The Fast Way to Make a Vista PC Faster

If you are planning to upgrade to Windows Vista, there's a lot to know about your new Operating System. Over the coming weeks, we'll have lots more info for you about how to take advantage of some of the cool features (and get rid of some of the annoying bugs) of Vista. But for now, here's one cool tip you can make to really boost your Vista-powered computer's performance.

Vista takes advantage of a new technology called ReadyBoost that allows your computer to use outside devices like USB flash drives to speed up loading times for start up and other applications. The extra flash drive acts as a memory cache that's much easier for the computer to access than data on the hard drive. (Think of it as a cheap way to add more RAM to your PC.) People have found that ReadyBoost can make applications load up to ten times faster—here's a Google video of its effect on one PC. 

It's a neat trick, but like most of Vista's advances, it requires certain tech specs that aren't really obvious. Some new flash drives work and some don't, and in order to find out if yours does, you have to let Vista sniff it out. Or, you could simply spend $45 for a  Vista-ready flash drive like the 2 gigabyte Apacer HT203 USB 2.0 Flash Drive from supermediastore.com. ZDNET's Ed Bott checked out a ton of different flash drives and found that this one had the highest read and write speed -- which likely means it's the best at speeding up your PC.