Windows Vista offers a large number of new features and options, but they’re not always set up the way we’d like them to be.

With Tweak Vista, you can adjust many of the operating system’s hidden settings without having to resort to dangerous Registry hacks. In addition, Tweak Vista can perform several optimisations to keep your system running as quickly as the day you bought it.

It’s an ideal power user tool, but the interface is so clearly laid out and easy to use that anyone can make good use of it without having to be a Windows guru.

When you start up the program, its various functions are split into sections marked with icons ­ rather like a standard Windows control panel. The first, which opens by default, is the Welcome section, which presents you automatically with a series of recommendations for your system. You can then step through these one at a time, or dive into the program yourself if you know what you’re doing.

There’s also a small integrated news feed and a link to the Tweak Vista forum, where you’ll find help and tips.

Tweak Vista aims to boost system performance by managing which programs and services run automatically on startup. It also benchmarks your startup and shutdown times, allowing you to see the applications that may be causing delays.

Unlike tweaking the Registry, using Tweak Vista allows you to easily reverse any of the changes you make and comes with plenty of user help and clear descriptions of what the various options do.

As its version number might suggest, Tweak Vista is technically in beta. However, it has recently received Certified for Windows Vista logo certification from Microsoft ­ the changes between the beta and final release are likely to be based on features, rather than bug fixes.