Processor: Your processor must have either 1 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor for all types of Windows Vista (Home, Professional, etc.)

System Memory: 512 MB of System Memory for Home Basic and 1 GB for Home Professional, Business and Ultimate.

Hard Drive Space: 20 GB for Home Basic and 40 GB for Home Professional, Business and Ultimate. There is also a recommended of a minimum 15 GB Available Space.

Display: Support for Direct X9 Graphics and 32 MB Graphics for Home Basic and Direct X9 support with WDDM Driver, 128 MB of Graphics Memory, Pixel Shader 2.0 and 32-bits pixel for Home Professional, Ultimate and Business.

Drive: DVD-ROM

It’s also recommended that you don’t settle for the minimum requirements. If you really want to enjoy the benefits of Windows Vista, make sure your computer can handle it. Having more RAM than the minimum, for instance, can increase your system performance noticeably.

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Vista Minimum Requirements

As information is written to your hard drive, it begins with the first empty location on the hard drive, and then consecutive pieces of data in each available spot until the drive is full. When you delete files or move them from one drive to another, gaps of unused space are left behind, and the next program will use that empty space in a first-to-last available manner. The more moving, deleting and file adding that goes on, the faster and more completely the drive becomes fragmented. A badly fragmented drive is subject to data corruption that leaves it partially or completely unusable.

To run Defrag manually:
1. Click START > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Defragmenter.
2. Select the drive you want to defragment.
3. To determine whether the drives needs to be defragged, click Analayze.
    A. Click Close when the report completes.
4. Click Defragment.

For a large badly fragmented drive, this can take a very long time to complete. And while you can run other programs with defrag in the background, it is best to let the program operate without other programs, to reduce the possibility of corrupting your data.

In our next post, we’ll detail setting up defrag as a scheduled event, and offer some insight into why scheduling is a preferable method.

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Post from: MyComputerAid.com Computer support

Windows: Disk Defrag

1. Insert the Windows XP CD-ROM into your CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive.
2. Boot the computer from the CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive.
3. When you see the “Press any key to boot from CD” message, press a key.
4. At the “Welcome to Setup” message, press R to start the Recovery Console.
5. If you have a multiple-boot installation, select the Windows installation.
6. When prompted, type the administrator password, and press ENTER.
7. At the command prompt, type bootcfg /list, and then press ENTER.
8. At the command prompt, type bootcfg /rebuild, and then press ENTER.
This command scans the hard disks of the computer for Windows XP, Microsoft Windows 2000, or Microsoft Windows NT installations, and then displays the results. Follow the instructions that appear on the screen to add the Windows installations to the Boot.ini file.
9. Type exit, and then press ENTER to quit Recovery Console.
10.Your computer should restart, Displaying theupdated boot list.

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Rebuilding Your boot.ini file

Commonly, the problem is that the user believes the error indicates that system.ini is missing. It is important to note that there is a trememndous difference between “files in system.ini are missing” and “system.ini is missing.” The first indicates that changes have been made to the system outside of its intended removal functions, and the second indicates a crucial system file is completely missing.

To solve the SECOND case, where system.ini itself is missing, simply run System Restore, and restore your system to the last known date when your computer was working properly. Variations on this error may be missing win.ini, or other default files referenced by the computer at startup. To minimize problems in this case, always create a restore point before making changes to your operating system.

In the FIRST situation, where files named in system.ini are not to be found, the most common error is human interference. If you have recently deleted programs by moving them to the Recycle Bin, or deleting them outright, the chances are good that your error is failure to follow the proper Windows chain of command.

Windows, as is typical of Microsoft, is very fastidious and self-centered. It wants to participate in any changes made to your system, and can be quite balky when changes are made manually. Not only can this result in boot errors, it can also leave you with “phantom” shortcuts on your desktop, and start menu, and the ones in your start menu can be VERY difficult to get rid of.

Always attempt to delete files or programs using the Add/Remove Programs option in the Windows Control Panel. This may seem to be the more complicated method, and rightly so, but it is, as noted above, simply Windows way making sure that you keep Microsoft in the loop, and don’t go modifying your computer to suit yourself without the help of Microsoft.

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Missing Files In system.ini