Windows Vista Security: Praxisorientierte Sicherheit für Profis

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Chapter 3: Fine-Tuning Windows Vista’s Appearance and Performance

4. Click Advanced Settings.

5. On the Adapter tab, click Properties.

6. In the Driver tab, click Update Driver. This starts the Update Driver Software

Wizard.

7. Click “Browse my computer for driver software.”

8. Click Browse to select a search location. Use the Browse for Folder dialog box to

select the start folder for the search, and then click OK. Because Windows Vista

searches all subfolders of the selected folder automatically, you can select the

drive root path, such as C, to search an entire drive.

9. Click Next. Click Close when the driver installation is completed.

Optimizing Performance

In addition to the previously discussed features, you can fine-tune your computer’s

performance by setting these performance options:

• Visual effects

• Application performance

• Virtual memory

• Memory protection

• ReadyBoost

The sections that follow discuss each performance option in turn.

Fine-Tuning Visual Effects

The Windows Vista interface has many graphical enhancements including visual

effects for menus, toolbars, windows, and the taskbar. Because displaying these

visual effects can require substantial system resources, Windows Vista lets you opti-

mize the way visual effects are used. You can optimize for appearance or for perfor-

mance. You can also customize the settings or let Windows Vista choose the best

configuration.

The visual effects available are:

• Animate controls and elements inside windows

• Animate windows when minimizing and maximizing

• Enable desktop composition

• Enable transparent glass

• Fade or slide menus into view

Optimizing Performance

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• Fade or slide ToolTips into view

• Fade out menu items after clicking

• Show preview and filters in folder

• Show shadows under menus

• Show shadows under mouse pointer

• Show thumbnails instead of icons

• Show translucent selection rectangle

• Show window contents while dragging

• Slide open combo boxes

• Slide taskbar buttons

• Smooth edges of screen fonts

• Smooth-scroll list boxes

• Use a background image for each folder type

• Use drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop

• Use visual styles on windows and buttons

You can configure Windows performance by completing the following steps:

1. Click Start and then click Control Panel.

2. In the Control Panel, click the System and Maintenance category heading link.

3. Click Performance Information and Tools.

4. Under Tasks, click “Adjust visual effects.” This opens the Performance Options

dialog box shown in Figure 3-20.

5. On the Visual Effects tab, you have the following options for controlling visual

effects:

Let Windows choose what’s best for my computer

Enables the operating system to choose the performance options based on

the hardware configuration. For a newer computer, this option will proba-

bly be identical to the “Adjust for best appearance” option because of its

hardware and performance capabilities.

Adjust for best appearance

Enables all visual effects for all graphical interfaces.

Adjust for best performance

Disables all visual effects.

Custom

Allows you to enable or disable the visual effects options individually.

6. Click OK to apply your settings.