One of the biggest flaws of the Windows operating system becomes apparent in multi-user systems. Neither Windows XP nor Windows Vista offer individual screen resolutions for their user accounts. This means that a change to the screen resolution has impact in the operating system. Each user account will experience the same display screen resolution.

Carroll is a small software that offers a solution to this problem. The software is installed for all users allowing each to set their own screen resolution in the operating system. The computer program will display a list of available screen resolutions to the user upon startup. Selecting a screen resolution and clicking on the link “Change screen resolution and restore with every logon” will assign that screen resolution to the user. This will also be the screen resolution of all other users unless they specify a different screen resolution in the program.

This can be easily done as Carroll is installed for all users. Carroll needs to be autostarted with Windows if a custom screen resolution has been specified by a user. It will basically switch to the custom screen resolution upon startup.

Carroll is a small Windows software program that is available at the developer’s website.

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Increase Slow PC Performance

What version of Windows is running on your computer?

Slow PC performance is often attributable to running newer applications on an older version of Windows. Because computers are getting faster and faster, and are becoming greater and greater resource hogs, they require more memory, disk space, etc. Likewise, the newer the application, the greater chance that it expects to have access to these resources.

Let’s determine what version of Windows you have on your computer as follows:

1. Click the START button located on the toolbar at the bottom left of your window
2. Right click on “My Computer” or “Computer” and choose “Properties”
3. You will be presented with a window that indicates which version of “Microsoft Windows” you have. You’ll most likely see one of the following (listed from newest to oldest):
4. • Windows Vista (newest)
   • Microsoft Windows XP
   • Microsoft Windows 2000
   • Microsoft Windows Millenium Edition
   • Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition
   • Microsoft Windows 98
   • Microsoft Windows 95 (oldest)

Recommendation: If you’re running a version of Windows older than Windows XP or Windows Vista, your machine is most likely quite old. This means that most new software will require more memory than is physically available to Windows, so there will be a lot of swapping to disk, which can dramatically slow down the machine. In this case, considering purchasing a new computer or upgrading your existing one.

How much physical memory does your computer have?

It’s important to understand how much physical memory your computer has, as this will be useful in determining whether any newer applications you have installed might be having trouble running.

To determine the amount of physical memory, do the following:

1. Hold down and press to bring up the Windows operation menu.
2. Select “Task Manager” or “Start Task Manager”.

The windows task manager provides information regarding currently running applications and services and system performance.

By switching to the “Performance” tab, you will see a section called Physical Memory. Windows Vista provides the total number of megabytes of physical memory. In Windows XP, the number is provided in kilobytes, so divide the number indicated by 1024. Take note of this value.

Recommendation: If the number of megabytes indicated is less than 512, chances are you may have problems running the majority of new Windows applications available. These applications will require more memory than Windows has access to, resulting in a great deal of disk swapping.

How much free memory is available to applications?

Windows task manager can also provide you with information regarding the amount of free memory available to applications. This can be determined by doing one of the following depending on your operating system:

• Windows Vista users can click on the [Resource monitor...] button on the performance tab. This will display the resource monitor window which contains an item called Memory that shows the percentage of physical memory available to applications. From this you can determine the number of megabytes of free memory, based on the total amount of physical memory available to the operating system.
• In Windows XP, the performance tab of Task Manager includes an Available item under physical memory that indicates the amount of free memory for applications in kilobytes; so it is necessary to divide this number by 1024 to determine the number of megabytes.

Recommendation: If the amount of physical memory available for applications is less than 15% and you have no applications open at the present time, chances are you’ll most likely need to go back to your computer retailer and ask them to upgrade the memory on your machine. Most computers available today shipped with a minimum of 2 GB of RAM or 2048 MB of RAM

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Windows Vista’s Home Basic, Home Premium, Ultimate, Business and Enterprise all have a 64-bit (or x64) edition. This was released early 2007. It is best utilized by computer users who have high-performance and advanced needs. The 64-bit edition is ideal for CAD and AutoCAD work, scientific computing, financial analysis, hard-core PC gaming and for multimedia artists. The 64-bit editions require a system with a 64-bit processor and 64-bit system drivers so make sure you are compatible before actually installing.

Some may find that using Vista x64 slows down the performance of their computer or makes their computers start up take longer than usual. Here are the top 5 ways to speed up Vista x64.

1. Uninstall the programs or applications that you do not use.

That software you used back in college for your project may no longer be needed. It is eating up too much memory and it reminds you of that frightful professor you had whose spindly fingers gave you the creeps. Go to Control panel and remove such programs.

2. Off with Aero Glass Transparency

It may have been cool to look at that trendy animation for a week or two but when you get down to doing real work, you need speed over aesthetics. To return to that automatic minimizing and maximizing of your windows, on the desktop, right click on an empty space. Click Personalize. Choose “Window Color and Appearance”. Then click “Open classic appearance properties for more color options” From here, there is a drop down asking for your color scheme, choose “Windows Visual Basic” then click OK.

3. Clean unused programs when Vista x64 is starting up.

It is also a good idea to do this as since you will also be able to detect if there are malicious software starting up with your Vista.

4. Auto-Defrag no more

Vista’s defaulted feature is automatically defragging every four times your computer starts. It may be quite annoying especially if you have a deadline to beat or if you are chatting with a friend halfway around the world and you only meet once in a while online. To stop this, go to “Computer” then point your mouse to your C: drive. Once there, right click and choose “Properties. Go to “Tools” and select “Defragment Now.” Uncheck the box for “Run on a Schedule.” Click OK. However, you still have to manually defrag your computer to avoid disk fragmentation. Do this around every month or so.

5. Use ReadyBoost

This is a feature of Vista you want to exploit. It uses an external drive for disk cache. What that means is it helps in expediting data access. If you plan to use this feature fully, have a pen drive that has at least 1GB storage capacity, with 512MB free.

These are just the top 5 and relatively easy ways on how to speed up Vista x64, aside from the obvious and expensive alternative of installing more RAM. If you already have a RAM of 2GB, then using the 5 mentioned ways will already boost the performance of your Vista x64.

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Windows Vista uses an always-on defragment set up that isn’t that
necessary and will cause your system to slow down. Remember to
run a defragment manually once a month.

To shut down this feature:

1. Click the Start button
2. Select Computer
3. Right-click on C: Drive icon
4. Select Properties
5. Click the Tools tab
6. Uncheck Run on a schedule
7. Click OK

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