Quick overview:
Even when freshly installed, Windows Vista is a real resource hog: Microsoft's new operating system requires between 8 and 12 GB of memory on your hard disk by default. Thanks to dozens of services and programs that are constantly active in the background, system resources are not exactly used sparingly either. With these instructions, you can remove superfluous junk from your Vista DVD and shrink it down to 700 MB! Sounds good? Read more! [By Sandro Villinger]
Who really needs all of Microsoft's services and programs? Why do you need thousands of printer drivers if you don't have a printer? Why do you need Movie Maker, DVD Maker, Media Center or snipping tools if you don't use them? Why does Vista install speech recognition when you wouldn't use it? All of these components take up hard disk space and system resources that bring your computer's performance to its knees. Of course, startup and shutdown also suffer, as both can take ages. In this article, you will learn how to reduce a 2.4 GB Vista setup DVD down to 700 MB. And this is how it works:
- Hold the Windows Vista Setup DVD and a DVD blank ready. First insert the setup DVD into the drive. Now open My Computer (or "Computer" for Windows Vista) and copy the complete contents of the DVD to a folder on the hard disk. Name this folder (for example) "Vista DVD". This is what it looks like in the end:
- Now download the program "vLite" from this website download. Start the installation by double-clicking on "vLite-1.1.beta.installer.exe" button. Then open "vLite".
- First click on "Language" and select "German" if you are not familiar with the English designations. Now you need to load the copied Vista DVD into vLite. To do this, click on the "Browse". The window "Search folder", where you can choose "C:Vista DVD" decide.
- Now confirm with "OK". Now select the desired version, e.g. "Windows Vista HOMEPREMIUM". Please note that you will also have to enter a corresponding product key (serial number) for the respective version later on. This means that, for example, as the owner of the "Home Premium" edition cannot activate an Ultimate version.
- After a few seconds, the relevant version information appears:
- Click now on "Next". Place a tick in front of each option in the function selection or click on "All". This allows you to influence every possible aspect of the Vista DVD. Then confirm again with "Next".
- In the next window, you have the option of including some hotfixes (updates) in the installation. You can find many updates through the so-called "Windows Update Downloader", which you can download from the http://wud.jcarle.com/ can download. You can also download various updates directly from the Microsoft Download Center if you know their so-called "KB" number. You can find a very large list of hotfixes on the website http://thehotfixshare.net/board/index.php?s=66c187e7ae21ed10f72ca5067ad77360&showtopic=91. There you can download the hotfixes directly or from the hotfix server. For example, such a hotfix has the file name "Windows6.0-KB935551-v2-x86.msu". In vLite, click on "Activate" and select "Add". Now look for the corresponding .MSU files!
- You can change the
You can also add various drivers for your devices (e.g. graphics card, sound card). However, this only works if you have the drivers in unpacked form. In most cases, however, manufacturers (e.g. nVidia) only offer drivers in ".exe" form such as "163.67_forceware_winvista_32bit_english_beta.exe" to do this. In the specific example of graphics card drivers, you can also use the page www.guru3d.com and download the self-extracting archive there. Very important: The ".inf" file of the driver must be visible! Example:
- Click on "Next". NOW you are in the main part of "vLite". First decide in the window that appears "Compatibility" which functions you need.
- "Aero glass" is the 3D interface of Windows Vista. This takes up a lot of performance, especially on weak computers. So if you do not use the interface but prefer the classic design, you can uncheck the "Aero glass" to be omitted. Since "Internet Explorer" is necessary for a variety of applications and of course for browsing the web, we recommend that you check this box. If you do not operate your own server, you can also leave out "Internet Information Services" with peace of mind. "Scanners and cameras", the setup and image copying wizards describe the corresponding devices. Of course, you can still connect and use scanners and cameras! If you do not have a fax or scanner, you can also use the program "Windows Fax and Scan" right away. The "Windows Performance Index" checks your computer and rates it on a scale from 1 to 5.9. If you don't need this and you know your PC's data well, we also recommend "Windows performance index" to deactivate it.
- Under
select which programs or games you want to use with this Windows installation. vLite will not offer to remove any components that are necessary for the selected entries. When you are finished, click 
. - You will now see 9 different categories such as "Services", "Multimedia" and "Games". The following tables now describe each individual entry and help you to decide whether you need the respective component or not. If you require a component such as
you simply need to place a tick in front of it (as shown in the screenshot). In addition to our descriptions, you will always find a short description text in the right-hand column of vLite.
You can also see in the description how much storage space you can save by removing it. And now you can go through the tables step by step and decide: Do I really need this?
Remove "Services"
| Application experience | Offers the so-called "compatibility mode", which you can apply by right-clicking on a shortcut or .exe file. This allows a large number of older (Vista-incompatible) applications to work. |
| Computer Browser | Is only required in conjunction with a network domain and makes the shares available there. |
| Desktop Window Manager | Is responsible for displaying the 3D interface and the fancy animations in Windows Vista. If you prefer a classic look (Windows 2000 look), you can also check the box here and deactivate DWM. |
| Diagnosis | Checks your computer for problems and carries out memory tests or network repairs, for example. |
| Distributed Link Tracking Client | Tracks NTFS shortcuts on the network. Is generally not necessary for home network use. |
| Error reporting | Allows you to send information about crashes or error messages to Microsoft. |
| Microsoft DFS synchronization | Data synchronization for company networks that are geographically far apart. Not necessary for home use. |
| Multimedia class planner | Should not be removed: This gives multimedia applications (e.g. Media Player) a higher priority than e.g. antivirus software or defragmentation programs. |
| Offline files | If you need files from your network on the move (without a connection to the network), you can use offline files to view and edit them anyway. These are then synchronized again later. |
| Remote registration | This is used to edit the registration database of a network computer via your computer. Also very rarely necessary for home use. |
| Secondary registration | This allows you to run applications under different user accounts. However, the important "Run as administrator" command continues to work even after the function has been removed! |
| Task planner | Automatically performs scheduled tasks. Is required for Windows defragmentation, among other things! |
| Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) | Is used to connect devices (which have hardly been available/used to date) to a network environment. Can be removed with peace of mind as it can also pose a security risk. |
| Volume shadow copy | Creates a hidden backup copy of your files, which you can use to undo changes to files. This is the "Previous versions" function, which you can find in the properties dialog for files and folders. Backup and system restore are also based on this function. |
| Windows Remote Management | Also enables remote maintenance of various hardware components and services. Only necessary for network administrators. |
| Windows search | As the name suggests, the Windows search finds files, folders, emails, etc. If you do not need this function, you can save a lot of resources. Note: Is necessary for the language packs (Vista Enterprise, Ultimate). |
Remove "Hardware support"
| Printer support | Is essential for the integration of printers. |
| Fax support | Is mandatory for the integration of fax machines. |
| Internet Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) | iSCSI devices (e.g. hard disks) can be connected to the network and then mounted on your computer as a separate drive. |
| Smartcards | Required for dialing into a company network via smartcard. |
| Windows image capture | This allows you to remove the assistant for images and cameras. |
| Windows Mobile Device Center | If you do not have a cell phone or PDA with Windows Mobile, you can uninstall the Device Center. This allows you to synchronize data from your PC with the mobile device. |
| Windows portable devices | Multimedia synchronization (e.g. of MP3 files) with various players or cell phones. |
"Remove "Multimedia
| Audio recorder | The audio recorder that has been integrated into Windows since time immemorial, with the help of which you can, for example, record the running sound or from a microphone. |
| Sample images | Various beautiful landscape images that you will find in the image folder by default. |
| Screensaver | These include the stylish new 3D screensavers from Windows Vista, such as ribbons or soap bubbles. |
| Media Center | The popular Media Center, with which you can use TV, pictures, DVDs and music via a simple interface. |
| Movie and DVD Maker | The two economy programs for cutting films and then burning them to DVD for the home player. |
| SideShow | Technology used by some brand new notebooks. Only available if you have a small secondary display in your notebook (e.g. in the lid) that supports SideShow. |
| Windows Aero Design | This is the new "Aero" interface of Windows Vista. If you remove this, you will have to use the classic color and window design. |
| Windows Calendar | If you still use a paper calendar or (for example) Outlook, you can confidently do without the (nevertheless nice) Windows calendar. |
| Windows Media Codecs | Is required for playing multimedia files (e.g. mp3, avi). However, you can also use this functionality later with the help of a codec packet (e.g. Vista Codec Package) can be installed subsequently. |
| Windows Media Player | The well-known player for playing videos and music. |
| Windows media examples | These are various music and video files that you are unlikely to need in everyday life. However, the system performance evaluation needs the files for system testing purposes! |
| Windows Sounds | If the sounds in the operating system disturb you: Check the box! |
| Windows Photo Gallery | This allows you to manage and display photos and videos very clearly. |
Remove "Network"
| Internet Information Service | If you do not operate your own web server, you can check this box to remove it. |
| Connect to network projector | Projectors with a network connection are still rare, but they are on the rise. If you use one for business purposes, this function will help you connect it. |
| MSN Installer | Wizard for setting up the MSN Internet connection. |
| Remote Desktop Client | Application that allows you to maintain a computer remotely via the Internet or network. |
| Remote desktop and help | This allows your computer to be maintained remotely. |
| Windows Firewall | Protects against dangerous data traffic from the Internet. Should only be removed if you are using a third-party firewall. |
| Windows Mail | Vista's own mail application and successor to Outlook Express. However, it is also required for Microsoft Office Outlook (e.g. 2007). |
| Windows Teamwork | This allows you to share documents and work on them simultaneously with colleagues via the network. |
"Remove "Games
| Game explorer | You will find the "Games" entry in the Start menu. Games installed at a later date are often entered there. If you do not need this, you can also set a checkmark here for disposal. |
| Windows Premium Games | Games that are only included in the higher editions of Windows Vista. |
| Windows games | The standard games such as Solitaire. |
"Remove "Languages
You can remove support for various Asian languages here.
Remove "System" components
| BitLocker drive encryption | Owners of the Ultimate and Enterprise editions of Vista can encrypt the system partition here and thus protect it against theft. |
| Defragmentation | Optimizes the performance of your hard disk by combining data and moving it to the faster beginning of the hard disk. There are plenty of interesting third-party tools, which is why you could do without this function. |
| Help | Behind this is the complete Windows Help, which does not contain particularly important information for professionals. |
| IMAPIv2 burning support | This allows programs such as Explorer or Media Center to burn CDs/DVDs. If you prefer to do this with a third-party tool such as Nero, you can disable this support. |
| Youth release | Is required for parental control, which you can use to monitor your children's activities. |
| Power meter | Windows Vista uses this to monitor computer performance and displays it in the "Reliability and performance monitoring". |
| Manual installation (Setup.exe) | This file is only required if you run your individual Vista installation from Windows XP. However, if you start your computer and run the setup directly from the DVD, the Setup.exe is not necessary. |
| Microsoft Agent | Various wizards are hidden behind this, but they are not necessary in everyday Windows use. |
| Natural language | Without this function, speech recognition is not operational. |
| ReadyBoost | This allows you to use a USB stick to swap out or expand the computer's cache if the main memory is low. This makes sense for systems with 1 GB RAM (and less). |
| Security Center | The Windows Security Center displays information on the current status of security in Windows. |
| SuperFetch | Should not be removed: Optimizes the startup time of applications and data by loading frequently required files directly into the fast working memory during startup. |
| Synchronization Center | Synchronizes data between PCs (whether offline or via network). |
| System recovery | This backs up the most important system files and components and can be restored if necessary. |
| Tablet PC | Only necessary when using tablet PCs (with touchscreen and pen input). |
| Malicious software removal tool | Automatically detects and removes various worms. |
| Windows Backup | This allows you to create file backups or a backup of the entire system. |
| Windows Defender | Actively protects your computer against spyware and offers a tool for customizing the autostart. |
| Windows Easy Transfer | This allows you to transfer files, settings and user accounts from one computer to your current computer. |
| Windows SAT | This is based on the system performance evaluation (already mentioned above). |
| ZIP folder | Not necessary if you use a third-party compression tool (e.g. WinZIP, WinRAR). |
| Reliability and performance monitoring | Logs the performance of your computer and shows when and why crashes have occurred. |
Remove "Driver"
| Printer | Printer driver |
| Graphics cards | Graphics card drivers. As the most well-known graphics card manufacturers (e.g. ATI, nVidia) provide up-to-date and functional drivers for Windows Vista, you can safely omit them. |
| Modems | If you have an ISDN or DSL connection, you can uninstall it with peace of mind. |
| Network cards | LAN and WLAN adapter drivers. Note: In some cases, the third-party drivers require the original drivers supplied with Windows Vista. There is therefore a small risk if you check this box. |
| Scanner | Scanner driver |
| Sound cards | Sound card driver |
Remove "Accessories"
| Accessibility | These include various tools for people with disabilities (e.g. screen magnifier, on-screen keyboard) |
| Mobility Center | Notebook owners have a multitude of important functions for on the go under one roof. |
| Paint | The classic drawing program. |
| Snipping Tool | This allows you to take screenshots, cut them out and save them. |
| Language support | Support for the various language packs in Windows Vista Enterprise and Ultimate. |
| System information | Behind this is the well-known system information display (msinfo32.exe). |
| Welcome Center | Appears by default when starting the computer with Windows Vista and gives beginners in particular shortcuts for their first steps in the system. |
| Windows sidebar and gadgets | The familiar sidebar, which you can use to display small programs (e.g. time, weather, stock market information) on the desktop or in the sidebar itself. |
| WordPad | Small word processing program. |
13. Done! Click now on "Next" after you have made all the settings. In our example, we have saved a total of 4900 MByte of programs and services! Of course, this Windows version is very limited and can be used for gaming or watching videos, for example.
14. in the first area "Security" you can switch off data execution prevention. Although this provides very effective protection against unsafe code, some (safe) programs may no longer run properly. If you are also bothered by User Account Control, you can also deactivate it. However, all programs will then run in administrator mode, which is often a security risk. Under "System" you can set the default energy scheme and also decide whether hibernation should be activated or deactivated. If you switch this off, you save the hiberfil.sys filewhich occupies as much hard disk space as your working memory. Under "Explorer" you have the option of setting various settings for Windows Explorer (e.g. displaying hidden files).
The advantage, of course: If you change this setting now, you will have to laboriously configure it via the command line or user interface when you subsequently run the Vista installation.
15. the point "Unattended" is only interesting if you want to save yourself the trouble of entering various data (e.g. the serial number) or setting preferences (e.g. network, region configuration). As we are intentionally building a lean and fast Vista in this article, we will skip this point, which is also self-explanatory.
16. if you now click on "Next", you can create the finished installation DVD. You have several options under "Mode":
- "Create image": Creates an ".iso" file that you can burn to a CD or DVD with Nero, for example. This burns a fully-fledged and bootable Vista DVD (or CD)!
- "Direct burning": You can also use vLite directly to burn the medium.
- "Image burn": Only the ".iso" file itself is burned and not the Vista data it contains!
- "Delete RW": If you use a RW, you can delete it and write the Vista DVD to it at the end!
Confirm the respective action with (for example) "Apply" and save the ISO file to a desired location. Make sure that you click on "Apply changes and create new" so that the final files are significantly smaller. From there, you can then burn it to CD/DVD using Nero or another burning program!
17. vLite is now busy compressing the ISO file and integrating the changes made. In our example, the size of the DVD was reduced from 2.4 GByte to around 700 MByte. The installation can now be burned to CD! In this example, the installation is completed in around 10-15 minutes and the resulting Windows Vista works incredibly quickly (without all the ballast). We use this operating system, for example, on a notebook with which we watch movies or play games on the go. This is because the many resource-consuming services and technologies in Vista also cost a lot of battery life, which of course increases significantly in such an absolute economy Windows.
DONE! All you have to do now is install Windows Vista with this CD/DVD and you have a fast and streamlined operating system!
I hope that these instructions have helped you,
Yours, Sandro Villinger
On Windows Tweaks you will find time-saving tech guides for PC, software & Microsoft. For a stress-free digital everyday life. Already we have been "tweaking" Windows since 1998 and just won't stop!
Very good list. I had a great time....
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