That's 25 fewer characters that you have to type
When you install Vista, you don’t actually need to input a license key. Vista will give you 30 days before requiring the key before throttling down to Restricted mode. But you can extend that eight times with this simple fix, allowing you to make major hardware upgrades without having to reactivate the OS.
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| This simple registry hack will give you a year of no-license-key operation. |
To reset the timer to 30 days, open a command-line window in Administrative mode (see tip on page 40), then type slmgr -rearm. This starts the 30-day countdown anew, no matter how much time is left on your first countdown. You can do this three times (for 120 days total) before it won’t work any more.
You can give yourself another 240 days by making one registry tweak. Type regedit in the Start menu search box and press Enter; then navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\SL. In the right pane, right-click SkipRearm and click Modify. Change the 0 to a 1. You should now be able to do the rearm trick above eight more times.
Note: We make no promises that Microsoft won’t patch this behavior before day 360 rolls around.
Upgrade your GeForce gaming
Running an Nvidia GeForce 6, 7, or 8 series videocard? If you’re seeing abnormally low frame rates or system crashing while gaming (especially noticeable in Battlefield 2142, Half-Life 2, and Rainbow Six Vegas, among other titles), a patch can help considerably. Grab it here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/940105. A similar fix is available for Vista users running SLI rigs at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/936710. This hotfix improves (or enables) the use of a secondary graphics card under DirectX 10.
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| Gaming under Vista might choke with late-model GeForce cards, but a quick download can fix you right up. |
Get instant alerts when something’s amiss
Rather than manually checking the boring old Event Viewer, how about getting Vista to email you when something’s gone wrong? To set up email logging, open the Event Viewer (it’s in the Administrative Tools control panel), open a log, and find an event for which you want to be notified. In the pane on the right, click “Attach Task to This Event...” and walk through the wizard, specifying the server from which email should be sent and the address it should go to. (Be careful with this, you might end up spamming yourself.)
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| The security log is likely the most useful source for logging via email. |
Enable SATA’s latest high-test features
Risk-takers can get a little hard drive performance boost by turning on two options in Vista that are disabled by default. In Device Manager, find your hard drive (under Disk Drives), right-click it, click Properties, then click the Policies tab. Select “Optimize for performance” and check both “Enable write caching on the disk” and “Enable advanced performance.” Be warned: With the latter two options turned on, you may risk losing data if you lose power or have a catastrophic crash, so make sure you use a universal power supply and run regular backups. The specific performance boost depends on the make and model of your drive; don’t expect the moon.
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| Vista doesn’t automatically take advantage of some of SATA’s performance features. |
Upgrade your defragger to something less useless
Vista’s disk defragmenter is a giant leap backwards. Run a defrag manually and what you get isn’t the helpful, animated progress window you know from XP, but rather that evil, spinning, blue wheel and the notice “Defragmenting hard disks... This may take from a few minutes to a few hours.” Wow, informative!
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| Reclaim the visual look at your hard drive's fragmentation with Diskeeper. |
To get a better defrag system, you’ll have to install third-party software. Without a doubt, the best is Diskeeper 2008 Pro Premier ($100, www.diskeeper.com), which offers an exhaustive collection of defragging options, including file sequencing based on usage patterns, boot-time defragging, and barely noticeable background operation. The $50 Pro (non-Premier) edition is exactly the same, sans the file-sequencing feature.
Comments are closed on this article
thomsonr
July 10, 2008 at 5:12pm
For such a horrible OS it gives me little problem. I run it at work using Engineering Applications. At home all computers are Vista. The main wired gaming computer is connected to a laptop and 2 wireless computers in the kids bedroom not to mention a Xbox 360 via a router and cable modem.
One thing I have problems with is copying large files between the wired and wireless computers. I have to use an USB key. I have heard that is not uncommon even with XP.
guitronics
January 15, 2008 at 5:40am
You won't be able to use your "Crippled" XP from your old machine, 'cause the Big OEM's strip out everything (device drivers),that you > Don't Need < on their computer.
If you want to add drives or other hardware, the OS can't help you install it.
They have a deal with M$ that they'll supply you with a functional copy of an M$ product that will work only with your machine.
This way, good 'old Billy gets his $ when you buy a machine, and more $ when you buy a full, non-crippled copy to use only on one machine.
Got two machines? Put the same copy on more than one, it eventually "Call's home" and rat's you out.
So the first copy you use on the 'net will be OK, but a later connection by 'puter number 2 will be politely dismissed....no updates for that machine.I assume 'puter 2 will be using the internet.
So: Give up the cash,or go Linux.
M$ has been ruled a monopoly,and now you must pay.
Sorry,Bob
Bob Creamer
January 11, 2008 at 11:09am
My current computer came pre-loaded with XP, so I have no "original install" discs for that. I do have a set of "back up" discs that I made based on a utility included with that (HP) machine. I've recently purchased a new machine (another HP) that comes with Vista Premium pre-loaded. I've yet to even plug this in as, after reading your reviews and listening to your Podcasts, it sounds like the safest thing to do is set up a dual boot option with the new machine. So will I be able to follow your dual boot setup instructions using the back-up XP discs for my current machine (which don't include SP2) or should I just bite the bullet and try to buy a new copy of XP somewhere. I am planning on junking the old machine once the new one is up and running so I won't be violating any of the MS license restrictions by using the XP from that machine on my new one. Thanks.
LsD|.Duneti
January 25, 2008 at 6:17pm
Hadi Bob hope this might help your problem,&pocket book!
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?minorcatid=1055XP Home 99.98$ Duneti
"Wisdom is not something you Think
Wisdom is Something you Do"
ogman
January 08, 2008 at 8:43am
C'mon, surely you can do better than TweakVI. This piece of junk software won't even start. First, it demands the presence of a circa 2000 file (mscomctl.ocx) and then, even after the file is installed and registered, it still doesn't work. If this software is the best you guys can recommend, then don't bother.
HeartBurnKid
January 08, 2008 at 2:30pm
Granted, I'm not on Vista, but XP includes mscomctl.ocx as well. It's a fairly vital component of Windows. If you're missing that, and you replaced it with the Win2K version, yeah, you're probably not going to be able to run TweakVI or any other Vista program that relies on it. Not to mention, you're probably missing other chunks of your system, which could also be causing you some problems. Hell, I'd scan your hard drives, since you're apparently losing important files for no reason.
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