Disappointing performance with new computer and Windows Vista

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I have just acquired a new duo-core computer (Sony VAIO VGN-TZ17GN) which
comes with Windows Vista Business, upgrading from a 2-year old Dell with
Windows XP and it is negatively surprising the performance of this new
computer. After updating Windows, disabling Windows Aero, updating Graphics
driver, etc, etc, etc the computer still takes big time to power on and also
take long to start every application. HW is composed by 2x 1.20GHz Centrino
processors and 1GB of RAM. Display adapter is integrated, model 945 express
chipset family from Intel. After running WEI my "new" computer gets 2.0 for
Graphics adapter and 2.6 for gaming graphics adapter. Anything else I can do
to get decent performance on this computer ????
 
Open Power Options (its in the Control Panel) and then
place a dot next to High Performance.

Next:

Open Device Manager (its in the Control Panel) and then
right-click on your hard drive (under Disk Drives). Click
on "Policies" and make sure there are check marks next to
"Optimize for Performance", "Enable write caching on
the disk", and "Enable advanced performance", then click OK.

Next, perform a Disk Cleanup:

Click on the blue Vista start button and then on the Computer
entry in the Start Menu. Right-click on your hard drive and
select Properties > Disk Cleanup > Files from all users.....
More Options > Clean Up (System Restore and Shadow Copies).

Consider installing addition RAM up to 2GB. Having a total of
2GB RAM installed will significantly improve overall performance.
Visit: http://www.crucial.com/ and run the Crucial System Scanner Tool.

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows Shell/User

---------------------------------------------------------------

I have just acquired a new duo-core computer (Sony VAIO VGN-TZ17GN) which
comes with Windows Vista Business, upgrading from a 2-year old Dell with
Windows XP and it is negatively surprising the performance of this new
computer. After updating Windows, disabling Windows Aero, updating Graphics
driver, etc, etc, etc the computer still takes big time to power on and also
take long to start every application. HW is composed by 2x 1.20GHz Centrino
processors and 1GB of RAM. Display adapter is integrated, model 945 express
chipset family from Intel. After running WEI my "new" computer gets 2.0 for
Graphics adapter and 2.6 for gaming graphics adapter. Anything else I can do
to get decent performance on this computer ????
 
Do as Carey said and you definitely want 2 gigs of RAM. Another help is to
use
1.75+ Gig of FAST Flash Drive Memory with ReadyBoost. RAM is better but
ReadyBoost does help. Also update all your drivers and Sony Utilities.

How to set Perfmon to monitor ReadyBoost
http://mindvacant.com/Nuke70_News/article-51--0-0.html

ReadyBoost Drives - Compatible
http://www.grantgibson.co.uk/misc/readyboost/

http://www.activewin.com/reviews/hardware/memory/vista/readyboost.shtml

ReadyBoost Incompatible
http://www.grantgibson.co.uk/misc/readyboost/?status=incompatible
 
Your WEI will be equal to the lowest of all the scores.
The lowest may be your problem, but not always.

2 GB RAM may be necessary for you although many run Windows Vista
successfully with 1 GB.

See what programs are running at start.
Most OEMs have a bunch of garbage running at start.
Uninstall anything you do not want and disable from startup anything
you do not want running at start.
Most programs have an option in their "Settings" or "Options" to
prevent a program from running at start.

Update to the latest drivers, particularly video.
Do not assume a new computer has the latest drivers.
 
It's been my experience that the 512 mB and 1 gB RAM Vista systems can be
likened to the initial offering of XP with 128 mB and 256 mB of RAM - while
it does work, it's not going to be satisfactory in the long run.

I also recall the days of advising that 512 mB of RAM was what was needed
for XP to run well, now that recommendation has risen to 1 gB. How will this
affect Vista? I dunno :( But my recommendations now are for 1 gB for
adequate performance, and 2 gB for good performance. 4 gB is great, but 32
bit systems won't recognize the full 4 gB (mine recognizes 3.26 gB).

As the OS "ages" there'll be changes that consume more and more of the RAM
(and this just considers RAM issues - not the other issues of "bloat"). You
can either aggressively maintain the system by continually monitoring the RAM
consumption (and performing the maintenance chores to keep it down) - - or
you can add more RAM to offset the labor that you'll need to invest to keep
it running in tiptop shape.

In short, move up to 2 gB, but don't expect it to fix all the problems.
It's gonna take a bit of tuning and some maintenance to get it working the
way that you want.

- John
 
Jupiter Jones said:
Your WEI will be equal to the lowest of all the scores.
The lowest may be your problem, but not always.

2 GB RAM may be necessary for you although many run Windows Vista
successfully with 1 GB.

See what programs are running at start.
Most OEMs have a bunch of garbage running at start.
Click to expand...

You also forget that vista also has a lot of *garbage* you don't need as
well.
 
Thanks all for the answers, a lot of things have improved but I still see
performance issues to power on, to drag Explorer download history list, to
open new browser tab, to open applications and files ... Have re-ran the WEI
and now I get:
- Processor: calculations per second Score 4.4 (same as before)
- Memory RAM: operations per second Score 4.1 (same as before)
- Graphics: desktop performance for Windows Aero Score 3.3 (before was 2.0)
- Gaming Graphics: 3D business and gaming graphics perf. Score 2.6 (same as
b4)
- Primary hard disk: disk data transfer rate Score 3.9 (same as before)
It is clear that 2GB is a must for me, but I'm not convinced this is the
best I can get from my new machine before upgrading memory. Anything else I
can do to get fair performance with Windows Vista ?
 
You can turn AERO off and stop uneccessary programs and services.

Black Viper's Vista Service Configurations
http://www.blackviper.com/WinVista/servicecfg.htm

Windows Vista Services Guide
http://www.speedyvista.com/services.html

Windows Vista Services Tweak Guide v1.0
http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=87443

ItsVista
http://itsvista.com/

Show system information , processes, startup items, and more.
Start - Accessories - Run - msinfo32

http://www.speedyvista.com/
Vista Performance Tweaking

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9015738
Top 10 Vista Hacks

50 Tips & Tricks for Vista
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2181865,00.asp

SpeedUP Vista
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2110595,00.asp

Control What Starts in Vista with MSCONFIG:
http://www.fixmyvista.com/content/view/14/26/
 
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