Several Easy Steps to Boost Your Computer's Speed

Step 22 Windows Vista ReadyBoost

One of the best ways you can speed up Windows Vista is with ReadyBoost. This is basically a fast USB thumb drive Vista uses as some extra "RAM" for the operating system functions. You need a minimum of a 2GB stick in order to notice any kind of speed bump, but if you use a 4GB USB drive you'll get even better performance.

NOTE: This isn't like adding 4GB of RAM because this isn't real RAM, but it does help.

Some things to keep in mind:
You can get a severe bandwidth bottleneck due to it using the USB port.
It will also increase the wear on the flash drive, which will cause it to fail sooner.
What this means? Test it out, see if it helps. Buy a flash drive dedicated for this; don't lose important files because the drive fails.


An option to configure your USB drive for ReadyBoost is typically available as soon as you stick the drive in a USB slot.



If you don't see the AutoPlay menu pop up, you can access the setup by right-clicking the drive in Windows Explorer, choosing Properties, and clicking on the ReadyBoost tab.



Set the option to Use this device and either accept the Windows recommended default or use the entire thumb drive. You won't be able to use this drive for storing anything, but the speed boost is well worth using the drive for ReadyBoost. If you need a thumb drive for storage, go buy a second drive.

A few things to keep in mind - you need a USB 2.0 thumb drive for ReadyBoost to work and you also need a thumb drive rated for ReadyBoost. The easiest way to verify this second criterion is to buy a ReadyBoost certified thumb drive from SanDisk or one of the other thumb drive manufacturers. You're not limited to using thumb drives - a Compact Flash, SD, or other removable memory device will also work.

Comments

[grundisimo]

So what would happen if i plugged my 500 GB external drive in???

[Tommy8754]

I have a few questions on this, first can you have files on it to use readyboost and second, if you unplug it will it make your computer do the funky chicken or something of that nature? I'm asking this because I have a laptop and I actually use it as a LAP top

[dude111115]

Hey dude! you can use ready boost on xp too! except it isnt a named program and it can only be done on Hard Disk Drives. its called a system paging file ( i used 60gb of my hard drive as RAM in this and now my computer is never slow, i can use as much RAM as i want, even over the 1gb of normal RAM, and it wont slow down ) you should add this, heres how you do this. go into control panel>Maintenence>System>advanced tab>the first settings button>advanced tab>click change on bottom. then when teh new window open, click enable and custom size and type in first the minimum page file size and maximum ( it reads it in Mb ) i put 60,000 so my computer is REALLY fast now. ( i have an old Emachines from January 2005.)

[lukethebook333]

I added a step, let me know if you can think of anything else that I could include! Still working on the screen shots, they should be coming soon. Where did you find out about this?

[dude111115]

haha, i have an old outdated January of 2005 Emachines dude, i did everything i could to make it faster, lol.

[lukethebook333]

Thanks for your idea! The step is finished.

[dude111115]

I hope you enjoy your instructable. if i can remember any other ways i've done to my computer then i will tell you.

[Coffee bean]

it should be noted it isnt like adding 4GB of real RAM because this isnt real RAM. but it does help

[lukethebook333]

I made a note, thanks for your input!