all thecomputer’s activity; some call it the brainof the computer. Processor scheduling

determines how much time the processorallocates to the computer’s activities. Inparticular, processor schedulingdifferentiates between the foregroundprogram — the program in which you arecurrently working — and backgroundprograms — programs that perform tasks,such as printing or backing up, while youwork in another program.

The System windowappears.

4 Click Advanced SystemSettings.

Note: If the User Account Controldialog box appears, click Continueor type an administrator passwordand click Submit.

The System Propertiesdialog box appears.

5 Click the Advanced tab.

6 In the Performance area,click Settings.

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Chapter 1: Make Windows Vista Faster and More Efficient

Did You Know?If you do not know what kind of processor or how much memory yourcomputer has, Windows Vista can tell you. Follow steps 1 to 3 to displaythe System window, and then click the Windows Experience Index link.In the Performance Information and Tools window that appears, click theView and print details link. In the Details column, read the Processor andMemory (RAM) values.

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77 The Performance Optionsdialog box appears.

7 Click the Advanced tab.

8 In the Processorscheduling area, click the Programs option( changes to ).

9 Click OK to return to the System Propertiesdialog box.

Windows Vista appliesthe performance settings.

0 Click OK.

! Click the Close box.

The System Propertiesdialog box closes.

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SPEED UP YOURSYSTEM 1 Insert a flash drive into a

USB port on yourcomputer.

The AutoPlay dialog boxappears.

2 Click the Speed up mysystem using this deviceoption.

Windows Vistaconfigures SuperFetch touse the flash drive’smemory.

CONFIGURE FLASHDRIVE MEMORY1 Click Start.

2 Click Computer.

Improve Performancewith a USB Flash Drive

If you add a USB flash drive to yourcomputer, Windows Vista can use thememory on that drive to improve theperformance of your system.Windows Vista uses a technology namedSuperFetch to boost system performance.SuperFetch tracks the programs and datayou use over time to create a kind ofprofile of your hard drive usage. Using

this profile, SuperFetch can thenanticipate the data that you might use inthe near future. It would then load (fetch)that data into memory ahead of time.If you elect to insert a USB 2.0 flash drive(memory key) into your system to speedup your system, SuperFetch will use thatdrive’s capacity as storage for the data thatSuperFetch anticipates you will require.

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Reverse It!If you decide later on that you want to use the flash drive’s full capacityfor file storage, you can tell Windows Vista not to use the drive toaugment SuperFetch. Click Start, Computer, click the flash drive, andthen click Properties. Click the ReadyBoost tab and then click the Do notuse this device option ( changes to ). Click OK to put the newsetting into effect.

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The Computer windowappears.

3 Click the flash drive icon.

4 Click Properties.

The drive’s Propertiesdialog box appears.

5 Click the ReadyBoost tab.

6 Click and drag the slider,or click the Spinnerarrows, to set the amountof drive memory Vistasets aside for SuperFetch.

7 Click OK.

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1 Click Start.

2 Click All Programs.

Run a Program withElevated Privileges

If you need to perform advanced tasks ina program, you may need to run thatprogram with elevated privileges.With Windows Vista’s User AccountControl, you must provide credentials toperform certain actions. However, thissecurity model falls short when you needto perform certain actions. For example, ifyou edit a file in one of the WindowsVista protected folders, you will receive a

Permission Denied error when you try tosave your changes.To work around such problems, you needto start the program you are using withelevated privileges. This tells WindowsVista to run the program as though youwere using the Administrator account, thehighest-level account on your system, andthe only account that does not need toprovide credentials.

3 Click the Start menufolder that contains theicon of the program youwant to run.

l For example, to run theCommand Prompt withelevated privileges, clickAccessories.

4 Right-click the programicon (for example, theCommand Prompt icon).

5 Click Run asadministrator.

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Chapter 1: Make Windows Vista Faster and More Efficient

Did You Know?If you have a program that you use frequently and you normally run itwith elevated privileges, you can tell Windows Vista to always run theprogram elevated. Follow steps 1 to 3 in this task to find the programicon, right-click the icon, and then click Properties. Click theCompatibility tab, click the Run this program as an administrator checkbox ( changes to ), and then click OK.

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The User AccountControl dialog boxappears.

6 Click Continue.

If you have a standarduser account, type thepassword for anadministrator and thenclick Submit.

Windows Vista runs theprogram with elevatedprivileges.

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331 Click Start.

2 Click Control Panel.

The Control Panelwindow appears.

3 Click System andMaintenance.

Make Your FileSearches Run Faster

You can add folders to the WindowsSearch engine’s index, which makes your file searches in those folders runnoticeably faster.The Windows Vista Search feature workswell if what you are looking for is in yourmain user account folder or one of itssubfolders (such as Documents, Pictures,and Music). This is because Windows

Vista automatically indexes those folders,which means it keeps a detailed record ofthe contents of all your files.If you have files in a different location,Windows Vista does not index them,which makes searching for those files verytime-consuming. You can dramaticallyspeed up the searching of those files byadding their location to the Search index.

The System andMaintenance windowappears.

4 Click Indexing Options.

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Chapter 1: Make Windows Vista Faster and More Efficient

Did You Know?If Windows Vista takes a long time to search or cannot find your files,you may need to rebuild the index. Follow steps 1 to 5 to display theIndexing Options dialog box and activate the global settings. ClickAdvanced to display the Advanced Options dialog box, and then clickRebuild.

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The Indexing Optionsdialog box appears.

5 Click Modify.

6 Click Show all locations.

Note: If the User Account Controldialog box appears, click Continueor type an administrator passwordand click Submit.

7 Click the folder you wantto include in the index.

l The folder appears in thelist of included locations.

8 Click OK.

9 Click Close.

Windows Vista includesthe folder in the indexand begins rebuildingthe index.

Note: To learn how to runadvanced searches in Windows Vista,see “Perform an Advanced FileSearch” in Chapter 4.

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1 Click Start.

2 Click Control Panel.

Hear an Alert When YouPress the Caps Lock Key

You can adjust a setting that tellsWindows Vista to beep your computer’sspeaker whenever you press the CapsLock key.When you are typing quickly, it iscommon to accidentally press the CapsLock key instead of either Shift, Tab, orA. As you probably know, when youinadvertently press Caps Lock, it may be a

while before you realize it. This meansthat you end up with a great deal oftyping that has the capital letters reversed.Not only must you delete this text, butyou must also retype it with the correctletters, all of which wastes valuable time.To save this wasted time, you can configureWindows Vista to beep your computer’sspeaker when you press Caps Lock.

The Control Panelwindow appears.

3 Click Ease of Access.

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Chapter 1: Make Windows Vista Faster and More Efficient

Did You Know?You can turn off Toggle Keys by holding down the Num Lock key for fiveseconds, until you hear a beep. To turn it back on, hold down Num Lockfor five seconds, until you see the Toggle Keys dialog box. Click OK toturn Toggle Keys on; click Cancel to leave Toggle Keys off.

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The Ease of AccessCenter window appears.

4 Click Change how yourkeyboard works.

5 Click the Turn on ToggleKeys check box ( changes to ).

6 Click Save.

7 Click the Close box toclose the Ease of AccessCenter window.

Windows alerts you witha tone when you pressthe Caps Lock key.

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1 Right-click Start.

2 Click Properties.

Display More ProgramsOn Your Start Menu

You can customize the Start menu todisplay more of the programs you usemost often.The list displaying your most frequentlyused programs appears on the bottom-leftside of the Start menu, above AllPrograms. As you work with yourprograms, Windows Vista keeps track ofhow many times you launch each one.The programs that you have launchedmost often appear on the Start menu for

easy, two-click access. These programsappear at the top of the list, followed bythe next most-often-used programs, andso on. When another program becomespopular, Windows Vista drops the bottomprogram and adds the new one.The default Start menu shows just thesix most popular programs, but youcan increase the size of the list to forceWindows Vista to display more programs.

The Taskbar and StartMenu Properties dialogbox appears.

3 Click the Start Menu tab.

4 Click Customize.

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Chapter 1: Make Windows Vista Faster and More Efficient

More Options!The height of the Start menu is restricted by the height of your screen.To display more Start menu items without changing the screen height,follow steps 1 to 4 to open the Customize Start Menu dialog box. In thelist, click to uncheck the Use large icons check box ( changes to ),and then click OK. Using smaller icons enables more items to appear onthe Start menu.

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The Customize StartMenu dialog boxappears.

5 Type the number ofprograms you wantto see.

Note: The maximum number ofprograms is 30.

6 Click OK to return to theTaskbar and Start MenuProperties dialog box.

7 Click OK.

l Windows Vista adjuststhe size of the Startmenu’s most frequentlyused program list.

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1 Right-click Start.

2 Click Properties.

Launch Control Panel IconsFaster by Using a Menu

You can quickly access items in theControl Panel by converting the Startmenu’s Control Panel item into a menu.The longer you use Windows Vista, themore you appreciate the Control Panel.The problem, however, is that the defaultControl Panel window uses a categoryview that groups the Control Panel iconsinto categories, such as System and

Maintenance, Security, and Appearanceand Personalization. That view hampersmore experienced users, who must oftennegotiate several windows to get to theicon they want. Converting the Startmenu’s Control Panel item into a menuon the Start menu enables you to easilyfind and choose any Control Panel item.

The Taskbar and StartMenu Properties dialogbox appears.

3 Click the Start Menu tab.

4 Click Customize.

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More Options!You can display other Start menu items as menus. Follow steps 1 to 5 todisplay the Customize Start Menu dialog box. The following brancheshave a Display as a menu option that you can click ( changes to ):Computer, Documents, Games, Music, Personal folder, and Pictures.

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The Customize StartMenu dialog boxappears.

5 In the list of Start menuitems, under ControlPanel, click the Displayas a menu option ( changes to ).

6 Click OK to return to theTaskbar and Start MenuProperties dialog box.

7 Click OK.

8 Click Start.

9 Click Control Panel.

l A menu of the ControlPanel items appears.

l If the entire menu doesnot fit on your screen,position the mouse hereto expand the menu.

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1 Click Start.

2 Click Control Panel.

Update a Device Driver toEnsure Top Device Performance

You can ensure that a device is working atoptimum performance by updating thedevice’s driver to the latest version.Windows Vista communicates with a hardware device by using a smallprogram called a device driver, and thiscommunication works two ways: from thedevice and to the device. For example, akeyboard uses its device driver to letWindows Vista know which key youpressed.

Hardware manufacturers often create newversions of their device drivers to fixproblems and improve the device’sperformance. For these reasons, it is agood idea to always use the latest devicedrivers for your system’s hardware. Afteryou download a new driver from themanufacturer’s Web site, you then need toupdate the existing driver on your system.

The Control Panelwindow appears.

3 Click System andMaintenance.

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Chapter 1: Make Windows Vista Faster and More Efficient

Did You Know?If you have a device that is performing slowly or is having problems, thecause may be a corrupted device driver file. In most cases, you can fixthis problem by reinstalling the device’s driver. Follow the steps in thistask and, when it is time to select the driver, select the original driver,which is usually on the CD that came with the device.

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The System andMaintenance windowappears.

4 Click Device Manager.

Note: If the User Account Controldialog box appears, click Continueor type an administrator passwordand click Submit.

The Device Managerwindow appears.

5 Click the device youwant to update.

➥continued

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6 Click the Update DriverSoftware button.

Update a Device Driver to EnsureTop Device Performance (continued)

Most device manufacturers offer a Website where you can download the latestdrivers, but it helps to know how tonavigate these sites.Look for an area of the site dedicated todriver downloads. The good sites havelinks to areas named Downloads orDrivers, but it is far more common to gothrough a Support or Customer Servicearea first.

When you get to the device’s downloadpage, be careful which file you choose.Make sure that it is a Windows Vistadriver, and make sure that you are notdownloading a utility program or someother non-driver file.When you finally get to download the file, save it to your computer. The bestlocation is your user account’s Downloadsfolder.

The Update DriverSoftware dialog boxappears.

7 Click Browse mycomputer for driversoftware.

Note: If you have a CD with thedevice driver, insert the disc andclick Search automatically forupdated driver software, instead.

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Reverse It!The latest device drivers are usually the most stable and bug-free.However, you may occasionally find that updating a device driver causesproblems. In that case, you need to roll back the driver to the previousversion. Follow steps 1 to 4 to display Device Manager, and then double-click your device. Click the Driver tab and then click the Roll Back Driverbutton.

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The Browse for driversoftware on yourcomputer dialog boxappears.

8 Type the location of thefolder where you savedthe downloaded driver.

l Alternatively, clickBrowse, use the Browsefor Folder dialog box toselect the folder, andthen click OK.

9 Click Next.

Windows Vista installsthe driver.

0 Click Close.

! Click the Close box toclose Device Manager.

Windows Vista now usesthe updated devicedriver.

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