Prevent Windows Update From Automatically Restarting Your PC

Windows Update's automatic reboot can be one of the most annoying "features" in Microsoft operating systems. While it's a bit less pushy with Windows Vista and 7, allowing users to postpone the restart for up to four hours, you may not be at the computer to intercept the first or subsequent notifications.

In many cases this isn't a major deal. However, it can be frustrating if you step away from a work session and come back to a freshly rebooted system. You might also be downloading a large file or letting a lengthy operation run while away from your PC, expecting it to be finished upon return.

Fortunately there are various workarounds available. Today we will mention a few that have been tested to work in XP, Vista and Windows 7 systems.

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Windows 7 seems be becoming hot topic of discussion ever since it was previewed at PDC 2008. There are lots of themes, wallpapers, taskbars etc being created based on Windows 7 for Windows Vista. We had previously covered Windows 7 themes, wallpapers and boot screen for Vista. This post covers resources required to transform your Windows Vista to the look and feel of Windows 7.

1. Windows 7 Theme:



Download Windows 7 Theme

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Make Your Windows Vista Super Fast

So you are using Windows Vista and feel that its slower than Windows XP? Then you have come to the right place.

Following tutorial will help you in tweaking your Windows Vista to the max and you'll feel a significant improvement in your system performance. So without wasting any time lets start:

1. Following is a registry file containing a few registry modifications, which are completely safe and can increase the performance of Windows Vista. Just download the attached ZIP file, extract it and then run the file:

Tweak Windows Vista

Restore Default Settings (Use this file if you want to restore default Windows settings)

2. Right-click on My Computer icon on Desktop and select Properties (or press <WIN> key + <Pause/Break> key), click on Advanced system settings link in left side pane (You can also open it by typing sysdm.cpl in RUN or start menu search box and press Enter). Now click on Settings button in Performance section:

Now disable all unnecessary options in Visual Effects tab, you can remain following options enabled according to your requirements:

• Enable desktop composition (If you want to use Windows Aero theme)
• Enable transparent glass (If you want to use transparency in Windows)
• Show preview and filters in folder (If you use Details Pane in Explorer)
• Show thumbnails instead of icons (If you want to show thumbnails in Explorer)
• Show window contents while dragging (If you want windows to show content while moving them)
• Smooth edges of screen fonts (If you want to show smooth fonts)
• Use drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop (If you want to show shadows under desktop icon labels)
• Use visual styles on windows and buttons (If you want to use Windows Aero or Basic theme.)

3. Open Folder Options and click on View tab:

Now disable following options:

• Display file size information in folder tips.
• Display simple folder view in Navigation pane.
• Hide extensions for known file types.
• Show encrypted or compressed NTFS files in color.
• Show pop-up description for folder and desktop items.

Other options don't affect the system performance. You can enable/disable them according to your requirements.

4. Right-click on My Computer icon on Desktop and select Manage (You can also open it by typing services.msc in RUN or start menu search box and press Enter).

Now goto Services & Applications -> Services. Here you can set a few unnecessary services to Manual, which will not start with windows and will decrease the boot time and will increase system performance.

Please follow the following tutorial to know about which services can be safely set to MANUAL:

Windows Vista Services that can be Safely set to MANUAL

5. Type msconfig in RUN or Startmenu search box and press Enter. Now goto Startup tab and deselect the unnecessary entries, which you don't want to start automatically with Windows, e.g. you can disable VGA driver utility, Sound Card utility, etc to speed up the startup time and to increase system performance.

You can also disable these items using Windows Defender. Open Windows Defender and click on Tools and then click on "Software Explorer".

6. Open Sound in Control Panel (or type mmsys.cpl in RUN or Startmenu search box and press Enter), goto Sounds tab and select No Sounds in Sound Scheme section. Or you can remain some of your favorite sounds but set Exit Windows, Windows Logoff, Windows Logon and Start Navigation to (None).

7. After following all above mentioned points, you'll see a big improvement in your Windows Vista performance. If you want to tweak more, then you can use 3rd party tools which are listed here:

Windows Vista Tweaking Software List

8. At last I'll advise to defrag the HDD regularly, install only necessary software, use the latest drivers and keep your Windows updated.