Common Windows Vista Issues - Fixing Vista Restore Issues & Best Monitor Settings for Windows Performance

Common Windows Vista Issues - Fixing Vista Restore Issues & Best Monitor Settings for Windows Performance
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Some more Remedies for Windows Vista

Before you make any major changes to the way your PC works, you need to make a safe back up of your Windows Registry. In Vista, you can back it up by setting a System Restore point. To do this, go to the Start menu, type System Restore and then click on the System Restore icon that appears in the list above. Click Continue if you see a UAC prompt and, in the next window, click the open System Protection link at the bottom. Now click on Create, give your restore point a recognizable name and click Create again. To retrieve your Registry back to a previous state, launch System Restore as described above and select Choose a dif­ferent restore point to find the one you named earlier.

Windows Vista automatically reboots your PC after installing a Windows update. This can be very frustrating if it interrupts something like an overnight download. Here is a solution to overcome this problem. Go to Control Panel → Windows Update → Change Settings and set install new updates to a time when you will be available to postpone a reboot. There is one more way to do this. Just before you go to bed and start your download, click Start and type services.msc in the search box and press Enter. Now double-click on the Windows Update service and click Stop and then OK. No update will be downloaded until you restart your PC again.

Windows Vista launches all kinds of unnecessary components when it boots, and some are extremely dif­ficult to track down. For example take the Transient Multi-Monitor Manager (TMM) which is a tool that helps laptop users configure external monitors. This tool launches by default on PCs, even if you have no intention of ever switching monitors. To turn this tool off, go to Start menu and right click on Computer and select Manage. Now go to Task Scheduler → Task Scheduler Library → Microsoft →Windows → Mobile PC and right-click on TMM in the central pane and choose Disable.

The Explorer looks very different in Vista, but still it carries some of the problems users had in XP. It often forgets the set­tings you have chosen for individual folders. To resolve this issue, go to Start menuComputer and press Alt to show options. Now click on Tools → Folder options → View and make sure the box Remember each folder’s view settings is ticked. If this doesn’t help then your folder settings might be cor­rupted. To retrieve your folder settings launch REGEDIT and go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER → Software → Classes → LocalSettings → Software → Microsoft → Windows → Shell. Now delete the Bag key. Repeat the same process to erase the BagMRU key too. Then go to HKEY _ CUR­RENT _ USER → Software → Classes → LocalSettings → Microsoft → Windows → Shell and double ­click on BagMRU and set the decimal to10000. This will help ensure that Explorer remembers your folder settings in future.

This post is part of the series: Taming Windows Vista

There is an old saying that nothing is born perfect. Same goes with Vista too, as this new Windows isn’t perfect at all. Some drawbacks are easier to spot and can be fixed to provide ultimate perfection. In this series, I have tried to find out what Windows Vista lacks and how to fill these spaces.

  1. Taming Windows Vista - Poor Performance Tweaks
  2. Taming Windows Vista - Optimize Your Windows Interface
  3. Taming Windows Vista - Security Options
  4. Taming Windows Vista - Backup & Recovery Solutions
  5. Taming Windows Vista - Bundled Applications & Add-ons
  6. Taming Windows Vista - User Access Control
  7. Taming Windows Vista - Installing the Latest Windows Updates
  8. Taming Windows Vista - Restore, Monitor Management & More
  9. Taming Windows Vista - Media Burning, Remote Access & More
  10. Taming Windows Vista - Sample Registry Tweaks & More