If you've purchased a new pc recently, and it has Vista, do not fret.  It's not as bad as everyone says.  Yes, out of the box it can be rather...well, breathtakingly slow, however there are several work arounds to fix these problems.  As is the Microsoft motto: there are work arounds, use them.

The requirements for Vista Home Basic are as follows (per Microsoft's Website):

• 1GHz CPU
• 512MB Ram
• 20GB Hard Disk with 15GB Free Hard Disk Space
• Direct X9 and 32MB of Video Memory
• DVD Rom Drive
  
• Audio Output
• Internet Access

For all other versions of Vista, the requirements are as follows:

• 1GHz CPU
• 1GB Ram
• 40GB Hard Disk with 15GB Free Hard Disk Space
• Direct X9 with 128MB Video Ram (Minimum) and WDDM Driver, Pixel Shader 2.0 in Hardware, 32 Bits Per Pixel
• DVD Rom Drive
• Audio Output
• Internet Access

Now, far be it for me to oppose the powers that be at Microsoft, but this is, by and large, hooey.

This, in my opinion is the reason for Vista's catastrophic failure. The requirements for all versions should read:

• 2.0 GHz Dual Core CPU
• 2GB Ram (Minimum)
• 80GB Hard Drive (Minimum)
• Direct X9 with 128MB Video Ram (Minimum) and WDDM Driver, Pixel Shader 2.0 in Hardware, 32 Bits Per Pixel
• DVD Rom
• Audio Output
• Internet Access

Had this been the case, the bloatware and junk that comes with this already monstrous operating system would have been rendered moot.  People would have been overjoyed.  At the very least upgrade your ram to 2GB or purchase a computer with 2GB ram if you're going to do any multitasking whatsoever in Vista, and make sure you are not allocating any of that to Video by not having a video card.  Use any video card, just make sure all of your ram is going to system operations, not video.

That's what a modern computer is out of the box, especially a budget level computer.  Manufacturers load these things down with what we in the tech industry refer to as bloatware.  This is basically a collection of free trials and what-not designed to get you hooked on a program, then tell you to buy it if you want to keep using it.  Personally I think this practice should be criminalized but this is why I have no say in law.

So all this software is preinstalled and it is mostly set to start when Vista does.  So your computer will boot as slow as Christmas, and you'll have a gaggle of Windows open.  Gah.  When these are all taken care of Vista actually runs pretty smoothly and has some nice features.

Ok down to business. Now you know what's causing the problem, it's time to fix it.

First thing's first, stop all these things from booting with your computer. Perform the following:

Start-->Run--> (type)msconfig-->Enter

This will open a handy dandy window which will contain all your ales. First go to the tools menu. Click Disable UAC.

This will cause a red shield with an 'X' to appear in the lower right hand side of the screen. Double click this. Then click "Do not warn me and do not display icon." This disables an overly active protection program which asks you "Are you sure?" CONSTANTLY.

Next, go to the startup tab and click disable all.

After that, go to the services tab, select "Hide all Microsoft services." and click disable all. Now you'll have absolutely nothing but what's necessary for windows to run starting up with your computer.

Reboot to seal the deal. If any issues may arise, Reverse the previous procedure by following the same instructions and clicking enable all rather than disable all.

After the reboot, click "Do not show this message again" on the prompt that appears.

Next perform the following procedure:

Start-->Control Panel-->Programs and Features

Now, from here you can remove any program on the PC. Remove nothing that says update in the case that your computer came pre-updated (which some stores do). Use discretion, if you do not know what a program is google it. I cannot give you a detailed list of what each program does as they vary from manufacturer to manufacturer.

Now that you have that done, refer to my Free Viral Advice hub which is linked below to install and update your antivirus software. You can use those free versions which will do fine or purchase the pay versions which will have a few perks.

Now that you've gotten antivirus installed you're good to go. I recommend performing updates before browsing and downloading Mozilla Firefox, a safer alternative to I.E..

Enjoy your fresh and speedy new PC!