On Sat, 11 Oct 2008 04:28:37 +0530, fusiooon wrote:

snip for brevity

The only thing I haven't done is gone and reinstall all the drivers,
because usually this does more harm than good.

Not really!

Windows Vista Performance Roundtable
Join Mark Russinovich and real IT pros as they explore top of mind
performance challenges and common misconfigurations, plus tips on how to
optimize Windows Vista and improve overall system performance.
Thursday, October 09, 2008 11:20:00 AM
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/default.aspx

Springboard Series Virtual Roundtable: Windows Vista Performance...Need
Answers?
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/w.../cc952917.aspx

(The driver issue is discussed towards to the end of the discussion).