Windows Vista made its biggest leap yet in November — the operating system was in use on nearly one out of 10 Internet-connected computers last month, according to a research firm.

Vista’s exact share rose about one percentage point to 9.19% in November, up from 7.94% in October, according to Net Applications. In contrast, Vista’s predecessor, Windows XP, fell by about one percentage point from 79.41% of all Internet-connected computers in October to 78.37% in November, according to Net Applications. Meanwhile, the Mac platform’s share continued to grow, reaching nearly 7%.

Windows’ overall share continues to exceed 92%, according to the Aliso Viejo, Calif.-based research firm.

Linux was in use on 0.6% of PCs worldwide, according to Net Applications. Despite its small share, Linux’s slice of the market has nearly doubled since the beginning of the year.

Vista’s share has grown from 0.2% to 9.2% since the beginning of the year. XP’s share, meanwhile, has fallen from to 78.4% from 85% at the beginning of the year.

Internet Explorer 7’s share continued to grow, reaching nearly 37%. It is poised to eclipse its predecessor, IE6, which has fallen more than 14 percentage points since the beginning of the year, to 40.2%. Altogether, IE was in use on 77.4% of Internet-connected computers, down from 80% at the beginning of the year.

IE’s main competition, Firefox, held a 16% share of all Internet-connected computers. That’s up from 13.7% at the beginning of the year.

Apple Inc.’s Safari held 5.1%, up from 4.7% at the beginning of the year.

Net Applications also debuted a beefed-up presentation of its survey results. As part of that, the firm showed off a map displaying Mac share by state headlined “Democrats vote for the Mac?”

The states with the highest percentage of Mac users, in order, were Hawaii (15.9%), Vermont, (15.1%), California (12.8%), Oregon (12.7%), New York (12.3%), Alaska (11.9%), and Massachusetts and Maine (both 11.2%).

The states with the lowest percentage of Mac users were West Virginia (3.5%), Mississippi (3.7%), Alabama (4.5%) and South Carolina (4.6%).

Net Applications noted the similarity to the map of blue and red states during the 2004 presidential election.

Top 10 tips to Speed Up your Computer with Microsoft Windows Vista as the operating System:

1. Turn off Windows Search Indexing

Windows Vista search indexing is constantly reviewing files on your system to make their contents available for quick searching. This is handy, but can severely impact system performance.To disable constant indexing:

• Click Start then Computer
• Right Click the C: Drive
• On General Tab, Uncheck Index this drive for faster searching
• On the subsequent dialog box, Select Include subfolders and files

2. Turn off Remote Differential Compression

Remote Differential Compression measures the changes in files over a network to transfer them with minimal bandwidth rather than transferring an entire file that has previously been moved. By constantly checking for file changes, this service can hinder system performance.To disable this service:

• Open Control Panel
• Switch to Classic View
• Select Program Features
• Choose Turn Windows features on and off
• Scroll down and uncheck Remote Differential Compression

3. Turn off Automatic Windows Defender Operation

Windows Defender real-time protection against malware continues to run despite having Automatic operation disabled.To disable this feature:

• Open Control Panel
• Select Windows Defender
• Choose Tools from the top menu
• Select Options
• Uncheck Auto Start at the bottom of the window

4. Turn off Automatic Disk Defragmentation

Windows Vista and its always-on defragment feature isn’t really that necessary and can cause system slow down. Just remember to run a defrag manually every week or so.To disable this:

• Click Start then Computer
• Right Click the C: Drive
• Click on Properties
• Select the Tools Tab
• Click on Defragment Now
• Uncheck Run on a schedule

5. Add a 2GB or higher USB Flash drive to take advantage of Windows Ready Boost (Additional Memory Cache)

Ready Boost is Microsoft’s name for using a USB thumb/flash drive to provide some quick access memory the operating system can use as extra RAM. The Ready Boost system can significantly improve system performance.To set this up:

• Insert a USB Flash Drive
• Click Start then Computer
• Right Click the USB Drive in My Computer
• Select the Ready Boost Tab
• Choose Use this device
• Select as much space as you can free up for RAM usage vs. Storage

6. Turn off Windows Hibernation

Windows hibernation background services can use a large amount of system resources. If you don’t use the Hibernate feature on a regular basis you may want to disable it to give Vista a performance boost.To disable Hibernation:

• Select the Control Panel then Power Options
• Click Change Plan Settings
• Click on Change Advanced Power Settings
• Expand the Sleep selection
• Expand the Hibernate After selection
• Crank the selector down to zero
• Click Apply

7. Turn off System Restore

Analysis and restore point creation by Windows Vista can eat a fair amount of system resources. Disabling this service will obviously mean the system restore feature in Vista will not be available in the event of a system crash. Change this at your own risk.To disable this service:

• Control Panel>System
• Click System Protection on the left panel
• Uncheck the main system drive
• Agree to the confirmation

8. Disable User Access Control (UAC)

This much-loathed new Vista feature attempts to protect your system from malware infection by making you manually confirm a whole host of everyday user operations. While it doesn’t directly impact performance, it can be annoying and might be more hassle than good.To disable User Access Control:

• Click Start then Control Panel
• Select User Accounts
• Select Turn User Account Control on or off
• Uncheck User Account Control Box
• Restart as recommended

9. Disable excess Windows Services that Auto-Launch at Startup

Just like Windows XP, Vista ships with all kinds of services enabled that load at startup and may never be used by most users.To see what loads at startup and disable the ones you likely won’t be needing (they can always be started manually later):

• Click Start then Control Panel
• Select Administrative Tools
• Choose System Configuration
• Click the Services Tab
• You can safely deselect:
  • Offline Files (unless you’re using Offline File Sync)
  • Tablet PC Input Service (unless you have a tablet PC)
  • Terminal Services
  • Windows Search (If you have already disabled indexing)
  • Fax (unless you’re using a fax modem)

10. Disable Excess Windows Features

Windows ships with other features that are listed separately in the Vista operating system from the startup services.You can view and disable these features by:

• Clicking Start then Control Panel
• Select Program Features
• On the left panel, select Turn Windows Features on or off
• You can safely deselect:
  • Indexing Service
  • Remote Differential Compression
  • Tablet PC Optional Components
  • Windows DFS Replication Service
  • Windows Fax & Scan (unless you use a modem for faxing)
  • Windows Meeting Space (unless you use the Live Meeting Service)

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