# Do you run Windows Vista? My friend pointed this out to me today. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 15, 2009, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-run-windows-vista-my-friend-pointed-this-out-to-me-today/513902 "2009-10-15T13:40:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![FlyingRamenMonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@FlyingRamenMonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingRamenMonster)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-run-windows-vista-my-friend-pointed-this-out-to-me-today/513902/1 "2009-10-15T13:40:12Z")
Open up your control panel. Click on “power options”. Are you on power saver mode? Click on “change plan settings” for whichever setting you’re on, then click “change advanced power settings”. Open up “processor power management” and check what the minimum and maximum are set to. Chances are, if you were on power saver mode, your processor was running at 5 to 50% of capacity :smack: Hope this helps someone here! ---
**Author:** ![Astroboy14](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df705f/32.png) [@Astroboy14](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astroboy14)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-run-windows-vista-my-friend-pointed-this-out-to-me-today/513902/2 "2009-10-15T14:14:52Z")
Hmmmmm. I have a Vista laptop at home that is running unreasonably slowly, and I have as of yet been unable to determine exactly why. I’ll check this when I get home tonight! Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_fun_ball/32/17664_2.png) [@Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Fun_Ball)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-run-windows-vista-my-friend-pointed-this-out-to-me-today/513902/3 "2009-10-15T14:40:03Z")
Since this is MPSIMS, I’ll just chime in that _ **I HATE VISTA!** _ Sorry, I am trying to get over this obsession, maybe on the day I buy a Powerbook. ---
**Author:** ![FlyingRamenMonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@FlyingRamenMonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingRamenMonster)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-run-windows-vista-my-friend-pointed-this-out-to-me-today/513902/4 "2009-10-15T14:40:57Z")
Well, if you’re on a laptop, you might want to keep it on power saver mode anyway, for battery life. I have noticed Illustrator (horrible memory-hogging program btw) running noticeably smoother, though. It’s like a surprise upgrade! Edit: Vista’s not that bad, really. It’s a little unnecessarily flashy and a bit too resource-intensive but given a choice between Vista and any Windows before XP I’ll gladly take Vista. ---
**Author:** ![Picard\_Kills\_Kirk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/dec6dc/32.png) [@Picard\_Kills\_Kirk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Picard_Kills_Kirk)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-run-windows-vista-my-friend-pointed-this-out-to-me-today/513902/5 "2009-10-15T14:52:56Z")
My minimum processor power is 100%! For some reason, that makes me feel good. I’m not too happy with Vista, mainly because it tells me I don’t have administrative privileges to do things, even though I am the only user on the PC (and it even says I’m an admin on the user profile)!!! I would go back to XP if I could, and ME were some some of the saddest days of my life. ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-run-windows-vista-my-friend-pointed-this-out-to-me-today/513902/6 "2009-10-15T15:58:36Z")
> [@FlyingRamenMonster](#): > > Open up your control panel. Click on “power options”. Are you on power saver mode? Click on “change plan settings” for whichever setting you’re on, then click “change advanced power settings”. Open up “processor power management” and check what the minimum and maximum are set to. Chances are, if you were on power saver mode, your processor was running at 5 to 50% of capacity :smack: > > Hope this helps someone here! I’ll check that out when I get home. I also mirror your same feeling on Vista as well. ---
**Author:** ![GESancMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gesancman/32/2923_2.png) [@GESancMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GESancMan)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-run-windows-vista-my-friend-pointed-this-out-to-me-today/513902/7 "2009-10-15T16:09:06Z")
Hmmm. Mine was set at “balanced”, just changed it to “high performance”. It’ll be interesting to see if there’s a difference. ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-run-windows-vista-my-friend-pointed-this-out-to-me-today/513902/8 "2009-10-15T21:34:41Z")
should changing to high performance cause my fan to start running a bit louder? It’s a fairly new HP Slimline. The fan is loud enough already but it seems a little worse now. ---
**Author:** ![eldowan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/848f3c/32.png) [@eldowan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eldowan)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-run-windows-vista-my-friend-pointed-this-out-to-me-today/513902/9 "2009-10-16T00:02:09Z")
> [@Rushgeekgirl](#): > > should changing to high performance cause my fan to start running a bit louder? It’s a fairly new HP Slimline. The fan is loud enough already but it seems a little worse now. YMMV of course: In general, the behavior you are experiencing is not unusual. When you change the upper limit on utilization, you are doing something similar to taking a governor off of an engine. You are letting it run at a higher performance level, and thus heat, than you have been used to it running at. Depending on your system, the extra heat may not be taken away quickly by the current cooling system, and the fan is responding by pumping more air through the case in an attempt to keep your system running within temperature thresholds. There are a few things that you _could_ do to prevent the fan from spinning faster and louder. However, all the ones I can think of right now either involve tinkering with the actual hardware, or messing with BIOS settings. Both of which _can_ cause permanent damage to your system. ---
**Author:** ![InkBlot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b5e925/32.png) [@InkBlot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InkBlot)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-run-windows-vista-my-friend-pointed-this-out-to-me-today/513902/10 "2009-10-16T03:11:20Z")
Please note: the power settings you’re looking at refer to the electrical power used by the processor, not “brain” capacity, as it were. So it doesn’t need 100% as a minimum - it’s probably not using it. The voltage your CPU needs depends on how much it’s thinking. So, crank the max to 100% but leave the minimum at 5%. Otherwise you’re wasting electricity and overheating your processor without need. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-run-windows-vista-my-friend-pointed-this-out-to-me-today/513902/11 "2009-10-16T05:13:49Z")
> [@eldowan](#): > > There are a few things that you _could_ do to prevent the fan from spinning faster and louder. However, all the ones I can think of right now either involve tinkering with the actual hardware, or messing with BIOS settings. Both of which _can_ cause permanent damage to your system. Getting a cooler base (built in aluminum, not plastic) can work well. Ideally it should feel like metal when you touch it (you know, cold), otherwise the paint or anodization is just too thick and it won’t be very good at its job. I’ve had several and the one that worked best was sold as a base for lifting monitors, it’s flat with holes rather than rugged (the ones with the serrated profile may be great at dissipating heat but they’re not taking it in from the laptop very well). It also put my laptop too high to use its keyboard, but at home I use a full-size keyboard anyway so this wasn’t a problem for me. ---
**Author:** ![PuddingCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b4bc9f/32.png) [@PuddingCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PuddingCat)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2009, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-run-windows-vista-my-friend-pointed-this-out-to-me-today/513902/12 "2009-10-18T19:57:32Z")
> [@Picard\_Kills\_Kirk](#): > > I’m not too happy with Vista, mainly because it tells me I don’t have administrative privileges to do things, even though I am the only user on the PC (and it even says I’m an admin on the user profile)!!! A bit of google would have brought you joy a long time ago. Click Start, type msconfig, press enter. Click Tools tab, scroll down to “Disable UAC” and select Launch. Reboot and you are running everything as Administrator. Of course, you’re pretty much wiping out one of the major benefits to Vista, but it’s your machine. ---
**Author:** ![Surly\_Chick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Surly\_Chick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surly_Chick)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2009, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-run-windows-vista-my-friend-pointed-this-out-to-me-today/513902/13 "2009-10-19T00:42:22Z")
Unbefreakinglievable! Thank you, **FlyingRamenMonster!** I fully admit that I am a Luddite but several other non-Vista-using people couldn’t figure out why my newish laptop was so damn slow. Now it’s like I have a whole new laptop and life is good! ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-run-windows-vista-my-friend-pointed-this-out-to-me-today/513902/14 "2009-10-23T05:25:56Z")
> [@GESancMan](#): > > Hmmm. Mine was set at “balanced”, just changed it to “high performance”. It’ll be interesting to see if there’s a difference. I’m going to switch my desktop from Energy Star to High Performance to see if anything changes. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-run-windows-vista-my-friend-pointed-this-out-to-me-today/513902/15 "2009-10-23T06:11:44Z")
Where do I find “Processor power management”? My choices are “additional settings”, “hard disk”, “wireless adapter settings”, “sleep”, “USB settings”. “power button and lid”, “PCI express”, “Search and indexing”, “display”, and “multimedia settings”. ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-run-windows-vista-my-friend-pointed-this-out-to-me-today/513902/16 "2009-10-23T07:05:55Z")
Great - when I go home tonight I will be doing this… ---
**Author:** ![FlyingRamenMonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@FlyingRamenMonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingRamenMonster)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-run-windows-vista-my-friend-pointed-this-out-to-me-today/513902/17 "2009-10-23T07:20:10Z")
Like **InkBlot** says, you don’t need to set the minimum processor speed to 100% - just make sure the maximum is. **Captain Amazing** , there should be another item called “processor power management” in that list. If there isn’t… I got nothin. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-run-windows-vista-my-friend-pointed-this-out-to-me-today/513902/18 "2009-10-23T15:53:10Z")
There isn’t. Just the options I listed, each of which have suboptions, but “processor power management” isn’t one of the suboptions. ---
**Author:** ![vd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b19c9b/32.png) [@vd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vd)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-run-windows-vista-my-friend-pointed-this-out-to-me-today/513902/19 "2009-10-23T16:42:16Z")
In my limited understanding, I think that not all processors support it. Maybe that’s why the setting is missing? If that’s the case, you would be always running 100% already. ---
**Author:** ![Lok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e8c25b/32.png) [@Lok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lok)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2009, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-run-windows-vista-my-friend-pointed-this-out-to-me-today/513902/20 "2009-10-24T06:27:19Z")
> [@trmatthe](#): > > A bit of google would have brought you joy a long time ago. > > Click Start, type msconfig, press enter. > Click Tools tab, scroll down to “Disable UAC” and select Launch. > Reboot and you are running everything as Administrator. > > Of course, you’re pretty much wiping out one of the major benefits to Vista, but it’s your machine. If you are the only person using the machine, what exactly is the major benefit of having something that makes it harder to use the machine the way you want to? For a network in an office or other business, limiting user ability to mess with the machine and/or system makes sense and is a benefit. For a single user at home, “benefit” is not how it is usually described. :dubious: [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-run-windows-vista-my-friend-pointed-this-out-to-me-today/513902.md?page=2)