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Windows Vista - what are tweaks for more efficient operation?


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I just got a HP Compaq 6515b laptop with Windows Vista Business. It seems super slow. I'm just using this for wireless internet stuff, not audio. What are some tweaks for making the thing run faster? It boots up sloooooooowly, and just seems to be sluggish online. I haven't done anything to it or added anything yet. Just got it. Thanks.

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First off, make sure that you have 1GB of RAM. RAM is cheap, and I'd personally recommend running w/ 2GB. Also, if the system has a memory card slot then you can take advantage of the ready boost feature. You might also try disabling Aero, which takes up additional resources. Also, I just found this excellent defragging tool, which does a better job than the built-in Windows tool.

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Is there any kind of RAM you would recommend for this, and a good place that sells it? I originally purchased the HP Compaq 6515b laptop from PCMall.com.

 

Can I install this RAM myself fairly easily? I ask because I've never had a laptop before and want to ask all the silly questions now rather than finding out later that I cannot do something, etc. Thanks!

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should be a panel on the bottom you access it through, you basically lift up and slide out the old mem, then reverse it to put the new in, get 2x 1GB ram. pull open the bottom and there should be a sticker on the RAM denoting the speed, just order the same speed and you should be golden.

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Is there any kind of RAM you would recommend for this, and a good place that sells it? I originally purchased the HP Compaq 6515b laptop from PCMall.com.


Can I install this RAM myself fairly easily? I ask because I've never had a laptop before and want to ask all the silly questions now rather than finding out later that I cannot do something, etc. Thanks!

 

Installing RAM on HP/Compaq's is a snap. I'd recommend going to www.crucial.com to find the specs on your memory. FWIW, I've had the best luck with Crucial and Corsair with HP/Compaq systems. Kingston doesn't seem to play too well, OTOH.

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Thanks.

 

BTW, the thing was supposed to come with Windows XP. I told them I didn't want Vista. So they are supposed to be sending an XP downgrade disc. Whatever that is. I don't know why buying a laptop has to involve these shenanigans, but anyway, that's what's happening. Allegedly.

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Buying a copy of XP. Seriously. I hate Vista. When it comes to the point that I have to update to Vista to upgrade, I'm going Mac.

 

 

thats because you are an idiot. seriously. i dont mean that jokingly... you probably dont have enough to run vista yet. if you did, vista is going to KILL xp... and OSX.

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I don't think the fact that someone dislikes Vista makes them an idiot. It's a matter of preference. If someone likes XP, great. A lot of people feel that Vista is bloated, and a lot of things work well on XP because XP has been around for a while and is stable.

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to form such a poor opinion of something so young in its release and then to think OSX is ANY better?!? geez... maybe idiot was a little strong of a word for the internet which loses most signals behind words and how they are conveyed.

 

honeslty, i still run XP. vista isnt ready for real world production. but i also run vista machines and its pretty depressing to use that and know its not ready and have to go back to XP to work on. so i agree with his sentiment of using XP NOW, but to dismiss vista and what it will eventually become once software companies catch up is just stupidity.

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thats because you are an idiot. seriously. i dont mean that jokingly... you probably dont have enough to run vista yet. if you did, vista is going to KILL xp... and OSX.

 

Toss off! :thu:

 

I'm no idiot. I've run it on a couple of machines and I {censored}ing hate it. Friend brought a brand new computer with Vista on it, asked me to set it up for music for him. It was a {censored}ing nightmare. 2.0 Ghz DuoCore, had the approved Vista seal, yet was slow and unwieldy as {censored}. I upgraded it to 4GB of RAM, put in a second 10,000 RPM Seagate drive and sent him back out to buy a dual monitor GeForce card instead of using the onboard MOBO video. I spent almost 3 hours configuring the {censored}ing thing and it was a nightmare. I've been using XP since it came out, and have been tweaking recording computers since I was 12 back in the Win95 days. I don't like how they reorganized parts of the control panel, I don't like how they made it harder, or in some cases not even able to deactivate a lot of the background services and internet bull{censored}.

 

I'm not an idiot, and I'm not an average computer user, and I'm not sucking on Bill Gate's dick like you seem to be doing. While Vista looks nifty, and in theory, will outperform XP, thus far I have seen no usable evidence of it. Are you just a Mac hater that had to jump up and down on the fact that I'd rather use OSX then the newest MS bloatware? Child.

:rolleyes:

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on the contrary, i have been using both since before you were born if you were only 12 when win95 came out.

 

personally, i wouldnt set up a vista machine for music right now.

 

actually they made a lot easier with vista... its just not mature enough yet to be used in production enviroments. hopefully things will change, but most companies arent even 64bit ready much less have all their drivers in order for vista.

 

im sorry you havent figured out where everything is in vista, but i have been using it and finding all its little nooks and crannies since betas for over a year now.

 

btw, win95 and the machines at the time could hardly be considered for much use recording so i call bull{censored} on you with that.

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on the contrary, i have been using both since before you were born if you were only 12 when win95 came out.


personally, i wouldnt set up a vista machine for music right now.


actually they made a lot easier with vista... its just not mature enough yet to be used in production enviroments. hopefully things will change, but most companies arent even 64bit ready much less have all their drivers in order for vista.


im sorry you havent figured out where everything is in vista, but i have been using it and finding all its little nooks and crannies since betas for over a year now.


btw, win95 and the machines at the time could hardly be considered for much use recording so i call bull{censored} on you with that.

 

 

Well, back in Win95 we did a lot more with MIDI. I learned all about sequencing back when Cakewalk was all on a single floppy disk. My dad is a composer and had a pretty nice set up at the time, but even doing more than basic editing and a couple of tracks was impossible. We still had to use external processors for reverbs and delays, and we backed up to a tape drive. :freak:

 

Win98 made things better, but until XP I never felt entirely comfortable doing much more than MIDI. While it certainly could (and was) done, it was foten a major hassle.

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well, yeah... i agree with you about midi. of course i preferred MAC/Performer setup.

 

hell back in those days you could get a audio dropout from simply moving the mouse while dumping in [recording]

 

i didnt mean to call you an idiot really... but i would give vista more time from MS and software companies, and learing how it really is different than XP in a much more positive way. i think we are only JUST starting to see what it will be capable of, nevermind once companies really run with it.

 

ps, bill is pretty much gone from MS. at least in the manner he was in before... however a very old family friend is one of their top guys now replacing what bill used to do. http://apcmag.com/7161/interview_craig_mundie_microsofts_technology_chief_taking_over_from_bi doesnt make me any more biased though. honestly, the biggest reason i dont use MACs like i used to isnt because of the OS per se, although i dont like how OSX works all that much, but because i like to be in greater control of the hardware and its upgradability.... and running linux really isnt an option.

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in that article there is a good explaination of where Vista is:

 

APC: Vista has been criticised for having too few improvements over XP. However, having followed the betas closely and interviewed some of the Vista developers, what is evident to me is that there is an enormous amount of functionality waiting to be tapped, like the Windows Communication Framework and Windows Presentation Foundation. How long do you think it will be before the developer community hooks into Vista's

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Thanks.


BTW, the thing was supposed to come with Windows XP. I told them I didn't want Vista. So they are supposed to be sending an XP downgrade disc. Whatever that is. I don't know why buying a laptop has to involve these shenanigans, but anyway, that's what's happening. Allegedly.

 

 

Very interesting topic. This is what I was told by the guys at HP when I bought my laptop. I have the XP System Disc but I was told by the guys at HP that XP does not support most of the driver on the "Vista Driven" laptop so downgrading would work but some of the drives would not work and hard ware would not function properly.

 

These are the problems are had when I down graded to XP.

Computer would not stand by.

Computer resolution was not accurate.

Audio drives were not functioning.

 

Is it true that the new computers running Vista are not "fully" compactible with XP?

 

Let me know please.

 

Patrick/AI

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