Windows Vista PC is too slow

1.) In System Preferences > System > Advances Settings
- Turn off graphical gimmicks
- Set a manual, fixed size of virtual memory to a value of about 2 * size of RAM. This reduces disk fragmentation.

2.) In System Preferences > Power: configure the laptop for maximum performance

3.) In System Preferences > Graphics: Turn colors down to 16 bit to take load off video card.

4.) Leave the laptop turned on for a few hours without doing anything. It will download all the updates, once they are installed, it will leave you alone and run much smoother

5.) Start > Run > "msconfig", turn off startup programs that are not required (e.g. itunes, laptop-manufacturer-nagging-tools, java updater, etc.). Turn off services that are not required (hard too find!)