If your performance is slow in Windows Vista, one reason may be the Aero interface. It looks cool and all, but unless you have high-end hardware, it will cause a significant performance hit on your computer. If you think this may be the issue for you, try disabling the Aero interface and see if it improves. Here's how to disable Aero...

1 - Right click on the desktop and select the "Window Color and Appearance" option.

2 - Click the "Open classic appearance properties for more color options" link near the bottom of the window that gets opened.

3 - This will now allow you to pick a color scheme. Select the "Windows Vista Basic" option and Aero will be enable.

If you want to re-enable Aero, just go through the same process and select the "Windows Aero" option in the final step.