Update hardware drivers

Windows Vista is still relatively new, so hardware drivers (the programs that make Windows work with your computer's hardware) are still in a state of development. If you haven't updated them recently you should do the rounds of your motherboard, videocard and soundcard (if necessary) manufacturer's websites in order to make sure you have the latest Vista compliant drivers for your gear. You should especially do this if you purchased or assembled your computer system close to the release date of Vista last year, since hardware drivers have made leaps and bounds in performance and stability since then. In fact, a lot of the problems users initially experienced with Windows Vista can be linked to immature drivers, or older WinXP drivers used in place of absent Vista compliant drivers.