Take a look at Vista and Windows XP side by side, and the first thing you’ll notice is that Vista is far more sophisticated graphically. Translucence, 3D task management, smart previewing. All these things make for a stylish and more usable interface, but they also demand more computing power.
Because of that, you won’t find Vista running rings around XP when it comes to performance. Where Vista does have an advantage over XP is in the range of performance tools it offers. It also has some very smart performance technology built into its internals.
Superfetching
Take SuperFetch. SuperFetch enhances Vista’s performance as you work by keeping an eye on the programs you use most often and preloading those programs into memory. It gives priority to the tasks you choose to do while keeping background tasks sidelined until your computer is idle. During idle times, once a background task has completed, SuperFetch reloads your last-used data into memory, ready for your next activity.
Low-priority input/output (I/O) goes hand in hand with SuperFetch. While SuperFetch smartens up Vista’s memory management, low-priority I/O does a similar job with your hard disks. Applications written to take advantage of low-priority I/O go to the back of the line, as it were, when accessing the hard drive at the same time as other tasks. A number of Vista’s tools and services, including search indexing, Windows Defender and automatic disk defragmentation are coded to run in this low-priority mode.
Automatic defrag
The way files are organised on your drive has a perceptible impact on the performance of your computer. If your files are stored neatly, end-to-end, without fragmentation, reading and writing to the disk is speedier. If file fragmentation becomes too bad on your disk, your system’s performance will suffer. In the past, you had to perform a manual defrag every now and then. With Vista, defragging happens automatically in the background whenever your computer is idle. If the defrag process is interrupted, it will resume the next time your computer is sitting idle. The best thing about this is you no longer need to remember to defrag your disk, as Vista will do the job for you.
Looking for Defrag? It’s not there; Vista does the job for you automatically. (Click the image to see a full-sized screenshot.)
ReadyBoost
Many of Vista’s performance enhancements rely on technology that evolved well after Windows XP was released.
Take ReadyBoost. It lets Vista boost system performance by taking advantage of plug-in memory in the form of USB keys, SD Cards, CompactFlash cards or other compact memory devices.
It used to be that the only way to get this sort of improvement was to install additional RAM in your computer, a process that entailed opening up your PC, hoping there was an empty memory slot available, and ensuring a match with your existing RAM. With ReadyBoost, all you do is plug in your memory card or USB key and, when prompted in the AutoPlay dialog box, choose the option Speed Up My System.
Use ReadbyBoost and a USB key or memory card to increase your system’s memory.
ReadyBoost requires high-speed memory, so not all plug-in memory works with it, but you should find that most new devices are compatible. ReadyBoost is also smart enough to cope with the memory device being unplugged during operation, although you’ll need to make sure you click the Safely Remove Hardware icon in the taskbar before removing the memory. Of course, ReadyBoost will work more efficiently if you keep the memory device plugged in, so you may want to dedicate a device to this task. With prices for flash memory dropping rapidly, this is an inexpensive option.
| geekgirl.tip: beware metal USB memory sticks |
| Watch out for metal encased USB memory
sticks, like the Cruzer Titanium. While these devices look slick and seem to
offer increased protection for your precious data - who'd want to stick
important files on some of the flimsy plastic things you can buy? - they
have one significant flaw: they are susceptible to static discharge. Dry weather, synthetic carpet and a metal USB key sometimes add up to a deadly situation for your data. This has been reported on a number of user forums and I've had a personal experience of sticking a key into a USB slot, seeing a quick blue spark flash, and bang! No more data. And the USB key was no longer usable, either. |
ReadyBoost can take advantage of USB keys and other devices with from 256 megabytes up to 4 gigabytes of memory. You’ll get the best performance if your ReadyBoost device is at least the same size as your system RAM and no larger than two-and-a-half times system RAM.
So, for example, if your system has 1G RAM, you should use a memory key that’s from 1G to 2.5G in size. You’ll also notice a far more significant improvement if your computer’s RAM is 1G or less and you use a lot of applications concurrently than if you use ReadyBoost on a system with an abundance of RAM with few running applications.
ReadyDrive
Another Vista technology that takes advantage of recently developed hardware is ReadyDrive. ReadyDrive dramatically boosts your computer’s startup time and also lets you resume from hibernation much faster.
| geekgirl.technote |
| Vista encrypts all the data on your ReadyBoost drive, so it’s protected if someone happens to make off with your memory key, and you can safely take the key with you when you’re on the go. |
To take advantage of ReadyDrive, you’ll need one of the new hybrid drives that combine flash memory and hard disk. These drives use a large buffer of non-volatile flash memory to store data during normal use, and only access the traditional hard disk platters when the flash buffer nears capacity or when a file on the hard drive must be opened. This reduces power consumption, making such drives ideal for mobile computing, and you’ll find they’re available on a number of notebook computers.
© 2007 Rose Vines
Support geekgirl'sDo you find the tutorials on this site useful? If so, please show your support by kicking in a few bucks to sponsor an orphanage for Afghan refugees. For a small amount, it is possible to make a difference in an area of the world which is hurting badly. |
|
|
| Want to know more? Read this post on my blog. |
| top | home |