Windows VISTA and XP - Tweak Guides

For those of you who wish to know Windows Vista or XP in depth and have the desire to tweak the system in detail, I can strongly recommend the Tweaking Companion Guides by Koroush Ghazi.

I am yet to find more structured and useful guides than these. They cover just about anything the new or advanced user would need.

The difference between these downloadable guides (which are in PDF format) and the many Tweaking threads on NBR, is that the Tweaking Companion Guides are much more comprehensive and IMO much more structured.

I personally find the guides to be excellent. It's a long read if one wants to go through the whole guide - 248 pages for the Vista Guide and 173 for the XP Guide. However, I doubt most readers will do so. I personally use them whenever I want to make something more speedy or efficient in both Vista and XP - by searching for the topic. With the clickable index links and the search function in Adobe Acrobat Reader, I find it very easy to find my way around very quickly.

And the best thing is that these guides are absolutely FREE! In fact, on the www.tweakguides.com website you will be able to find many guides about many popular games as well.

In any event, I highly recommend people to download these guides and take a look for yourselves. It should be added that I in no way, shape or form, am associated with TweakGuides.com. Just wanted to share some very useful and IMO valuable information which I have benefitted alot from.


Here is the download link to the two guides:

http://www.tweakguides.com/TGTC.html

Scroll down a few lines until you see the download buttons.

Prepare to be enlightened

 

Hey thanks for sharing this with us. rep+

 

For Vista, I'm sure anyone would agree with me when I say that Flamenko's guide on tweaking Vista is the best out there, bar none. As far as XP, I haven't come across a good, comprehensive guide for tweaking.

 

Agreed. 10 char

 

This is not a competition or a comparison.

I think Flamenko has done a very good job of collecting some valid and well known Vista tweaks from NBR members and the Internet. I contributed myself with the "Fast shutdown" and "System restore size" tweak myself in his thread which reminded him to post them.

But saying that it is the best Vista guide out there is far fetched. It is a fairly subjective collection of tweaks based on what a group of people know about or have heard about. I am not putting Flamenko's guide down. As I said I find it to be a good guide. The good thing about his guide is that it is manageable for most normal users. But there are many more useful tweaks out there which have not been included.

In any event, comparing i.e. Flamenkos guide with the 250 page Vista Tweaking Companion which describes how you can tweak and understand just about every aspect of Windows Vista (including those which would be too detailed for many normal users), is just not a relevant/valid comparison. The Tweaking Companion is just as much a lesson in Vista functions as it is a tweaking guide. Yet, you will find many of the same tweaks as you do in tweak guides around the Internet, including the ones on NBR. Regardless, keep in mind that tweaks are not only about speed, but also reliability and convenience. The tweaking companion does a good job of assisting in those areas as well.

The main thing that the Tweaking Companions are missing, are screenshots to better illustrate. There is another version of the guides which are not free but include better illustrations. But regardless, since it is free, I can't complain.

Long story short: I suggest you download and read it (or at least make searches in the document) before making quick assumptions or comparisons.

If you still don't like the guides, I cannot/will not persuade you further. At the end of the day, I am offering some help/information to people. Nothing more, nothing less.

 

Very nice!

 

And I would suggest....if I may again.... that if any great tweaks were missed, please pm me and I will add them to the thread.

I would love to find further tweaks or tips of that calibre to add to that guide.