I saw this 14 Page PDF document on the official Microsoft Download Center.

It is well written and would be an ideal introduction to for someone looking at getting better Windows Vista performance.

The topics included are:

• Power Settings on Mobile Computers
• Disable Visual Effects
• Adjust Search Settings
• Use Hardware to Boost Performance
• Make Your Computer Start Faster
• Put Your Computer to Sleep
• Disable Unwanted Start-up Programs
• Remove Unused Programs
• Disable Unwanted Services
• Improving Performance on User Account Control
• Making Your Computer More Reliable
• Defrag Your Disk
• Monitor Your Performance
• Check the Windows Vista Experience Index
• Check Performance with Task Manager
• Using Resource Monitor

Link:

 http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=ab377598-a637-432c-a3c8-1607ab629201&displaylang=en&tm

Bill Veghte a Senior Vice President of Microsoft has written and released a document explaining the Windows roadmap.

It doesn’t reveal anything that new but would be a good read for a small business owner trying to make sense of what is happening with Windows.

The documents covers:-

•The Future of Windows XP
•Important Progress with Windows Vista
•Compatibility
•Quality and performance improvements to Windows Vista with Service Pack 1
•Beyond Windows Vista

Link: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/letter.mspx

This update released yesterday addresses a number of areas.

From the support documentation:

This update improves the performance, responsiveness, and reliability of Windows Vista in various scenarios. This update includes the following improvements on a Windows Vista SP1-based computer:

•This update improves the stability of Windows Vista SP1-based computers by addressing some crashes that may occur when you try to check e-mail by using a POP3 e-mail client such as Windows Mail or Mozilla Thunderbird. The crashes may occur on a Windows Vista SP1-based computer in the following scenario:

•Incoming POP3 and outgoing SMTP traffic monitoring is enabled.

•Both a third-party antivirus application and an antispyware application are installed, such as the following applications:

•ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite by Check Point Software Technologies Ltd.

•SpySweeper by Webroot Software, Inc.

•This update improves the reliability of the Windows Vista SP1 based-computers by addressing some problems that occur when you delete user accounts by using the User Accounts item in Control Panel. When this problem occurs, the system may stop responding (hang).

•This update improves the reliability of Windows Vista SP1-based computers that experience issues in which large applications cannot run after the computer is turned on for extended periods of time. For example, when you try to start Excel 2007 after the computer is turned on for extended periods of time, a user may receive an error message that resembles the following:

EXCEL.EXE is not a valid Win32 application

•This update improves the reliability of Windows Vista SP1-based computers by reducing the number of crashes that may be caused by the Apple QuickTime thumbnail preview in Windows Live Photo Gallery.

•This update improves the performance of Windows Vista SP1-based computers by reducing audio and video (AV) stuttering. Such AV stuttering may occur when the audio or video component is streaming high definition content from a Windows Vista SP1-based computer that has a NVIDIA network adapter nForce driver version 67.5.4.0 that is installed to a Windows Media Center Extender device.

Link: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=952709

A post on their Direct 2 Dell site from of Friday 6th of June Confirms it.

Vista Service Pack 1 has been officially released since March and is currently roaming the wilds of computers across the globe and Dell is currently shipping it on Vista systems worldwide (for systems using English, French, German, Japanese and Spanish languages with additional languages expected to ship as they become available in the future) .

Link: Vista SP1

Note: I received a Laptop that shipped this week and the box contained a Windows Vista SP1 re-install DVD but the computer itself had the original Windows Vista RTM installed.

Tip: The Dell media unlike other Windows Vista DVD Media is only for the supplied version of Windows Vista you purchased with your hardware.

So a Dell DVD for Windows Vista Business SP1 could not be used to install Widows Vista Home Premium SP1.

Activation

Tip: The good news is the Windows Vista SP1 DVD media is pre activated. So if you do have to re-install you don’t have additional product activation hoops to jump through.

Microsoft have updated their How-to guide for tweaking the performance of Windows Vista.

Almost all of it is just common sense and reading the list most of their suggestions apply to earlier versions of Windows as well.

•Delete programs you never use
•Limit how many programs load at startup
•Defragment your hard drive
•Clean up your hard disk
•Run fewer programs at the same time
•Turn off visual effects
•Try restarting if there’s a problem
•Add more memory
•Check for viruses and spyware
•Check your computer’s speed
•Disable services you don’t need
•Check for updates from the manufacturer

So if Vista performance is getting you down check out the link below.

Link: Optimize Windows Vista for better performance