Speed Up VNC on Vista - Limit Visual Effects

Improving UltraVNC Performance on Windows Vista

This guide was authored by MetrotekGeek of Metrotek Solutions, a collaborator with How-To Geek. As a field service technician specializing in computers, I frequently employ the UltraVNC remote desktop application.

My primary use case involves establishing connections to remote computers to perform diagnostic tests and, when necessary, execute repairs remotely. A recent challenge arose when using UltraVNC with Windows Vista.

While a connection could be established, the remote desktop exhibited significant sluggishness, rendering it nearly unusable. Diagnosing or repairing issues through such a slow connection proved impossible.

Initial attempts to enhance performance through adjustments to color depth and screen resolution yielded no improvement. It was then realized that the remote computer was running Windows Vista with Aero enabled.

Disabling Aero immediately resolved the performance issues, restoring the remote desktop to a fully functional state. The following steps detail how to disable Aero features for UltraVNC sessions.

Disabling Visual Effects

Begin by right-clicking on the "Computer" icon and selecting "Properties" from the context menu.

Next, click on "Advanced system settings." Within the "Advanced" section, click the "Settings" button.

A new window will appear. Select the "Visual Effects" tab.

From this tab, choose the option "Adjust for best performance." This will disable all visual effects, including Aero.

This adjustment significantly improves the responsiveness of the remote desktop session when using UltraVNC on Windows Vista systems.