Vista Performance

[AnITGeek]

Hi,

Has anyone else noticed that Vista has some fundamental performance issues?

I have recently upgraded to a new laptop, I used to have an HP with a AMD Turiom (Single Core), I now have a Fujitsu / Siemens Intel Core 2 Duo, 2Gb Ram and Vista Business.

There are several things which seem to not work properly and I was wondering if anyone else had the same issues and new of any solutions.

Problem 1 - Network
When copying from a network drive, Vista sits there and calculates something, this can take anything from 5-10 minutes and then eventually starts copying slowly at first but speeds up. Never had this issue on XP or Windows 2K. It probably would be quicker for me to walk to the corner shop, by a CD and them come back and burn it from the server!

Problem 2 - IE 7
The Vista version seems to be remarkabley unstable, especially when accessing any "complex" websites. It seems to stop responding at the just go white.

Problem 3 - Multitasking.
This seems ropey. For example cut and paste data from Word to Excel, or Access programs just freeze, they go white and you get the little blue circle.


Finally, does anyone know how to turn off the automatic problem solving thing? Its pretty useless and just wastes time!

Maybe I should go back to XP lol!

 

[SimonDavies]

Have you updated to SP1? Is the OS up to scratch with all of the hotfixes? I run Vista across a couple of machines and don't really notice any performance issues when compared to XP at all.

Same thing with IE, do you have all of the updates, got all of the players installed etc?

Lastly you have decrapified it haven't you? (ie removed all of the Fujitsu crap leaving a standard OS rather than a crapped out one with all of the bloatware).

SimonD.

The real world is not about exam scores, it's about ability.

 

[PRPhx]

I use both Vista home premium and the 32 bit version of Vista Ultimate. Neither have had any problems or issues. in fact I recorded the superbowl on my laptop and moved it to my desktop. The 18GB file took less than 30 minutes to copy.

IE7 is rock solid!!!!! I've never had a problem with it. However, I do run ad-aware, CCleaner and do defrags on a regular basis (I use the free auslogics defrag in place of the built in defragger).

A minor issue concerns Cisco's VPN software. I use it to log into my servers at work. Before I disconnect I have to have IE open. If not I lose internet connections until I reboot. Really weird. And I have all updates in place, including SP1.

 

[firewolfrl]

sounds almost like bad ram

 

[AnITGeek]

Thank you all.

I haven't decrapified it yet, but will do. I will also run MemTest on the system to check the RAM.

Just installed SP1, seems to be a bit better.

On the network thing, that is copying data from our FileServer to my machine. Reading around this seems to be an issue with Vista due to the way it calculates how long a file will take to copy.

 

[BadBigBen]

o be an issue with Vista due to the way it calculates

issue should have been resolved with SP1...

I also use a Laptop from Fujitsu-Siemens, and before I upped the RAM to 2gig, it was slower than the XP installed (Dual Boot), now it flies...

also certain crapware (wont mention the english bike named antiviral software that comes with the FJS) have an impact on the way the network/internet is being put through to the system... so as Simon mentions Decrapify it...

Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

 

[ASG0856]

I bought a new desktop, with AMD 64 X2 dual core 3Ghz with 3 Gb ram and installed ultimate.

Prob 1 - seen the same thing just copying to a floppy disk or to and from my exernal HardDrive. Seems to be working out how many files and how big - then copies over at an abysmally slow rate

Prob 2 - yup seen that too.
Prob 3 - ditto.

Now at SP1, and monitoring the situation.

 

[linney]

I agree with "BadBigBen" that Vista SP1 should fix most if not all of the file copy problems.

Other slowness problems should be checked out by comparing performance in Normal Mode with that in Safe Mode With Networking, where a lot of the unnecessary and processor intensive applications are not loaded. If there are major improvements in Safe Mode you will have to proceed to the next step.

310353 - How to Perform a Clean Boot in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;310353&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

316434 - HOW TO: Perform Advanced Clean-Boot Troubleshooting in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;316434&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

310560 - How to Troubleshoot By Using the Msconfig Utility in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;310560&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

It is also a good idea to check how the machine runs if you log in as another user besides your current one.

 

[TheLad]

I run Vista Ultimate on my PC and apart from a few Blue Screens due to dodgy NVidia drivers (resolved by upgrading them), my PC works well.

It does chew up diskspace like nobodys business though. My 30Gb C: has already run out (moved page file to D and I cannot determine what is using the space (the Winsxs folder is 8.5Gb though)

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[TheLad]

Oh and first thing I did was to rebuild it to get rid of all of the Dell crap that was preinstalled

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"Insert funny comment in here!"
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[linney]

TheLad,

A couple of Vista installs I have seem to settle down at the 17GB mark, but I don't download music or video or other large files.

These are XP related but still relevant in Vista so have a look at these threads if you want to get back some space.

Relocating Hard Drive Capacity and File Compression
thread779-939540

Hard Disk still full after deleting large files
thread779-1136701

 

[wolluf]

Oh good - another place for a vista moan!

15 months on, SP1 notwithstanding, bring back XP! Latest 'foible' in my Vista installation is problems playing media player clips from any browser. IE & firefox just hang, Opera error messages, but does play the clip. Thinking my machine is jinxed - can't all be down to Vista reading other people here (and I have to say Vista seems to run better on 2 older test machines, though as I don't use them on the same basis can't compare. On the other side, I've got an XP installation on this machine which leaves the Vista standing - though again I use it infrequently, so not fair comparison). Lots of my customers have 'slowness' problems with vista - the ever-spinning circle!

So I think I'll save up for a new machine & see if Vista any better on that.

 

[linney]

Wolluf,

Have you tried either of these?

Vista Codec Package 4.6.3 BETA 1

http://www.majorgeeks.com/download5701.html

Vista Codec Package 4.6.2 Final

http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=5326

 

[wolluf]

I hadn't - though have several other codec packages installed - so now I have, no difference unfortunately. Definitely considering replacing some/all of my hardware - there have been so many issues with this installation (and even more with its predecessors and the 64 bit version on the same machine) that I've no confidence in it. Whether its Vista or my hardware (it has occurred to me I may have a 'low key' hardware issue - but such things are very difficult to isolate) or a combination of both, its not working well enough. So a fresh start (if I can afford it!)

 

[AnITGeek]

I too have 2Gb of Ram in my machine.

I think the issues are still there with SP1.

1) Used the wheel mouse on IE7, tried to scroll up to click Login on this site and it crashed.

2) Trying to output a query in Access 2007 with 10,000 rows to Excel where the data is linked to a SQL database, it just sits there, well I say that I started at 17:05 and its just now come up with the Export option.

Oh, and on the Anti Virus front... it wouldn't be a certain product named N***on would it? That was the first thing I removed!!

 

[AnITGeek]

Whoops didn't say when it finished 17:20.

And to be fair, IE didn't crash, it sat there with the blue circular logo not doing a thing, then ten minutes later it woke up again.

I swear there are some weird networky things in Vista which cause massive periods of unresponsiveness.

Either that, or my machine has some functions with:

do until user has given up waiting
loop

;-)

 

[baddos]

You probably have a bad driver for some piece of hardware. I've never experienced those problems and I have Vista on 3 machines that I use daily.

 

[AnITGeek]

baddos -

Thanks, this has been the same since day one. I have read that Vista has some network issues especially with large files, that was the reason for my post just wondering if anyone knew which or where I could get a better driver set ;-)

 

[BadBigBen]

1.) the Fujitsu-Siemens website...

2.) cross reference the hardware installed, then go to the perspective website (e.g. chipset = intel)...


PS: on my laptop I've only those drivers that come from the manufacturers (as per 2) installed, and do not experience any problems at all (knocks on wood) yet...


Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

 

[begem0t]

Lenovo N100 2gig ram here. Vista is rock-stable.
Overall, the feeling is Vista is much faster than XP - not because it copies files faster (it does not) or browses websites faster (of course it does not). Just everything works much better - networks get accessed without long waits, all the LAN machines get found, wireless autoconnects when I change locations and multitasking feels much better. And I love the UI.

What I really don't like is the new "smart" way of copying large numbers of files - first calculating, than copying. Than again, I haven't been using explorer for file copying on XP, and I'm not going to use it in Vista. Looks like it's not meant for serious work.