ReadMeToo
01-10-2008, 12:49 AM
January 10, 2008
Speed Up Windows Vista
It's been well over a year since Windows Vista shipped, and despite all the naysayers crooning that Microsoft really goofed with the operating system, it happens that our previous article on speeding up Windows Vista was one of our most popular pieces in 2007.
After much research, plenty of heavy use, and lots of experimenting, we've come up with a few more ways to tweak out the operating system with performance in mind. Vista is constantly being criticized for being too pokey, but in actuality, on a modern system, it's pretty buff—especially if you streamline it.
A few things you might want to keep in mind:
Check for new drivers frequently. Graphics drivers, especially, have come a very long way since their earlier, crappier predecessors. Look also for chipset drivers, audio drivers, and peripheral drivers on a regular basis.
Keep Windows updates current as well, whether you use the automated update system or you check for updates manually on a regular basis.
Don't apply any of our tweaks without first backing up your system. Drop all of your important data files onto removable media or even an external hard drive.
All of these optimizations can be undone, and should be if they don't function to your liking. Pay attention to the steps you take to perform them, and reverse them as you see fit.
Remember that Windows Vista optimizes itself as it keeps track of how you use your computer. While it doesn't hurt to perform these tweaks on a fresh installation, you might actually wish to wait a couple of weeks (especially before you tweak the startup files) before you apply them.Now, on to the optimizations. With your system fully updated and backed up, tear into the OS and make it run more smoothly.
Some Stuff to Avoid Tweaking
Before we get into the actual tweaks, there are a few items you really should not mess around with. Some of them include recommended tweaks for prior Windows operating systems; Vista is, believe it or not, improved in its handling of certain aspects of day to day maintenance over Windows XP.
Items to leave alone include SuperFetch and the page file.
SuperFetch is vastly better than that found in Windows XP. SuperFetch takes note of the applications you use most often and keeps a working record of this in the system's main memory. Programs that you use the most are optimized to load faster. Thus, if you're a frequent user of, say, Word, and you rarely use Adobe Reader, Vista will configure itself to load Word as quickly as possible without much regard for Reader. Furthermore, when a background task runs, SuperFetch allows memory for it—but when it's finished, it drops the stuff that you've used the most back into memory so that it's there when you need it. For more, check out the TechNet piece on SuperFetch.
The page file is also subject to a vast improvement over Vista. The best thing to do is to let it take care of itself. The page file, sometimes called virtual memory, is stored on the hard drive and used to store data that might not fit in main memory. While it's treated by the system in a similar way to RAM, since it's on the much slower hard drive it takes longer to access.
If your system is low in memory, you might notice the hard drive thrashing frequently; the answer isn't to tweak how Windows Vista handles the paging of data, but to add more memory to your system.
Another Way to Battle Background Apps
In the last Vista optimization article, we recommended using MSCONFIG to eliminate background tasks that aren't necessary. That's a thorough way to go about it, but it does have a disadvantage: when the system starts up, it reminds you via a system tray notification that it blocked startup tasks.
To avoid that, you can disable startup items that you don't need (such as bits and pieces of programs dropped into the system tray by applications such as QuickTime, Adobe Reader, Real Player, Quicken, and many, many others) through Windows Defender's Software Explorer.
Invoke Windows Defender by clicking the Start button and typing Defender, and hitting Enter. Windows Defender starts. Click Tools, and then Software Explorer.
http://www.extremetech.com/images/spacer.gif
http://common.ziffdavisinternet.com/util_get_image/20/0,1425,i=200848,00.jpg
(http://javascript<b></b>:OpenImageWindow('http://www.extremetech.com/image_popup/0,1694,iid=198618,00.asp', '640', '600'))click on image for full view
Next, click the All Users option. Notice the list box; it gradually determines the status of programs that are configured to start when Windows starts. Determine which ones you don't need, highlight one, and click Disable. Wait for the list box to refresh, and repeat the process for each program you don't wish to start when Windows Vista starts.
When you're done, you can reboot to flush those background apps from memory.
Note that whenever you install new programs, you should run Windows Defender's Software Explorer to see if something unnecessary is scheduled to start when Vista starts. Be sure not to disable stuff you actually use, such as controller programming interfaces or antivirus applications.
Disable UAC (at Your Own Risk)
By popular demand, we present the following instructions on how to disable User Account Control. UAC, as it's called, is the charming module that causes Windows Vista to stop and ask permission whenever you try to do things like install a program, run an unfamiliar program, make changes that affect the system (such as starting Device Manager), and so on.
Unless you are an experienced user, you shouldn't disable UAC. It's a securityhttp://images.intellitxt.com/ast/adTypes/1.gif
layer that prevents accidental meandering in areas that can adversely affect the system, and it also can notify you when an untrusted program, such as a virus or spyware, attempts to run.
If you're an experienced user and you absolutely can't stand being stopped every time you try to tweak or install something, disable UAC at your own risk. To do so, start Control Panel, click User Accounts and Family Safety, click on the account for which you wish to disable UAC, and click Turn User Account Control On Or Off.
http://www.extremetech.com/images/spacer.gif
http://common.ziffdavisinternet.com/util_get_image/20/0,1425,i=200850,00.jpg
(http://javascript<b></b>:OpenImageWindow('http://www.extremetech.com/image_popup/0,1694,iid=198620,00.asp', '640', '600'))click on image for full view
Then, turn the option off and verify that you really want to do that. You may have to reboot the system for this change to take effect.
When you're done, you'll be delighted that those annoying nags are gone forever. If you do disable UAC, we strongly recommend you use powerful antivirus and antispyware solutions and keep them up to date.
You've been warned repeatedly. If you disable UAC and get into trouble, you're on your own!
Schedule Defrags and Grab the Hotfixes
</B>
We mentioned that you should defrag your hard drive(s) occasionally in the last Speed Up Vista piece. If your system stays on all the time, you should schedule disk defragmentations to run on a regular basis at a time during which you're not using the computer.
Unlike the disk defrag program that comes with Windows XP, the one in Vista allows you to schedule defrags natively. It's easy and will keep your drive optimized and free from performance-munching fragmentation.
To schedule a defrag:
Click Start
Type Defrag and press Enter
Check the Run on Schedule checkbox.
Click Modify Schedule.
Select your preferred schedule options (you can have Disk Defragmenter do its thing daily, weekly or monthly, and select the exact day and time).
http://www.extremetech.com/images/spacer.gif
http://common.ziffdavisinternet.com/util_get_image/20/0,1425,i=200849,00.jpg
(http://javascript<b></b>:OpenImageWindow('http://www.extremetech.com/image_popup/0,1694,iid=198619,00.asp', '640', '532'))click on image for full view
Grab the Hotfixes
Keeping Windows Vista up to date via automatic or manual use of Windows Update isn't enough. Microsoft has released a series of Windows Vista "hotfixes," and some of them aren't available through Windows Update.
They tackle things like graphics performance, reliability, compatibility, and SLI/CrossFire operation. For your convenience, the hotfixes are linked here:
Compatibility and Reliability (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/938194)
Performance and Reliability (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/938979)
Virtual Address Space (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/940105)
SLI/CrossFire in DirectX10 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/936710)These fixes should be downloaded and installed manually. You might have to pass a "Windows Genuine Advantage" validation test to download them from the sites linked, so if you're pirating your copy, you're out of luck here.
Customize or Disable Indexing
Indexing is Windows Vista's way of making its search function so amazingly fast. It's also a bit of a memory hog and can be optimized or shut down completely—but note that if you do shut down Indexing your searches will take as long to execute as they did on older Windows operating systems.
You can customize which folders get indexed, and reducing them can free up the memory used by the Indexing service. You can also disable the service altogether to free up all the memory it uses, provided you don't expect instant search results.
To customize indexing, start Control Panel, click System and Maintenance, and click Indexing Options. A properties sheet for the indexing system appears.
http://www.extremetech.com/images/spacer.gif
http://common.ziffdavisinternet.com/util_get_image/20/0,1425,i=200847,00.jpg
(http://javascript<b></b>:OpenImageWindow('http://www.extremetech.com/image_popup/0,1694,iid=198617,00.asp', '640', '600'))click on image for full view
Click Modify to pull up a sheet in which you can specify which drives and folder you wish to be part of the index. It's best to have the folders in which you save data indexed, unless you're exceptionally organized and never search for files.
To turn off indexing altogether, you can simply shut down the service. Click Start, and then type in "services" and hit Enter. In the Services window, scroll down until you find the Windows Search service. Right-click it, click Properties, and click Stop. Then, pull down the Startup Type box and click Disabled. Your searches, should you perform any, will now manually sort through the file system instead of the cached index, and take much longer. With these tweaks and updates, Windows Vista should run a bit more smoothly and reliably.
Four Must-Have Vista Updates
If you're running Windows Vista, you need to fire up your web browser and install these four updates now. Many of the fixes we've been waiting for in Service Pack 1 are found here, and they significantly improve the performance and compatibility of the new OS. First up is KB938194 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/938194). This "Compatibility and Reliability" update features a host of improvements, including fixes for these issues:
The screen may go blank when you try to upgrade the video driver.
The computer stops responding, and you receive a "Display driver stopped responding and has recovered" error message.
The computer stops responding or restarts unexpectedly when you play video games or perform desktop operations.
The Diagnostic Policy Service (DPS) stops responding when the computer is under heavy load or when very little memory is available. This problem prevents diagnostics from working.
The screen goes blank after an external display device that is connected to the computer is turned off.
There are stability issues with some graphics processing units (GPUs). These issues could cause GPUs to stop responding (hang).
Visual appearance issues occur when you play graphics-intensive games.
You experience poor playback quality when you play HD DVD disks or Blu-ray disks on a large monitor.
Applications that load the Netcfgx.dll component exit unexpectedly.
Windows Calendar exits unexpectedly after you create a new appointment, create a new task, and then restart the computer.
Internet Connectionhttp://images.intellitxt.com/ast/adTypes/1.gif
(http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2177728,00.asp#)Sharing stops responding after you upgrade a computer that is running Microsoft Windows XP to Windows Vista and then restart the computer.
The Printer Spooler service stops unexpectedly.
You receive a "Stop 0x0000009F" error when you put the computer to sleep while a Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) connection is active.Next, and perhaps more importantly, is the KB938979 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/938979) update, for "Performance and Reliability." Updates include fixes for these problems:
You experience a long delay when you try to exit the Photos screen saver.
A memory leak occurs when you use the Windows Energy screen saver.
If User Account Control is disabled on the computer, you cannot install a network printer successfully.
When you write data to an AVI file by using the AVIStreamWrite function, the file header of the AVI file is corrupted.
When you copy or move a large file, the "estimated time remaining" takes a long time to be calculated and displayed.
After you resume the computer from hibernation, it takes a long time to display the logon screen.
When you synchronize an offline file to a server, the offline file is corrupted.
If you edit an image file that uses the RAW image format, data loss occurs in the image file. This problem occurs if the RAW image is from the Canon EOS 1D and 1DS models.
After you resume the computer from hibernation, the computer loses its default gateway address.
Poor memory management performance occurs.That last one is rather vague for sure, but anything that improves Vista's memory management is welcome.
Microsoft actually released these updates earlier in August, and I have been using them at home. They certainly work as advertised: Many operations in Explorer are "snappier" and the bug with Estimated Time Remaining for file copies is gone. Feedback across the web from other early adopters shows that a lot of small annoying bugs, memory leaks, and problems have disappeared with these two updates. You can download them from the knowledge base articles, but Microsoft has added them as critical updates in Windows Update this week. So if you haven't run Windows Update yet, now is the time.
Those aren't the only two major fixes, though. A pair of graphics-related updates, not available through Windows Update, are worth grabbing, as well.
Graphics Fixes for Vista KB940105 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/940105)
is a very interesting update that every single gamer using Vista will want to grab immediately. It's not available on Windows Update, so you'll need to visit the Knowledge Base article to grab it.
<B>It addresses a problem with virtual address space in Vista that has been plaguing game developers and game players since the OS's debut. It's a bit complicated to explain, so I'll let the Knowledge Base article do the talking:Existing games and other graphics applications frequently allocate virtual memory for a copy of the video memory resources that the application uses. The application uses this copy to restore the display quickly if the contents of video memory are lost. For example, the application uses this copy if the user presses ALT+TAB or if the user puts the computer in standby. Typically, the DirectX run time manages the copy on behalf of the application when the application creates a managed resource. However, an application can also manage the copy itself. The virtual memory that the copy uses is directly proportional to the video memory resources that the application allocates. </B>
With the introduction of DirectX 10 and Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) in Windows Vista, it is no longer necessary for an application to maintain a copy of its resources in system memory. Instead, the video memory manager makes sure that the content of every video memory allocation is maintained across display transitions.
To virtualize video memory, the video memory manager in Windows Vista assigns a virtual address range to every video memory resource. This range is conceptually similar to the copy that an application might create. However, the video memory manager manages the process more efficiently than the application might. The video memory manager uses the virtual address range to handle transitions or over-commitment of video memory. However, the virtual address range is typically unused on a system that has lots of video memory. As long as this virtual address range remains unused, no physical memory is allocated for it. In contrast, the system memory copy that is maintained in the older driver model is guaranteed to be fully populated with physical memory.
If an application creates its own in-memory copy of its video resources, or the application uses DirectX 9 or an earlier version, the virtual address space contains the WDDM video memory manager's virtualized range and the application's copy. Applications that use graphics APIs that are earlier than DirectX 10 and that target GPUs that have large amounts of video memory can easily exhaust their virtual address space.
To make a long story short: Games were using a lot more RAM than was necessary, sucking up huge blocks of virtual address space copying the large frame buffers of modern graphics cards twice—once by the OS and again by the game. This fix has been available on disc by request for a few weeks now. Our good friends at Anandtech tested the fix and found that many games used hundreds of megabytes less RAM after it is applied. Vista still isn't as lean as Windows XP, but it's within spitting distance. You typically won't see the fix affect timedemos and similar benchmarks, but it can reduce disc thrashing and other memory-related problems during gameplay, especially on games that use a lot of RAM.
The fourth and final fix is a simple one. KB936710 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/936710)
simply addresses an issue with SLI/CrossFire systems running DirectX 10 games, where Vista may only use a single GPU even though you're running two in parallel. If you have two DX10-compatible graphics cards in your system, or might one day, you need this patch. Like the virtual address space fix, it's not yet available on Windows Update, so make sure you go to the knowledge base article and download it.
If you're one of the enthusiasts interested in Vista but you've been holding out for Service Pack 1, you may want to reconsider. Microsoft detailed many of the changes coming in an SP1 white paper (http://windowsvistablog.com/blogs/windowsvista/pages/windows-vista-service-pack-1-beta-whitepaper.aspx) just the other day, and these four fixes are most of what typical end users are waiting for. There are quite a few improvements in SP1 that aren't covered by these four fixes, but most of them are aimed at corporate admins and similar business-class users. These four fixes, along with the past few months of driver and BIOS updates for various hardware, may bring Vista up to a level of performance and reliability that most home users and gamers were expecting from a "post-SP1" OS.
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I hope this hacks tweaks and speed ups help Improve your Vista OS and solve alot of your problem that may hender your DNC back ups
Readmetoo
Speed Up Windows Vista
It's been well over a year since Windows Vista shipped, and despite all the naysayers crooning that Microsoft really goofed with the operating system, it happens that our previous article on speeding up Windows Vista was one of our most popular pieces in 2007.
After much research, plenty of heavy use, and lots of experimenting, we've come up with a few more ways to tweak out the operating system with performance in mind. Vista is constantly being criticized for being too pokey, but in actuality, on a modern system, it's pretty buff—especially if you streamline it.
A few things you might want to keep in mind:
Check for new drivers frequently. Graphics drivers, especially, have come a very long way since their earlier, crappier predecessors. Look also for chipset drivers, audio drivers, and peripheral drivers on a regular basis.
Keep Windows updates current as well, whether you use the automated update system or you check for updates manually on a regular basis.
Don't apply any of our tweaks without first backing up your system. Drop all of your important data files onto removable media or even an external hard drive.
All of these optimizations can be undone, and should be if they don't function to your liking. Pay attention to the steps you take to perform them, and reverse them as you see fit.
Remember that Windows Vista optimizes itself as it keeps track of how you use your computer. While it doesn't hurt to perform these tweaks on a fresh installation, you might actually wish to wait a couple of weeks (especially before you tweak the startup files) before you apply them.Now, on to the optimizations. With your system fully updated and backed up, tear into the OS and make it run more smoothly.
Some Stuff to Avoid Tweaking
Before we get into the actual tweaks, there are a few items you really should not mess around with. Some of them include recommended tweaks for prior Windows operating systems; Vista is, believe it or not, improved in its handling of certain aspects of day to day maintenance over Windows XP.
Items to leave alone include SuperFetch and the page file.
SuperFetch is vastly better than that found in Windows XP. SuperFetch takes note of the applications you use most often and keeps a working record of this in the system's main memory. Programs that you use the most are optimized to load faster. Thus, if you're a frequent user of, say, Word, and you rarely use Adobe Reader, Vista will configure itself to load Word as quickly as possible without much regard for Reader. Furthermore, when a background task runs, SuperFetch allows memory for it—but when it's finished, it drops the stuff that you've used the most back into memory so that it's there when you need it. For more, check out the TechNet piece on SuperFetch.
The page file is also subject to a vast improvement over Vista. The best thing to do is to let it take care of itself. The page file, sometimes called virtual memory, is stored on the hard drive and used to store data that might not fit in main memory. While it's treated by the system in a similar way to RAM, since it's on the much slower hard drive it takes longer to access.
If your system is low in memory, you might notice the hard drive thrashing frequently; the answer isn't to tweak how Windows Vista handles the paging of data, but to add more memory to your system.
Another Way to Battle Background Apps
In the last Vista optimization article, we recommended using MSCONFIG to eliminate background tasks that aren't necessary. That's a thorough way to go about it, but it does have a disadvantage: when the system starts up, it reminds you via a system tray notification that it blocked startup tasks.
To avoid that, you can disable startup items that you don't need (such as bits and pieces of programs dropped into the system tray by applications such as QuickTime, Adobe Reader, Real Player, Quicken, and many, many others) through Windows Defender's Software Explorer.
Invoke Windows Defender by clicking the Start button and typing Defender, and hitting Enter. Windows Defender starts. Click Tools, and then Software Explorer.
http://www.extremetech.com/images/spacer.gif
http://common.ziffdavisinternet.com/util_get_image/20/0,1425,i=200848,00.jpg
(http://javascript<b></b>:OpenImageWindow('http://www.extremetech.com/image_popup/0,1694,iid=198618,00.asp', '640', '600'))click on image for full view
Next, click the All Users option. Notice the list box; it gradually determines the status of programs that are configured to start when Windows starts. Determine which ones you don't need, highlight one, and click Disable. Wait for the list box to refresh, and repeat the process for each program you don't wish to start when Windows Vista starts.
When you're done, you can reboot to flush those background apps from memory.
Note that whenever you install new programs, you should run Windows Defender's Software Explorer to see if something unnecessary is scheduled to start when Vista starts. Be sure not to disable stuff you actually use, such as controller programming interfaces or antivirus applications.
Disable UAC (at Your Own Risk)
By popular demand, we present the following instructions on how to disable User Account Control. UAC, as it's called, is the charming module that causes Windows Vista to stop and ask permission whenever you try to do things like install a program, run an unfamiliar program, make changes that affect the system (such as starting Device Manager), and so on.
Unless you are an experienced user, you shouldn't disable UAC. It's a securityhttp://images.intellitxt.com/ast/adTypes/1.gif
layer that prevents accidental meandering in areas that can adversely affect the system, and it also can notify you when an untrusted program, such as a virus or spyware, attempts to run.
If you're an experienced user and you absolutely can't stand being stopped every time you try to tweak or install something, disable UAC at your own risk. To do so, start Control Panel, click User Accounts and Family Safety, click on the account for which you wish to disable UAC, and click Turn User Account Control On Or Off.
http://www.extremetech.com/images/spacer.gif
http://common.ziffdavisinternet.com/util_get_image/20/0,1425,i=200850,00.jpg
(http://javascript<b></b>:OpenImageWindow('http://www.extremetech.com/image_popup/0,1694,iid=198620,00.asp', '640', '600'))click on image for full view
Then, turn the option off and verify that you really want to do that. You may have to reboot the system for this change to take effect.
When you're done, you'll be delighted that those annoying nags are gone forever. If you do disable UAC, we strongly recommend you use powerful antivirus and antispyware solutions and keep them up to date.
You've been warned repeatedly. If you disable UAC and get into trouble, you're on your own!
Schedule Defrags and Grab the Hotfixes
</B>
We mentioned that you should defrag your hard drive(s) occasionally in the last Speed Up Vista piece. If your system stays on all the time, you should schedule disk defragmentations to run on a regular basis at a time during which you're not using the computer.
Unlike the disk defrag program that comes with Windows XP, the one in Vista allows you to schedule defrags natively. It's easy and will keep your drive optimized and free from performance-munching fragmentation.
To schedule a defrag:
Click Start
Type Defrag and press Enter
Check the Run on Schedule checkbox.
Click Modify Schedule.
Select your preferred schedule options (you can have Disk Defragmenter do its thing daily, weekly or monthly, and select the exact day and time).
http://www.extremetech.com/images/spacer.gif
http://common.ziffdavisinternet.com/util_get_image/20/0,1425,i=200849,00.jpg
(http://javascript<b></b>:OpenImageWindow('http://www.extremetech.com/image_popup/0,1694,iid=198619,00.asp', '640', '532'))click on image for full view
Grab the Hotfixes
Keeping Windows Vista up to date via automatic or manual use of Windows Update isn't enough. Microsoft has released a series of Windows Vista "hotfixes," and some of them aren't available through Windows Update.
They tackle things like graphics performance, reliability, compatibility, and SLI/CrossFire operation. For your convenience, the hotfixes are linked here:
Compatibility and Reliability (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/938194)
Performance and Reliability (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/938979)
Virtual Address Space (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/940105)
SLI/CrossFire in DirectX10 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/936710)These fixes should be downloaded and installed manually. You might have to pass a "Windows Genuine Advantage" validation test to download them from the sites linked, so if you're pirating your copy, you're out of luck here.
Customize or Disable Indexing
Indexing is Windows Vista's way of making its search function so amazingly fast. It's also a bit of a memory hog and can be optimized or shut down completely—but note that if you do shut down Indexing your searches will take as long to execute as they did on older Windows operating systems.
You can customize which folders get indexed, and reducing them can free up the memory used by the Indexing service. You can also disable the service altogether to free up all the memory it uses, provided you don't expect instant search results.
To customize indexing, start Control Panel, click System and Maintenance, and click Indexing Options. A properties sheet for the indexing system appears.
http://www.extremetech.com/images/spacer.gif
http://common.ziffdavisinternet.com/util_get_image/20/0,1425,i=200847,00.jpg
(http://javascript<b></b>:OpenImageWindow('http://www.extremetech.com/image_popup/0,1694,iid=198617,00.asp', '640', '600'))click on image for full view
Click Modify to pull up a sheet in which you can specify which drives and folder you wish to be part of the index. It's best to have the folders in which you save data indexed, unless you're exceptionally organized and never search for files.
To turn off indexing altogether, you can simply shut down the service. Click Start, and then type in "services" and hit Enter. In the Services window, scroll down until you find the Windows Search service. Right-click it, click Properties, and click Stop. Then, pull down the Startup Type box and click Disabled. Your searches, should you perform any, will now manually sort through the file system instead of the cached index, and take much longer. With these tweaks and updates, Windows Vista should run a bit more smoothly and reliably.
Four Must-Have Vista Updates
If you're running Windows Vista, you need to fire up your web browser and install these four updates now. Many of the fixes we've been waiting for in Service Pack 1 are found here, and they significantly improve the performance and compatibility of the new OS. First up is KB938194 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/938194). This "Compatibility and Reliability" update features a host of improvements, including fixes for these issues:
The screen may go blank when you try to upgrade the video driver.
The computer stops responding, and you receive a "Display driver stopped responding and has recovered" error message.
The computer stops responding or restarts unexpectedly when you play video games or perform desktop operations.
The Diagnostic Policy Service (DPS) stops responding when the computer is under heavy load or when very little memory is available. This problem prevents diagnostics from working.
The screen goes blank after an external display device that is connected to the computer is turned off.
There are stability issues with some graphics processing units (GPUs). These issues could cause GPUs to stop responding (hang).
Visual appearance issues occur when you play graphics-intensive games.
You experience poor playback quality when you play HD DVD disks or Blu-ray disks on a large monitor.
Applications that load the Netcfgx.dll component exit unexpectedly.
Windows Calendar exits unexpectedly after you create a new appointment, create a new task, and then restart the computer.
Internet Connectionhttp://images.intellitxt.com/ast/adTypes/1.gif
(http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2177728,00.asp#)Sharing stops responding after you upgrade a computer that is running Microsoft Windows XP to Windows Vista and then restart the computer.
The Printer Spooler service stops unexpectedly.
You receive a "Stop 0x0000009F" error when you put the computer to sleep while a Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) connection is active.Next, and perhaps more importantly, is the KB938979 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/938979) update, for "Performance and Reliability." Updates include fixes for these problems:
You experience a long delay when you try to exit the Photos screen saver.
A memory leak occurs when you use the Windows Energy screen saver.
If User Account Control is disabled on the computer, you cannot install a network printer successfully.
When you write data to an AVI file by using the AVIStreamWrite function, the file header of the AVI file is corrupted.
When you copy or move a large file, the "estimated time remaining" takes a long time to be calculated and displayed.
After you resume the computer from hibernation, it takes a long time to display the logon screen.
When you synchronize an offline file to a server, the offline file is corrupted.
If you edit an image file that uses the RAW image format, data loss occurs in the image file. This problem occurs if the RAW image is from the Canon EOS 1D and 1DS models.
After you resume the computer from hibernation, the computer loses its default gateway address.
Poor memory management performance occurs.That last one is rather vague for sure, but anything that improves Vista's memory management is welcome.
Microsoft actually released these updates earlier in August, and I have been using them at home. They certainly work as advertised: Many operations in Explorer are "snappier" and the bug with Estimated Time Remaining for file copies is gone. Feedback across the web from other early adopters shows that a lot of small annoying bugs, memory leaks, and problems have disappeared with these two updates. You can download them from the knowledge base articles, but Microsoft has added them as critical updates in Windows Update this week. So if you haven't run Windows Update yet, now is the time.
Those aren't the only two major fixes, though. A pair of graphics-related updates, not available through Windows Update, are worth grabbing, as well.
Graphics Fixes for Vista KB940105 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/940105)
is a very interesting update that every single gamer using Vista will want to grab immediately. It's not available on Windows Update, so you'll need to visit the Knowledge Base article to grab it.
<B>It addresses a problem with virtual address space in Vista that has been plaguing game developers and game players since the OS's debut. It's a bit complicated to explain, so I'll let the Knowledge Base article do the talking:Existing games and other graphics applications frequently allocate virtual memory for a copy of the video memory resources that the application uses. The application uses this copy to restore the display quickly if the contents of video memory are lost. For example, the application uses this copy if the user presses ALT+TAB or if the user puts the computer in standby. Typically, the DirectX run time manages the copy on behalf of the application when the application creates a managed resource. However, an application can also manage the copy itself. The virtual memory that the copy uses is directly proportional to the video memory resources that the application allocates. </B>
With the introduction of DirectX 10 and Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) in Windows Vista, it is no longer necessary for an application to maintain a copy of its resources in system memory. Instead, the video memory manager makes sure that the content of every video memory allocation is maintained across display transitions.
To virtualize video memory, the video memory manager in Windows Vista assigns a virtual address range to every video memory resource. This range is conceptually similar to the copy that an application might create. However, the video memory manager manages the process more efficiently than the application might. The video memory manager uses the virtual address range to handle transitions or over-commitment of video memory. However, the virtual address range is typically unused on a system that has lots of video memory. As long as this virtual address range remains unused, no physical memory is allocated for it. In contrast, the system memory copy that is maintained in the older driver model is guaranteed to be fully populated with physical memory.
If an application creates its own in-memory copy of its video resources, or the application uses DirectX 9 or an earlier version, the virtual address space contains the WDDM video memory manager's virtualized range and the application's copy. Applications that use graphics APIs that are earlier than DirectX 10 and that target GPUs that have large amounts of video memory can easily exhaust their virtual address space.
To make a long story short: Games were using a lot more RAM than was necessary, sucking up huge blocks of virtual address space copying the large frame buffers of modern graphics cards twice—once by the OS and again by the game. This fix has been available on disc by request for a few weeks now. Our good friends at Anandtech tested the fix and found that many games used hundreds of megabytes less RAM after it is applied. Vista still isn't as lean as Windows XP, but it's within spitting distance. You typically won't see the fix affect timedemos and similar benchmarks, but it can reduce disc thrashing and other memory-related problems during gameplay, especially on games that use a lot of RAM.
The fourth and final fix is a simple one. KB936710 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/936710)
simply addresses an issue with SLI/CrossFire systems running DirectX 10 games, where Vista may only use a single GPU even though you're running two in parallel. If you have two DX10-compatible graphics cards in your system, or might one day, you need this patch. Like the virtual address space fix, it's not yet available on Windows Update, so make sure you go to the knowledge base article and download it.
If you're one of the enthusiasts interested in Vista but you've been holding out for Service Pack 1, you may want to reconsider. Microsoft detailed many of the changes coming in an SP1 white paper (http://windowsvistablog.com/blogs/windowsvista/pages/windows-vista-service-pack-1-beta-whitepaper.aspx) just the other day, and these four fixes are most of what typical end users are waiting for. There are quite a few improvements in SP1 that aren't covered by these four fixes, but most of them are aimed at corporate admins and similar business-class users. These four fixes, along with the past few months of driver and BIOS updates for various hardware, may bring Vista up to a level of performance and reliability that most home users and gamers were expecting from a "post-SP1" OS.
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I hope this hacks tweaks and speed ups help Improve your Vista OS and solve alot of your problem that may hender your DNC back ups
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