Windows Vista Update

Ready Boost Ready

by Paul Masley
(Charleston, WV)

One of the basic requirements for a good Vista experience is to make sure that your computer is capable of using Ready Boost.

I was having constant chatter problems with the Media Center. I have a Intel dual core 3.0, with a 512 meg video card and maxed out motherboard memory of 2 gigs.

The OS was giving me an experience level of 3.2 so I could not figure out the problem. I knew that the hardware was above midlevel for Vista, but it smoked running XP.

Installation of a 2 gig thumb drive that was Ready Boost capable completely solved the problem. I have also noticed several other benefits of using the thumb drive.

The hard drive chatter is now gone, the OS seems smother and faster, applications, including the intensive Photoshop 8 now run with no glitches.

Vista still has a slight problem with Ready Boost. Every once in a while, I have to remove the thumbdrive as it seems that it is not using it as the OS becomes sluggish, but after re-inserting the thumbdrive, it comes back to life.