The Redmond company even features a webpage dedicated to Microsoft Hardware products and Windows 7, advertising a match nothing short of the perfect marriage between peanut butter and jelly. More importantly, the Microsoft Hardware + Windows 7 page contains a collection of special offerings for customers. The software giant noted that the special deals on Microsoft were open to all customers.

Microsoft Hardware products including mice, keyboards, LifeCams, gaming devices and notebook accessories, all compatible with Windows 7, are also available at discount prices from a variety of online retailers including the Microsoft Store. The only exception to the Windows 7 compatible line-up of Microsoft Hardware items is the Fingerprint Reader, which does not play nice with the operating system, the company informed.

According to the software giant: “several Microsoft Hardware products make everyday tasks easier with the following features exclusive to Windows 7:

• Taskbar Favorites. Using many Microsoft keyboards, people can easily access their open programs by mapping keys to the location of applications on the improved Windows Taskbar. The icons in the Taskbar can be easily rearranged just by clicking and dragging, and Taskbar Favorites will instantly adapt to the icons’ new locations.

• Device Stage. Many Microsoft Hardware mouse and keyboard products will support Device Stage, a Windows 7 feature that gives customers quick and easy access to common tasks, including product information, registration, settings and more for popular device categories such as cell phones, cameras, printers, portable media players and input devices.

• Windows Flip. Many Microsoft mouse and keyboard users can easily see a thumbnail preview of all open windows with the press of a button. A full-screen preview of the application will automatically display, enabling the user to better identify and select the desired application.

• Windows Live Movie Maker and Windows Live Photo Gallery. LifeCam users will be able to do more with photos and movies. With Movie Maker they can start a movie project with one click, and then upload video to social networking sites. Photo Gallery access will enable them to easily upload a photo that they can edit, tag and share with friends and family.”

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John Hiddema, technical consultant for Nerds on Site, is one of the many people making a conscious effort to go green. He recycles, buys organic produce, uses cleaning products less harmful to the environment, owns energy-efficient appliances, and has configured his
PC to use less energy. He’s also going green on the job. Some of the work he does for clients’ computer systems can be done remotely from his home office, drastically reducing his need for a car.

Here are some tips for making your technology use more eco-friendly.

1. Manage power consumption

Did you know that approximately 40 percent of the energy used for home electronics is consumed while these devices are turned off or idling? Techies refer to computers and related gadgets that draw power while not in use as vampire load. Turn off and unplug everything when you’re not using it. Even simpler: shut down everything and then turn off the power bar.

“Turning off lights that aren’t in use just makes sense, right? Same thing for a computer you’re not using,” says Jeremy Kaplan, an executive editor of PC Magazine. Turn off your printer, scanner, and fax.

If you leave your computer on, set Power Options in the Control Panel to save energy. “Depending on the specific hardware, these options can reduce power usage dramatically, to the tune of 80 percent,” says Hiddema.

2. Use alternative power sources

Companies such as Solar Style and Sundance Solar offer a range of solar charger options for many battery-powered electronic gadgets, including your digital camera, MP3 player, cell phone, and laptop.

If you’re not ready to take your house off the grid, you can buy your electricity from an environmentally responsible provider. Bullfrog Power provides residents in Alberta and Ontario with renewable power from emission-free sources such as wind and low-impact water power. In the United States, Idaho Power has a Green Power Program that pools different sources of electric energy, including green sources.

3. Print smart

Using the printer-friendly option, available on many websites, can eliminate the printing of unwanted graphics or text.

Software applications, such as GreenPrint, make this process easier by automatically detecting unnecessary pages and eliminating them from your printouts. When you do print, use recycled paper and refillable ink cartridges in your printer.

4. Extend your PC’s life

If your PC is a few years old and you’re thinking of getting a new one, you may only need to upgrade some of its parts to keep it running at top capacity. You can safely upgrade many components such as the monitor, video or sound card, and hard drive, or you can add RAM to your existing PC.

Newer components are likely to be more eco-friendly. A liquid crystal display (LCD) monitor uses one-third the energy of a cathode ray tube (CRT) monitor and lasts twice as long.

You can also give an old PC new life by repurposing it.

- Install a TV tuner card and use the hard drive to record your favorite TV shows.

- Move the old PC to the cottage or let the kids use it for their homework.

- Set the machine up in the kitchen with Internet access and the old PC becomes an electronic cookbook that helps you search for and file new recipes.

5. Recycle your PC

Perhaps the greenest thing you can do is keep your computer out of the landfill. Approximately 70 percent of the heavy metals found in landfills emanate from electronics, and PCs (especially older ones) contain toxic chemicals such as lead, mercury, and polyvinyl chloride.

If your PC has reached the end of its lifecycle, a quick web search will help you find local, reputable recycling companies or charities that will take your hardware and find new uses for it. The Electronic Recycling Association, for example, collects old computers in five cities across Canada and donates them to local schools, charities, libraries, and other groups. In the United States, Recycles is a non-profit recycling exchange network that collects donations of old computers and helps distribute them to non-profit organizations within its network throughout the country.

You can also check with your PC’s manufacturer. A growing number of PC makers have recycling programs and will take back PCs at the end of their lives.

6. Buy responsibly

If you’ve decided it’s time to upgrade to a new PC, Hiddema advises reading the small print to see whether a manufacturer is following green practices in making the product or reducing its power consumption. There are various industry standards, and it can often be tricky to understand just how a particular model is more energy efficient or eco-friendly. EPEAT offers some help; it’s an independent online registry that lets you research and compare desktops and laptops of registered manufacturers based on an extensive list of environmental attributes.

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“After you install a Windows Vista service pack, you may experience one or more of the following problems with sound: no sound is produced when you play audio files or run programs that have an audio component. The speaker symbol next to the clock in the notification area may display the following message: No Audio Output Device is installed. The Sound Controller in Device Manager displays a yellow exclamation point. The sound quality changes. For example, if you previously had surround sound, you may now have stereo sound,” Microsoft explained.

KB948481 also describes a range of steps designed to let do-it-yourselfers manually troubleshoot and resolve any sound problems. At the same time, the software giant is also providing users with a list of audio drivers and devices that fail to play nice with Vista SP2. The Redmond company is pointing to KB948481 as a resource for beginners, and to KB971220 as a destination for more advanced users.

The company explained that the installation of Vista SP2 was synonymous with the updating of some system files and device drivers. A newer service pack can contain an older device driver, which, once deployed, can cause sound problems. Below you will be able to find a list provided by Microsoft with the audio drivers that have been identified as causing problems with Vista SP2.

Realtek AC’97
For x86-based computers: Alcxwdm.sys – version 6.0.1.6242 or earlier.
For x64-based computers: Alcwdm64.sys – version 6.0.1.6242 or earlier.

IDT/SigmaTel
For x86-based computers: Sthda.cat – published 12/17/07 or earlier.
For x64-based computers: Sthda64.cat – published 12/17/07 or earlier.

IDT/SigmaTel
For x86-based computers: Stwrt.cat – published 12/17/07 or earlier.
For x64-based computers: Stwrt64.cat – published 12/17/07 or earlier Exceptions for IDT/SigmaTel drivers were made on certain models of Dell, HP, and Sony computers because these drivers were updated to address this issue before the 12/17/07 publish date.

Creative Audigy
For x86-based and x64-based computers: P17.sys – versions earlier than 5.12.1.2004.

Conexant HD Audio
For x86-based computers: Chdart.sys – version 4.32.0.0 or earlier.
For x64-based computers: Chdart64.sys – version 4.32.0.0 or earlier.

Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 and Windows Vista Service Pack 2 – Five Language Standalone DVD ISO (KB948465) is available for download x86 or x64.

Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 and Windows Vista Service Pack 2 – Five Language Standalone (KB948465) is available for download x86 or x64.

Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 and Windows Vista Service Pack 2 – Five Language Standalone for x64-based systems (KB948465) is available for download x86 or x64.

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Without further ado, the System Requirements for Windows 7 are “1GHz or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor; 1 GB of RAM (32-bit)/2 GB of RAM (64-bit); 16 GB of available disk space (32-bit)/20 GB (64-bit); DirectX 9 graphics device with Windows Display Driver Model 1.0 or higher driver,” according to Microsoft.

The Redmond company emphasizes that the system requirements presented above represent the bare minimum required to run Windows 7. Want more performance from your Windows 7? Then you will simply have to add on top of the minimum hardware configuration required to run the operating system. Unlike Vista, Windows 7’s Windows Experience Index goes all the way up to 7.9, a score ready to reflect the horsepower of machines with multi-core processors, solid state disks, high-end graphics cards, and 4+ GB of system memory.

What is important to note is the fact that if the system requirements are good enough for the Release Candidate of Windows 7 they are good enough for the RTM. Microsoft will not change the minimum hardware configuration for Windows 7 between RC and release to manufacturing. At the same time, the system requirements presented are valid for all editions of Win7, be them low-end or high-end SKUs.

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Even though Windows 7 is essentially the evolution of Windows Vista, as the operating system is available in public Beta, users of the development milestone will inherently come across glitches, including hardware incompatibility problems. Furthermore, some Windows 7 Beta Build 7000 testers are bound to run into incompatibility issues even with Microsoft’s own hardware products, namely the peripherals that the company is building through its hardware division. However, the software giant already has software in place designed to make its hardware products play nice with Windows 7 Beta.

According to Microsoft, the Habu Laser Gaming Mouse and the Reclusa Gaming Keyboard do not have Beta software available for Windows 7 Beta. “Habu Laser Gaming Mouse will continue to have basic functionality without an additional software download. Reclusa Gaming Keyboard will continue to have basic functionality without an additional software download,” the company informed.

When it comes down to keyboards, the Windows 7 Beta testers will be able to access fresh Beta software releases, and will have to install IntelliType Pro 7.0 beta software in order to enjoy full, and not just basic, functionality for the hardware. Microsoft indicated that the Beta software will have to be installed separately for keyboards, even if the customers bought desktop sets.

“Microsoft is aware of the following known issues when using IntelliType Pro 7.0 beta with Windows 7 Beta:

- the magnifier feature might appear jittery when the lens is moved. When resizing the lens, the screen might flash black.
- complete device information might not be displayed in Devices and Printers in Windows 7 Beta.
- the Windows Live Call feature, which can be assigned to keyboard keys, might not start Windows Live Messenger.
- the My Favorites buttons might not start the assigned favorites immediately after assignment. WORKAROUND: Pressing the Legend (star) key might make the My Favorites key start the assigned application,” the software giant stated.

The Redmond company revealed that Microsoft mouse products would also require IntelliType Pro 7.0 beta in order to work seamlessly and with full functionality with Windows 7 Beta. Mouse products experience just the first couple of issues affecting the keyboards and noted above.

For Install LifeCam, Microsoft recommended that users install the software directly through the Setup program and not via drivers. Adjustments, including to Audio and Video settings for speakers, microphone and video can be tweaked via the Settings menu of the LifeCam Dashboard.

“Microsoft is aware of the following known issues when using the LifeCam beta software with the Windows 7 operating system beta.

- avermedia tuning cards may disrupt the video stream from your LifeCam.
- the Windows Live Messenger Call Button on the webcams does not work if Windows Live Messenger is already running.
- AMCap 2.0 does not work on Windows 7 Beta (AMCap 9.1 does work).
- the Post to Windows Live Spaces button does not work.
- the Audio and Video Tuning button in LifeCam does not work with Windows Live 9.0. Workaround: If you need to adjust your microphone or camera, use the Audio and Video setup in the Windows Live Messenger Tools menu,” Microsoft said.

LifeChat software with Windows 7 Beta can be brought up to full functionality by turning the headset off and then back on. This will resolve issues where the headsets no longer produce the ringing sound for calls, or no longer deliver music from Windows Media Player having debuted a call.

Beta software is also available for the SideWinder keyboard. Microsoft revealed that SideWinder is affected by the top three problems specific to the company’s keyboards, which are resolved via the installation of IntelliType Pro 7.0 beta software. SideWinder Mice and IntelliMouse Explorer 3.0 are also brought to full functionality with Beta software, resolving issues involving the magnifier and device info.

Although Microsoft is offering Beta software for both the Xbox 360 Wireless Controller for Windows and the Xbox 360 Controller for Windows, the company stated that it was not aware of any issues when it came down to the integration with Windows 7. For Wireless Notebook Presenter Mouse 8000 the company stated that IntelliPoint 7.0 beta software would bring full functionality of Windows 7 Beta.

At the same time, there are a range of hardware products that are not supported at all on Windows 7 Beta, including Fingerprint Readers, Presenter 3000, Remote Keyboard for Windows XP Media Center Edition and Remote Control and Receiver for the Media Center PC.

7 Beta is available for download here.

Download Microsoft hardware support Beta software for Windows 7 Beta:

Keyboard Products  Install IntelliType Pro 32-bit beta software

Keyboard Products  Install IntelliType Pro 64-bit beta software

Mouse Products – Install IntelliType Pro 32-bit beta software

Mouse Products – Install IntelliType Pro 64-bit beta software

Headset Products – Install IntelliPoint 32-bit beta software and Install IntelliPoint 64-bit beta software

Install LifeCam 32-bit and Install LifeCam 64-bit beta software

SideWinder Keyboard Install IntelliType Pro 32-bit beta software

SideWinder Keyboard Install IntelliType Pro 64-bit beta software

SideWinder Mice and IntelliMouse Explorer 3.0 Install IntelliPoint 32-bit beta software

SideWinder Mice and IntelliMouse Explorer 3.0 Install IntelliPoint 64-bit beta software

Xbox 360 Wireless Controller for Windows install 32-bit software

Xbox 360 Wireless Controller for Windows install 64-bit software

Xbox 360 Controller for Windows Install 32-bit software

Xbox 360 Controller for Windows Install 64-bit software

Wireless Notebook Presenter Mouse 8000 Install IntelliPoint 32-bit beta software

Wireless Notebook Presenter Mouse 8000 Install IntelliPoint 64-bit beta software

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While any array of powerful computers, such as a modern-day web server which consists of several motherboards (the main circuit board of a computer) running in parallel can be considered a supercomputer, generally the term is reserved for machines that dedicate their entire hardware to one complex task at any given time.

Take the NEC Earth Simulator in Japan, for example, which was created specifically for modelling weather problems associated with global warming. Or the world’s fastest computer, BlueGene/L at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the US, which simulates the behaviour of biomolecular structures and protein folding. It’s capable of 600 trillion FLOPS (tera-FLOPS or TFLOPS), whereas, the six-year-old Earth Simulator is only capable of 36TFLOPS. BlueGene/L won’t hold the top spot for long, though. Supercomputers twice as powerful will be online soon.

Even though you might not realise it, your Windows Vista PC isn’t all that far removed from the world’s most powerful computers. A modern CPU is only capable of 30 million FLOPS (giga-FLOPS) but supercomputers comprise large numbers of desktop components running in parallel for the greatest computational throughput. Here’s how to get closer to the supercomputer potential of your PC…

1. Go Quad-Core

A supercomputer is simply lots of standard CPUs running in unison, so add more CPUs by swapping a single or dual-core processor for a quad-core one. Underneath the big fan in the centre of your motherboard, a single clip holds the processor in place. It can easily be undone and a new chip slotted in.

The tricky part is making sure a new processor fits your motherboard. You can find this out by visiting the manufacturer’s website you may need to upgrade the BIOS for the latest chips.

You won’t notice a huge difference in games, but switching between desktop applications or watching movies will be speedier.

2. Speed up your graphics card

If you want faster frame rates in games, you could try overclocking your graphics card – making it run faster than the manufacturer originally specified. The first thing to do is find out what sort of graphics card you’re running. You can do this by right-clicking on the desktop and selecting Personalize > Display Settings. You should see a pull-down menu that says something like ‘Generic PnP Monitor on…’ – the text that follows tells you what your graphics hardware is.

If you have an Intel graphics accelerator, then your best option is to upgrade the card completely (see number 8). If your graphics hardware says ‘GeForce’ or ‘Radeon’, then the chances are you can overclock your card using utilities built into the drivers.

If it’s a GeForce card (made by NVIDIA), go to www.nvidia.com/object/ntune and download the nTune software. AMD cards(marked Radeon) have a utility called Overdrive in the Control Panel – both of these allow you to overclock your hardware.

Now right-click on the desktop and select the NVIDIA or AMD Control Panel option, then go to the nTune or Overdrive tabs on the left. You can change the clock speeds of your graphics processor and memory core, but beware the faster you go, the more chance there is that they’ll overheat and crash your system.

3. Fit more memory

Generally speaking, if you’ve got 1GB or less of system memory then the best way to speed up Windows Vista is to add more.

You can find out how much memory your PC has by going to Control Panel > System and Maintenance > Welcome Center. An overview of your hardware at the top of the window will include an amount of RAM (Random Access Memory). For the best performance in Windows Vista, you’ll need at least 2GB of RAM.

Adding RAM is easy it comes in long sticks, which simply plug into the sockets beside your CPU on the motherboard. You must get the right kind of RAM for your motherboard though most PCs use DDR2 – as the wrong kind won’t fit. Memory is rated by size (in GB) and speed (in MHz), and for the most benefit must be fitted in matched pairs (two sticks that are the same) in dual channel slots on the motherboard.

The slot pairings are usually colour coded, so you should make sure you put identical memory in the two blue slots or the two black slots, for example.

4. Switch to hi-def

Whether it’s a web download or Blu-ray movie, decoding high-definition video requires a lot of processing power, and if you’re getting choppy playback then your CPU is struggling.

Rather than replace your main processor, new AMD and NVIDIA graphics cards have built-in tools for taking the load off of the CPU during video playback. Look for either the GeForce 8xxx or Radeon HD ranges the lower end cards sell for less than £50 and have the same hardware tweaks for decoding HD video as the most expensive. They won’t be great for playing games, but should turn your PC into a super media centre.

5. Improve your cooling

When computer parts get hot, they run more slowly. And conversely, the faster they run, the hotter they get. If you’re going to be tweaking the clock speeds of your PC to speed it up, chances are you’ll need to improve the cooling inside your case. Even on a standard machine, you’d be surprised by how many crashes or lock-ups are due to undetected overheating.

The simplest way to improve cooling is to fit extra case fans. Quiet PC (www.quietpc.co.uk) has a selection of dampened fans that won’t cost much more than a tenner. These either clip on to or screw into spare spaces inside your case, or replace the fans you have. Normal case fans are 8cm in diameter, but larger fans move more air around and can spin more slowly – if your case will take them, consider upgrading to 12cm fans all round.

“The worst thing,” says Quiet PC’s Paul Lee, “is buying a shiny new CPU cooler only to find out that it doesn’t fit your motherboard. Here at Quiet PC we try to provide as much compatibility information as possible, and we’re only a phone call away.”

6. Speed up your processor

Perhaps the most extreme way to turn your PC into a supercomputer is to overclock it. Simply put, this means increasing the clock speeds of various components beyond the manufacturers’ original settings. It’s not as dangerous as you might think, though: many motherboards are guaranteed to run at enhanced speeds, and today’s processors are very robust when it comes to accelerating them.

The speed of a CPU is derived from a multiple of either the Front Side Bus on an Intel system, or of the Hypertransport clock in an AMD one. The easiest way to overclock your processor is to increase these base speeds. Many motherboards come with a Windows Vista utility for this Asus AI is a good example. If you don’t have a piece of software, though, you’ll need to make some BIOS changes. See tinyurl.com/2tyljj for how to do this.

7. Free up system resources

The more programs you try to run at any one time, the slower your computer will be. There are many programs that run in the background all the time and these aren’t immediately apparent on your desktop. Some of them are essential to the operation of Windows Vista, but many especially third-party ones – are not. “No matter how fast or shiny computers are when they’re new,” says Microsoft’s official advice page at tinyurl.com/29t5am, “they all seem to get slower over time.” To free the supercomputer within, you’ll need to pare these background programs back to a minimum. Start Windows Defender (Control Panel > Programs > Windows Defender) and select Tools > Software Explorer. This application will let you prevent services loading when the PC boots – simply disable those you don’t need. If you turn one off and your PC starts having problems, simply turn it back on again in the same screen.

8. Upgrade your graphics card

“If you require more frames per second from a game,” says Paul Lee from Quiet PC, “then upgrading the graphics card is your best option.” If your processor is less than a year old, it’s probably OK with modern game engines. Many new PCs, though, are sold with low-end graphics cards.

Have a look at the Windows Experience Index for your PC. Are the graphics scoring low? For less than £150 you can buy a top-notch GeForce 8800GT or Radeon HD3870 3D card with 512MB of memory. This fits into the long PCI Express x16 slot on your motherboard. It’s usually the top expansion port below the CPU fan. Fitting a new graphics card is easy: check out our guide at tinyurl.com/27ek5r.

9. Enable advanced hard drive performance

Increase the speed at which your hard drive loads program data to the system memory with one simple tweak but be warned, it does mean disabling certain settings that store information. If your PC crashes, you’re at more risk of losing data than if it crashes normally.

Open the Control Panel and navigate to System and Maintenance > System and choose Device Manager. Click on the plus sign next to Disk Drives, and select your hard drive. Right-click on it and choose Properties.

Under the Policies tab, you’ll find a check box for Enable Advanced Performance. Turn this on and click OK.

10. Join the grid

If you decide you can’t turn your own PC into a supercomputer, why not turn it into a small part of a much, much bigger one? There are several ‘grid’ computing initiatives which take the time your PC sits idle and puts it to good use, working on calculations for cancer research or analysing radio waves from outer space.

The most popular way to do this is to sign up for BOINC (Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing). At any one time, BOINC routines can have enough computers contributing to break the 1,000TFLOPS, or penta-FLOPS, barrier. To offer your computer’s services, download the software from boinc.berkeley.edu and choose which projects you’d like your PC to contribute to. While the screen saver runs you could be fighting climate change or simulating the effectiveness of anti-malaria drugs.

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1. Open Device Manager.

for Windows Vista

Click Start » click Control Panel » click System and Maintenance » clickDevice Manager

for Windows XP

Click Start » click Control Panel » double-click the System icon » click the Hardware tab » click Device Manager

for Windows 2000

Click the Start button » click Settings » click Control Panel » double-click the System icon » click the Hardware tab » click Device Manager

for Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition (SE), and Windows Millennium Edition* (Me)

Click the Start button » click Settings » click Control Panel » double-click the System icon » click the Device Manager tab

2. Expand the System devices entry.

3. Look for the chipset name in a a string similar to the following: “Intel® 955X Processor to I/O Controller – 2774″ In this example, the chipset is an Intel® 955X Express Chipset.

If the other options listed do not provide the necessary information, a qualified professional may be able to assist you in determining the chipset included in your system; they should be able to properly identify the chipset while taking all necessary precautions to safeguard your system. (If you choose to take your system to a qualified professional, you will be responsible for all associated costs).

This section is for qualified and trained professionals only. Please do not follow the instructions listed below unless you are a qualified and trained professional. Only qualified and trained professionals should open a computer system.

Identifying the Intel® chipset components located in your computer can usually be done by looking at the chipset markings on the motherboard. Chipsets are comprised of multiple components and the following link shows the combinations that make up the various chipsets.

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As far as consumer trends are concerned, there is a palpable shift from traditional desktops to laptops, and Microsoft is not only delivering Windows Vista, an operating system tailored to a mobile lifestyle, but it is also prepared to offer guidance on the acquisition of a new computer. From the Windows Guide library, the Redmond company has made available for download the Windows Laptop Selector Buying Basics.

“GHz? MBs? SDRAM? You don’t have to speak nerd to find a great laptop. Our Buying Basics makes it simple and straightforward to understand what you need to know when looking for your next PC,” reads an excerpt from the guide. Of course that the decision to buy a new machine orbits around money. “Many people see price as the biggest factor when buying a PC. A bargain-basement price may seem tempting now, but will it give you the laptop you want for the long haul? Technology changes rapidly and even if you spend less today, you might end up paying more tomorrow just to keep up with new software.”

Microsoft offers a comprehensive breakdown of what users should expect their machine to do, in accordance with a range of prices from $500 to over $3,500. But in addition to price, Microsoft is offering advice on aspects such as weight, speed, storage, screen size, ports, video and graphics, CD/DVD and even operating system. As far as the platform is concerned, all that Microsoft recommends is Windows Vista. However, that is understandable, now that Windows XP’s availability through the retail and OEM channels was discontinued at the end of June 2008, and Vista’s precursor is only available on ultra-low-cost desktops and laptops, from system builders and via downgrade rights.

Download the Windows Laptop Selector Buying Basics.

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In previous guides we have looked at improving your system’s performance by simply removing unwanted programs. The next area we want to understand is the impact your hard drive and graphics card have on your system.

Before we start examining your computer, we need to see what Windows Vista believes is possible from the system when it’s working at its best. Searching for ‘Performance’ in Start Search should lead you to the Performance Information and Tools analysis of your system. If any numbers are low, then you may wish to consider looking at these areas for replacement. My laptop has a lowest rating of 4.3, which is more than adequate, but should one number be low compared to the rest, I would consider replacing that element. If your computer is running low on RAM, for example, it will use the hard drive as an extension of memory, but this deals a fatal blow to your computer’s performance because the hard drive can be 1,000 times slower than memory. In my experience, a Windows Vista PC with just 1GB of memory will struggle unless your system is only lightly used.

Other hard drive problems can be caused by fragmented files. To see if your computer is suffering from this, fire up the Reliability and Performance Monitor. While this is very useful to explore, we will concentrate on the Disk section. If you open this and sort by Response Time, you can see how long some of your disk operations take. The higher the number here, the more your hard drive is being stretched. Should you see numbers above 500ms (0.5 seconds), you need to defragment your drive or add more memory.

You can use Task Managerto look for processes that use up a lot of your CPU’s processing power. Sometimes a disk-intensive process will show light processor usage in Task Manager, while slowing the system down through intensive hard drive access, so you need to check both tools to understand what is slowing your system down. Use Task Manager to identify any programs that are doing this. This will either point to a need to defragment the hard drive or add more memory. If this file is the Pagefile.sys file, then it is a strong probability that more memory is needed. The need for programs to access the hard drive will never go away, but a slow system with a constantly illuminated drive light always points to too much hard disk usage.

Once we have tuned the most common areas of the system, we then move on to an area that Windows Vista has stretched far more than Windows XP – the graphics card. While previously the graphics card was only stretched with gaming, it is used extensively by the Windows Aero graphics and now needs to be examined. Aero graphics hit the computer in two areas – memory and GPU (graphics processing unit) performance. To see how much memory is being demanded by Aero, look at Task Manager and search for the process dwm.exe – the memory used by this process is the memory used for Aero. Aero can also cause problems with the PC’s ability to render the screen in a timely process.

There are two tests you can take to see if the graphics card is holding back your system. The first is to switch off the full Aero experience in Windows Color and Appearence. Click on the link to open the Classic appearence properties and select Windows Vista Basic. If this makes your computer more responsive, then your graphics card is causing a problem.

The second test is to run a winsat command that stresses your system and checks to see that it runs adequately. A sample command might be ‘winsat d3d -totalobj 20 -objs C(20) -totaltex 10 -texpobj C(1) -alushader -v -width 1000 -height 750′, with the width and height numbers being adjusted to something close to your screen settings. If this is jerky, then again your graphics card is showing itself as not being great for Windows Vista.

Extreme performance analysis tools
Use the most detailed analysis tools to diagnose performance issues.

1. PERFORMANCE TOOLKIT Download and install the Windows Performance Toolkit from snipurl.com/281w4 to enable the tools that hardware providers and engineers use to diagnose deep system issues.

2. TRACING CHARACTERISTICS You need to start a trace. Begin with the command “xperf -on DiagEasy -f\trace.etl” which needs to be run from a command prompt that was started as an Administrator. Now do the things that cause your system to underperform.

3. STOP TRACE While the trace was running, you will have collected a number of statistics on your system while it was not performing as desired. You now need to stop the trace with the command “xperf-d \ final_trace.etl”, from the same command prompt as before.

4. PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS The final trace file can now be loaded and examined. You will notice that the initial screen shows all the activity that was taking place on your system.

5. EXPLORE PROBLEM AREAS Now the detective work comes in. When you see a place with lots of disk or CPU activity, hover your mouse over it to see what caused it. For a more detailed view, select a region and choose Zoom or Details from the menu.

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1- Weight
The lighter the laptop, the easier it is to move around. Prices usually have an inverse relationship with the weight of a laptop. Hence the lightest of laptops will almost (always) cost more than the heaviest ones.

Another relationship is the features of a laptop which would affect the weight of the laptop, which can be if it has a powerful graphics card, or a larger screen etc. The laptop will end up being comparatively heavier and more expensive. So keep a look out for that.

2- Power Consumption
Battery life is critical for users who are on the go. On an average workload, a regular low budget laptop would easily give you 2.5 to 3 hours of battery time. A fairly good machine would easily clock in 4 hours.

These are battery times for regular 6-cell batteries and 9-cell batteries have longer backup times. However, power consumption varies from manufacturer to manufacturer and model to model. Additional features usually result in a powerful drain on battery supply. If you are mostly mobile, power consumption becomes a critical factor to consider.

3- Processing Power
Laptops are almost more expensive than a desktop with similar specifications and so, it is essential to opt for a level of processing power that matches your current and near future needs.

For office work only, an entry-level processor such as the single core Celeron is more than enough. For multimedia enthusiasts and power users, a Core 2 duo or equivalent processor is recommended.

4- Warranty
Locally manufactured laptops usually have a sound local warranty that can span over a time period of a year and beyond. International warranties allow one to take a laptop to any country and in case of trouble, hand it to the sales and support outlet there for repair.

Most warranties allow non-physically damaged laptops to be repaired or replaced free of cost in the first year and cover parts and repairs in the following years at an approximate cost to the customer.

5- Operating System
For most users, the operating system (OS) plays a very important role. If one opts for Windows Vista, the laptop is likely to be more expensive mostly because the OS requires the latest hardware.

Of course, it is a feature rich operating environment but that is the price one pays for the latest and the greatest. Other than that, a user can choose from Linux, Windows XP and Mac OS X.

6- Brand Matters
It is easy to choose unbranded systems for the sake of lower prices but that does not necessarily mean that one would get much value or quality. Most no-name companies have a lack of spare parts, precarious warranties and unstable configurations.

Make sure that you have read enough reviews and are sure about the quality of the manufacturer before you make a purchase decision

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