If you are running Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008 or Windows Small Business Server 2008 with Service Pack 2 you may find that Memory Manager can no longer commit Memory Pages resulting in applications and services experiencing performance and reliability issues.
This issue occurs because the Memory Manager incorrectly attempts to return more memory pages than have actually been allocated.
The issue can be resolved by applying the hotfix KB 2619529 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2619529
Have you started to notice that C drive is getting a little full or do you just want to have a spring clean, well you may not realise it but when you installed Service Pack 1 or Service Pack 2 onto your Windows Vista or Windows 2008 Server that Microsoft very sensibly backed up all the old system file before replacing them with new ones.
Assuming that you have had Service Pack 1 or Service Pack 2 installed for sometime without issue it may be good to know that you might be able to reclaim some disk space by dumping these obsolete system files.
Simply launch an elevated Command Prompt by right clicking “Command Prompt” and selecting “Run as administrator”. Once you are in a command prompt simply paste in the following according to the Service Pack you are currently running:
Service Pack 1 you need to paste: VSP1CLN.EXE
Service Pack 2 you need to paste: Compcln.exe
Be patient with these commands they will need time to enumerate a large number of files and could take up to 60 minutes to complete. Once finished I would recommend a reboot.
With these commands we are telling the operating system to remove any of the superseded service pack files. If you do not have any files to remove it might be because someone else has already removed them or your computer/server may have already come with Service Pack 1 or Service Pack 2 pre-installed/integrated.
In an effort to be more “Green” you will often find that your shiny new computer, laptop or server have Power Management already set to “Balanced” or “Power Saver”. This can be very useful for cutting your energy bills and saving the planet but sometimes you just get the need for speed.
It’s easy to check your current “Power Plan” in Microsoft Windows Vista, 7, Server 2008 or Server 2008 R2. Simply click on the Windows Start Menu or Orb if you are using the Aero theme and then select “Control Panel”. Once in “Control Panel” you can either find it under it’s category “Hardware and Sound” then “Power Options” or if you are in classic control panel mode then you will just need to click “Power Options”.
Once in Power Options you will usually only be presented with three options to choose from, most will find “High Performance” the best option if they want to avoid the occasional slowdowns that power management can introduce. You will also find that on a laptop the screen brightness is usually increased in this mode and the laptop is not going to keep going to sleep if you walk away from your desk for a few minutes.
If you favour a nice balance between the two then your next best option is “Balanced”.
The “Power Saver” Plan which is the third option is really just for laptop users in my opinion, it’s great for a long flight or train ride where you just need to get some basic Word Documents typed up or reviewed.