How to speed up Windows Vista with simple tweaks

Windows Vista is a large operating system, there’s no denying it.  With so many services and processes running in the background, even a system with more than sufficient memory can become bogged down quickly.  Vista consumes 32MBs of graphics memory alone, while the many included services take up nearly 512MBs on average, leaving little room for performance- especially on slower machines with little memory.

Luckily, there’s plenty of simple tweaks you can make to alter your system configuration to run much smoother and quicker.  Above all else, a quick fix to significantly speed up processing is to use a USB drive and Vista’s built-in “ReadyBoost” feature.  Since hard drives are slower by nature, using a USB drive to act as a cache will give you much quicker response times overall.  ReadyBoost caches the disk so it can retrieve data quickly when needed, while also encrypting the cached data for privacy.  It’s best to use a USB drive with at least 1GB of storage, and fast read/write speeds.  Here’s how to get it working properly, Vista does most of the work for you;

1. Plug your USB drive into an open slot
2. Windows will ask you whether you want to use it as an external drive or as a ReadyBoost drive.
3. Choose the ReadyBoost tab.
4. Click the radio button next to “Use this device
5. Set the amount of space to equal your system’s memory (i.e 1GB).
6. Click the OK button.

If you’d like to go straight to simple system tweaks, there’s a number of options.  Most importantly, you can disable Vista’s indexing service to free up some much-needed RAM.  Go to Start, and type “Indexing Options,” click modify, then “Show All Locations.”  Start unchecking everything you don’t want indexed, if not everything.  This should give you a noticeable speed boost. 

The second most important tweak is to alter your startup processes using the MSCONFIG tool.  First, press Windows + R, type “msconfig,” and click OK.  The system configuration screen will appear.  Click the “Startup” tab, and start unchecking everything you think you’ll not use.  By default, Vista runs way to many services and processes that can all be disabled using this window.  When you’ve unchecked as many as possible, move over to the “Services” tab, check the box at the bottom labeled “hide all Microsoft Services,” and start unchecking any unnecessary services you think are not needed.  Click OK to save the changes once you’re finished.

Finally, as with any OS, it’s important to defragment as often as you can.  Vista’s defragment tool is nothing special, so it might be worth it to download a third-party application that would do the job a little better.  Hopefully, if all these steps are taken, you’ll see a noticeable difference in the overall performance of your system. 

From : http://vista.blorge.com/

VMware Releases VMware Workstation 6.5

VMware just released VMware Workstation 6.5 for Windows and Linux.   Workstation 6.5 ships with the following new features:

• Enhanced VMware ACE authoring - Use ACE (Assured Computing Environment) features to package and deploy Pocket ACE and desktop virtual machines with encryption, restricted network access, and device control. VMware ACE authoring features are now fully integrated with Workstation, and no special ACE Edition is required. In addition to the new features listed here, be sure to read about new ACE-specific features in the VMware ACE 2.5 release notes.
• Unity mode - Integrate your favorite guest applications with your host. Open the application window, enter Unity mode, and the Workstation window is automatically minimized. The guest application windows look just like host application windows, but with color-coded borders. You can access the virtual machine's Start menu (for Windows virtual machines) or Applications menu (for Linux virtual machines) by placing the mouse pointer over the host's Start or Applications menu, or by using a key combination.
• Accelerated 3-D graphics on Windows XP guests - Workstation 6.5 virtual machines now work with applications that use DirectX 9 accelerated graphics with shaders up through Shader Model 2.0 on Windows XP guests. Hosts can be running Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Linux.
• More powerful record/replay of VM execution activity - Easily enable this powerful debugging tool, which records full system behavior, including all CPU and device activity. You can now insert markers while creating or playing back a recording and quickly navigate to these markers during replay. You can also browse a recording to replay from any spot.
• Virtual machine streaming - You can now download a virtual machine from a Web server and power it on without waiting for the download to complete. Use the command-line startup command (vmware for Workstation or vmplayer for VMware Player) with the URL of the virtual machine. The download can also be paused and restarted. Note that this feature is not available for ACE instances.
• Better internationalization support and mobility with Unicode - Workstation 6.5 now stores and processes your virtual machine data with a Unicode (UTF-8) encoding. This means you can now create virtual machines with international text in their metadata and that same virtual machine can be used by other users of Workstation 6.5 (Windows and Linux) or Fusion 2.0 (Mac), even if they are using a system with a completely different host language encoding. For instance, you could create a virtual machine on a German Windows XP host with an umlaut character in the virtual machine's name, and then give it to a user of Workstation 6.5 on a Linux host using a simplified Chinese encoding. The virtual machine still functions properly and the umlaut character is properly displayed in the virtual machine's name.
• Easy Install option for Windows and Linux guest operating systems - When you create a virtual machine, you now have the option of entering a few pieces of information so that installation of the guest operating system and VMware Tools is performed in an unattended fashion. Easy install is supported on newer Windows operating systems and some version of the following Linux operating systems: Red Hat, Mandriva, and Ubuntu.
• Installer bundle for Linux hosts - Installing Workstation on Linux hosts just got a lot easier. The new bundle format provides a graphical UI wizard for most Linux operating systems. With a few mouse clicks, Workstation is installed. For users who want a custom installation, a command-line interface provides complete control.
• Virtual Network Editor for Linux hosts - On Linux hosts, the new Virtual Network Editor now provides a graphical user interface for creating and configuring virtual networks.
• Expanded in-product help system - When you choose Help > Help Topics, or click a Help button in a dialog box, you have access to four times as much content as was provided in Workstation 6.0.
• Integration with VMware Converter 3.0.3 - This release includes the Conversion wizard component from VMware Converter 3.0.3. You can now use File > Import to create virtual machines from Acronis True Image files in addition to the Microsoft Virtual PC, Symantec Backup Exec System Recovery, and StorageCraft ShadowProtect file types previously supported. You can also convert Open Virtual Machine Format (OVF) appliances. For Microsoft Virtual PC and Microsoft Virtual Server virtual machines, you now have the option of sharing the source virtual hard disk (.vhd) files.
• New features for VMware Player - VMware Player now includes the following features, which were previously available only in Workstation:
  • While in full screen mode, you can now switch from one powered-on virtual machine to another.
  • Unity mode is available, so that you can open your favorite guest applications in windows on your host desktop.
  • Both Windows and Linux hosts now support suspending the virtual machine when exiting.
• Networking performance using NAT - You will see significant improvements in networking performance if a virtual machine is configured to use NAT. Performance is ten times better than in the previous release in some cases.
• Folder sharing and dragging, dropping, copying, and pasting text and files - Transferring files between virtual machines or between host and guests using these features is up to 25 percent faster.
• USB devices - Several optimizations have reduced latency of I/O to USB devices by as much as 50 percent.
• I/O performance - A new asynchronous I/O manager boosts performance on Windows hosts under heavy I/O loads.
• VMCI performance - Applications that make use of VMCI will see a significant increase in throughput. Several optimizations have been added.
• For more information about performance tuning, see the new Performance Best Practices and Benchmarking Guidelines.
• New virtual hardware version - This new hardware version lets you use the following new features if the guest operating system supports them: Add or remove some virtual devices while the virtual machine is powered on ("hot-plug"). Use LSI Logic SAS (serial attached SCSI) adapters in the virtual machine. Hot-add virtual CPUs and memory to guests that support this functionality. For virtual machines with this hardware version, 3-D graphics capabilities are enabled by default for Windows 2000 and later guest operating systems and most Linux guests.
• (Experimental) Support for smart cards in virtual machines - You can plug a smart card reader into a host and insert your smart card to authenticate yourself on your host or on a guest. Smart cards can be shared between the host and guests or between guests.
• Replicate the physical network connection state for mobile users - If you use virtual machines on a laptop or other mobile device, enable this new link state propagation feature if you use bridged network connections (not NAT). As you move from one wired or wireless network to another, the IP address is automatically renewed.
• Text copy and paste enhancements - On Windows guests, you can copy and paste text in rich text format, and copy up to 4MB of text. (On Linux guests, the old limitations still apply. You can copy and paste up to 64K of plain text.)
• (Experimental) Replay debugging - Record the execution of an application you want to debug and then use the Integrated Virtual Debugger for Visual Studio to examine the recording repeatedly. No debugging is performed during the recording process, so debugging activities do not affect the normal execution of an application. This powerful tool enables you to fix bugs that cannot be reliably reproduced.

For more information and to download please visit: Download VMware Workstation for multiple operating systems

From : http://www.dabcc.com/

Windows Outdoes Linux in Netbook Market

Taipei, Sept. 25, 2008 (CENS)--Although Windows OS went into netbook computers, a stripped-down notebook PC, six months later than did rival Linux OS, the Windows system is reportedly installed in over half of such PCs.

Steve Guggenheimer, Microsoft`s general manager for application platform & development marketing division, recently noted that Internet-enabled devices have become increasingly diversified and his company would introduce software for such products, including smart phones, netbooks, mobile Internet devices (MIDs) in addition to desktop and notebook computers.

Refusing to reveal market share, Guggenheimer simply said Microsoft had gained ground in the market of netbook software despite having entered the segment only half a year ago. However, some PC makers estimated 70-80% of netbook makers outfit their wares with Windows XP.

Guggenheimer even touted that some of his company`s customers had vowed to equip all their netbooks with Windows XP. He said although some customers said Windows XP retails for more than Linux, consumers still tend to buy XP computers rather than Linux for better after-sale service.

By June this year, when Guggenheimer announced Microsoft would equip netbooks with XP Home, Microsoft had been reserved towards netbook market since Asustek Computer introduced Eee PC late last year, whose hot sales changed Microsoft`s original view. Acer has shipped one million systems while Asustek has delivered 800,000 systems a month so far this year.

From : http://news.cens.com/

Nokia's Ollila says financial crisis near peak

HELSINKI (Reuters) - Jorma Ollila, the chairman of Nokia (NOK1V.HE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Shell (RDSa.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), said on Wednesday the financial market crisis was near its peak, but there was no clear solution to the situation.

"We have approached the peak, if we are not there yet ... but there really is no clear way out from this complicated situation and that is what's causing the uncertainty," Ollila told Finnish national broadcaster YLE.

Ollila, one of the top European business leaders, said the United States was likely to face "a longer than usual" recession.

"Growth will not only slow down, it will be negative for the next year and a half, a couple of years. I don't believe in a fast recovery next year," Ollila said.

Growth in Europe will be hit too, he added. "It's not completely clear yet whether we are entering a time of negative growth, but anyhow there will be a period of slow growth in Europe," Ollila said in a Finnish language interview recorded on Wednesday.

Thank : http://www.reuters.com/

'Spore' hits a million copies sold since launch

Spore, the new evolution game from Electronic Arts, has sold a million units since its September 7 launch, the publisher said Wednesday.

The sales figures are for copies of the game on the PC, the Mac, and the Nintendo DS.

The results are impressive and important for EA, especially given the heavy expectations that awaited the game, which was first announced in 2005 and was first expected in 2006, and also because the game has been beset by some controversy surrounding its DRM (digital rights management) restrictions.

And early indications from retailers around the country showed that the game was selling well in its first few weeks on store shelves.

However, the sales numbers don't match those delivered by recent hits like Grand Theft Auto IV, from Rockstar Games and Guitar Hero III, from Activision, which sold multiple millions of copies right off the bat.

Still, for a game with what some might see as a wonky or overly intellectual theme--the evolution of species and the colonization of space--a million copies sold in just 17 days is a good sign.

The big question, of course, is whether Spore can continue to sell over time and justify EA's stated hopes that the game could end up becoming a full-scale franchise along the lines of The Sims.

From : http://news.cnet.com/

Apple updates Java for 10.4, 10.5 users

Donderdag 25 september 2008, 09:46 - Apple on Wednesday released Java updates for its Tiger and Leopard operating systems. Java for Mac OS X 10.5 Update 2 "delivers improved reliability and compatibility for Java SE 6, J2SE 5.0 and J2SE 1.4.2 on Mac OS X 10.5.4 and later" and Apple notes that the release supports all Intel and PowerPC-based Macs, and that Java SE 6 is available on 64-bit, Intel-based Macs only.

Java for Mac OS X 10.4, Release 7 "delivers improved reliability and compatibility for Java 2 Platform Standard Edition 5.0 and Java 1.4 on Mac OS X 10.4.11 and later. This release updates J2SE 5.0 to version 1.5.0_16 and Java 1.4 to version 1.4.2_18."

The Java updates also fix several security issue for OS X 10.5 and OS X 10.4 users. The updates are available via Software Update or from the Apple Downloads page on Apple's Web site.

From : http://webwereld.nl/