Vista SP1 Evolves with New Reliability and Performance Boost
Microsoft is indeed starting to deliver an increasing volume of details related to the upcoming Windows 7 client and Windows 7 Server releases, but the end of 2009/ the debut of 2010 is still not even on the horizon, and neither are the next iterations of the Windows platforms.
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19.8.2008 Boost Vista's Performance, Responsiveness, and Reliability ahead of Vista SP1
Windows Vista Service Pack 1 RTM is without a doubt in sight. But the fact that the service pack's availability is contouring on the immediate horizon, and is now but a month away, provides little comfort for the users of Windows Vista RTM.
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14.2.2008 Vista SP1 Gives Extenders a Speed Boost
Word is that Vista SP1 is giving Linksys Extenders a bit of a speed boost, especially in the transition and animation field.
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25.3.2008 Vista, IE7 help Microsoft boost search market share
In a rare bit of good news for Microsoft on the search front, web metrics firm comScore reported that for the month of March, Microsoft's search engines saw their first market share increase in nearly a year.
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19.4.2007 Vista SP1 will deliver big network speed boost
I downloaded the release candidate of Vista Service Pack 1 yesterday and was prepared to wait till its public debut next week before writing about it.
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6.12.2007 Windows 7 Performance Tools - Performance Tools Kit 4.1.1
Internet Explorer 8 will be not only an apex of performance, but also the next major iteration of the Windows client, according to Microsoft.
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1.9.2008 Is 64-bit Vista ready for take off?
There have been 64-bit versions of Windows since Windows 2000, but Microsoft thinks 64-bit Vista may finally be starting to take off....
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4.8.2008 Vista users get the 64-bit blues
Microsoft is keen to stir up enthusiasm for Windows Vista, but when it comes to the 64-bit edition of the recently released operating system, the software giant is sending decidedly mixed messages.
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20.2.2007 6 Caveats 64-bit Windows Vista
There is little doubt that 64-bit architectures are the future, as far as the parallel evolution of processors and operating systems goes.
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12.1.2008 Windows Vista 64-bit Today
There appears to be a shift taking place in the PC industry: the move from 32-bit to 64-bit PCs. We've been tracking the change by looking at the percentage of 64-bit PCs connecting to Windows Update, and have seen a dramatic increase in recent months.
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31.7.2008 Microsoft looks to Halo 3 to boost Crackdown sales
Interest in upcoming free-roaming adventure Crackdown should soar on release this February, with the game disc including a key to download a beta test of Halo 3.
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4.1.2007 Intel 2-way servers to get 45nm boost in 4Q
The 2-way server market can expect a boost of holiday season cheer in the fourth quarter as Intel is lining up to launch 12 new processors based on its latest 45nm designs, according to sources at server makers.
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1.9.2007 Vista SP1 a Performance Dud
With the initial performance characteristics of Windows Vista leaving much to be desired (see our previous post on the subject), many IT organizations have put off deploying the new OS until the first service pack (SP1) is released by Microsoft early next year.
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20.11.2007 Another Vista Reliability & Performance Update
Vistas performance is one of those topics that wont be exhausted until Windows Seven hits RTM. It all comes down to trade-offs.
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12.12.2007 Windows Vista Performance and Tuning
Windows Vista and SP1 focus on delivering greater performance and overall system responsiveness. By striking a balance between speed and responsiveness, Windows Vista and SP1 deliver a level of performance that has the greatest positive impact on the systems usability.
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31.7.2008 Vista Performance Post SP1
Poor performance was one of the sins associated with Windows Vista RTM, especially in comparison to Windows XP throughout 2007.
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9.10.2008 Best 64-bit Windows Vista Anti-Virus
Windows Vista comes in both 32-bit and 64-bit flavors. Unlike Windows Server 2008, formerly codenamed Longhorn, which is the last server operating system from the Redmond company, the 32-bit client platform will live long after Windows Vista.
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2.8.2007 PC Manufacturers Embrace 64-Bit Vista
We knew it would come sooner or later, and from the looks of it widespread 64-bit computing might be on the horizon.
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7.5.2008 Analysis: Vista's Ready Boost is no match for RAM
There's a new way to enhance your cache in Vista - simply plug in your Flash memory stick. But how much performance gain can you really expect? TG Daily ran an average PC through a benchmark parcours and discovered that the old rules still apply: There is no substitute for an adequate amount of system memory. Period.
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13.2.2007 Sony promises more games to boost PS3 demand
Sony expects at least 380 new PlayStation 3 games to hit the market this business year and says that should rev up demand for the console that has so far lost out to Nintendo's wildly popular Wii.
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21.6.2007 eBoostr - Boost Windows XP with Flash Memory
MDO Ltd. announces the release of eBoostr, a complete replacement for Microsoft ReadyBoost technology for Windows XP. Upgrade the performance of your PC without upgrading its components. Get ReadyBoost-like technology in Windows XP.
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14.11.2007 Microsoft hopes new photo tool will boost Windows
Microsoft likes digital photography enthusiasts as customers, and on Thursday plans to release a free new utility designed to keep them wedded to Windows.
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1.5.2008 Windows Vista Imaging and Installation Performance
Ideally, installation of an operating system is two fairly simple steps. First, copy all the OS files to the hard disk.
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4.10.2006 Vista Compatibility, Performance and Reliability Pack
Windows Vista Compatibility, Performance and Reliability Packs SP1 Preview - Microsoft offers fresh Vista updates to testers.
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31.7.2007 New Performance and Reliability Updates for Vista SP1
A reliability and performance update is available for download for Windows Vista Service Pack 1. This specific release targets all Windows Vista editions, provided that they have the first service pack integrated.
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25.6.2008 x64 Vista SP2 JPG Rendering Performance Inferior to x86 Vista SP2's
The JPG rendering process on 64-bit flavors of Windows Vista Service Pack 2 is inferior to that on the 32-bit variants of the operating system.
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10.6.2009 Nvidia ForceWare for Windows Vista 100.64 (BETA)
Nvidia has released yet another beta set of video drivers for Windows Vista. As usual, only English flavours (both 32bit and 64bit) are available.
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16.2.2007 Vista's ReadyBoost flash drives lack significant boost
Windows Vista's Windows ReadyBoost sounds too good to be true, and based on our extensive lab tests, it is. The technology promises to let you speed up Windows by plugging an inexpensive USB flash drive into your PC. But we found that while ReadyBoost may speed up Vista a tiny bit, it can also slow it down in some instances.
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18.5.2007 Final Names for Windows Vista Performance Features
Windows PC Accelerators is the new term that encompasses Windows Vista's new performance-enhancing technologies.
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7.4.2006 Performance Results Mixed with Vista Service Pack 1
Files copied faster in our initial tests, but other performance was slightly slower with the SP1 installed.
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7.2.2008Windows XP SP3 Yields Performance Gains Over Vista SP1
After a disappointing showing by Windows Vista SP1 (see previous post), we were pleasantly surprised to discover that Windows XP Service Pack 3
(v.3244) delivers a measurable performance boost to this aging desktop OS. Testing with OfficeBench showed an 10% performance boost vs. the same
configuration running under Windows XP w/Service Pack 2.
Since SP3 was supposed to be mostly a bug-fix/patch consolidation release - unlike
w/Vista SP1, Microsoft made no promises of improved performance for XP - the unexpected speed boost comes as a nice bonus. In fact, XP SP3 is
shaping-up to be a "must have" update for the majority of users who are still running Redmond's not-so-latest and greatest desktop
OS.
Of course, none of this bodes well for Vista, which is now more than 2x slower than the most current builds of its older sibling.
Suffice to say that performance-minded users will likely choose to stick with the now even speedier Windows XP - at least until more "Windows
7" information becomes publicly available.
Read full story.....
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24.11.2007Firefox to get massive JavaScript performance boost
Mozilla is leveraging an impressive new optimization technique to bring a big performance boost to the Firefox JavaScript engine. The code was merged
today (but is not yet ready to be enabled by default in the nightly builds) and is planned for inclusion in Firefox 3.1, the next incremental update
of the open-source web browser.
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23.08.2008Overview Series: Windows Vista Performance and Tuning
Windows Vista and SP1 focus on delivering greater performance and overall system responsiveness. By striking a balance between speed and
responsiveness, Windows Vista and SP1 deliver a level of performance that has the greatest positive impact on the systems usability. This guide looks
at the following areas of performance improvement:
- Making configuration changes that help a computer feel more responsive when you
use it.
- Using hardware to boost the actual physical speed of a computer.
- Making configuration changes that help a computer to start
faster.
- Making the computer more reliable may help increase performance.
- Monitoring performance occasionally so that you can stop
problems before they get too big.
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29.07.2008Windows Vista 64-bit Today
Chris Flores: There appears to be a shift taking place in the PC industry: the move from 32-bit to 64-bit PCs.
We've been
tracking the change by looking at the percentage of 64-bit PCs connecting to Windows Update, and have seen a dramatic increase in recent months. The
installed base of 64-bit Windows Vista PCs, as a percentage of all Windows Vista systems, has more than tripled in the U.S. in the last three months,
while worldwide adoption has more than doubled during the same period. Another view shows that 20% of new Windows Vista PCs in the U.S. connecting to
Windows Update in June were 64-bit PCs, up from just 3% in March. Put more simply, usage of 64-bit Windows Vista is growing much more rapidly than
32-bit. Based on current trends, this growth will accelerate as the retail channel shifts to supplying a rapidly increasing assortment of 64-bit
desktops and laptops.
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31.07.2008Microsoft claims a consumer 'shift' to 64-bit Vista, but where are the drivers?
A big "shift" is now on to 64-bit Windows Vista PCs, even among consumers, according to Microsoft product manager Chris Flores. But he
acknowledges that, even now, few if any 64-drivers are available for some categories of consumer products, including DVD/RW devices...
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31.07.2008Is 64-bit Vista ready for take off?
For many moons, I've been raising the issue of how people get to 64-bit Windows 7, which is a big compatibility shift from 32-bit Windows XP. The
obvious answer is via Vista, but is that 32-bit Vista and/or 64-bit Vista? The price includes both, so it's up to you.
Initially, Vista
was a bit short of drivers, or else had some bad drivers. That made 32-bit Vista the obvious choice for most people, because 64-bit drivers were even
rarer. The same thing applied to software compatibility, only more so, because while it does run 32-bit programs, 64-bit Vista is much less forgiving
about rubbish programming.
Now it looks as though the dramatic improvements in Vista drivers etc could be feeding through into the 64-bit
version (possibly with a bit of help from the Windows Server market, which is now almost all 64-bit). Anyway, according to Chris Flores on the
Vista team's
blog.
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04.08.2008Microsoft denies Sony's Vista hardware claims
Microsoft has denied Sony's
claim that the current release
of Vista supports neither
Intel's Turbo Memory
technology nor hybrid hard
drives.
The spat
between the companies arose
after Sony revealed to
ZDNet.co.uk that it would not
include Turbo Memory an
embedded flash memory module
formerly known by its code
name Robson in this summer's
Vaio notebooks because Vista
will not allow the benefits of
Turbo Memory to be utilised
until Service Pack 1 (SP1) of
the operating system is
released later this year.
Turbo Memory is an
optional component of Intel's
Centrino Pro/Duo platform
(previously known as Santa
Rosa), which makes use of
Vista features such as
ReadyBoost and ReadyDrive.
These features use
non-volatile "third-stage"
memory alongside a computer's
RAM and traditional hard drive
to boost performance and
start-up time. Most
manufacturers are ready to
release Centrino Pro notebooks
that include Turbo Memory,
although HP has turned it down
due to worries over cost
efficiency and the limitations
it places on users who want to
use external flash memory to
boost performance...
winbeta.org -
07.06.2007Vista SP1 benefit will be stability and reliability, not performance
The problem is one of the major issues with Vista is performance...
Adrian Kingsley-Hughes: Will Vista SP1 and how this
wont bring any relief to those who find Vista a bit slow or sluggish? Not really, but then again service packs arent about performance increases;
theyre about reliability and stability.
Ive seen a lot of service packs in my time. Windows 95 and ME both got one service pack,
NT 4.0 saw six, Windows 2000 had four and XP has so far seen two. But what I dont remember regarding any of these service packs is installing it onto
a system and then seeing any significant boost in performance. Service packs dont really work that way. Sure, youll feel specific improvements as a
result of some of the tweaks and fixes contained in the service pack, and you might feel the benefit of having your operating system refreshed by
loading the service pack onto it, but a service pack should not be looked upon as a performance upgrade. If your system cant run an OS, what it needs
is upgrading or replacing, not the application of a service pack.
winbeta.org -
26.11.2007Samsung, Microsoft in talks to speed up SSDs on Vista
Samsung isn't just pushing the envelope in storage capacity of SSDs (solid-state drives), it is also working with software makers to boost SSD
performance on operating systems.
The company on Wednesday said it was in talks with Microsoft to improve the performance of SSDs
on the Windows OS.
The speed and way in which SSDs fetch and cache data are different than hard drives, said Michael Wang, flash
marketing manager at Sun. Samsung hopes to work with Microsoft to boost SSD performance on Windows by discovering optimal packet sizes for data
transfers and the best ways to read and write files, for example.
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07.08.2008Huge Xbox 360 Sales Boost Microsoft Revenue
UPDATED When Reuters
sounded alarm bells that
Microsoft net income may have
fallen by as much as 28%, it
was a bit premature: Microsoft
chose to defer about $1.64
billion of revenue from sales
of Windows Vista during the
last quarter, which came in
the form of coupons that
customers will redeem this
quarter...
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26.01.2007Informal Windows Vista SP1 vs XP SP2 Performance Tests
Mikael at the Futuremark Forums ran a few benchmarks of Windows Vista SP1 (presumably the latest RC Refresh) vs. XP SP2 with some surprising results.
It seems that having 8GB RAM with SuperFetch enabled doesn't hurt...
I just reinstalled Vista Home Premium 64-bit and thought
I'd run some tests. These are just a bunch of quick benches I did to satisfy my own curiosity, but I thought I'd share them with you guys. The test
config is as follows:
Core 2 Duo E6600 @ 3.2GHz (8*400)
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3
8GB DDR2-800 4-5-4-15
GeForce 8800GT 512MB (stock)
Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB <--- Vista Home Premium 64-bit SP1
Samsung SpinPoint T166 320GB
<--- Windows XP Professional SP2
Some excerpts from the conclusion:
- The general usage tests are either
faster or equal to XP. However, Vista is on the slower drive (the WD), so it only makes the results even more impressive.
- Crysis was almost
certainly not cached into RAM during the test, but still loaded faster than in XP.
- The horrendous file copy performance has been fixed.
Performance is definitely higher than in XP. Also gone is the sometimes irritatingly long file delete times. File deletion seems instantaneous now,
just like it's always been in XP.
- Crysis: Performance is down 5-8% when looking at DX9 32/64-bit benches and DX10 is even worse off. The CPU
test is also curious with a WinXP performance lead of 15%! This was definitely unexpected and something that would be interesting to research further.
- Loading the image for the Photoshop test was about twice as fast in Vista compared to XP and it was the first time that file was loaded so it
couldn't have been cached.
- Gaming performance is still a let-down and it seems we'll have to live with it.
- SuperFetch has a very
large impact on program load times.
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17.01.2008Windows Vista: The Facts
When choosing a new operating system, the first thing many people ask is, "What will it help me do?" In answer, much of this site shows you the
great experiences Windows Vista helps you have. The second thing many people say is, "Prove that it's better." In particular, many of you have
asked about performance and safety improvements. The following information provides specific proof that Windows Vista is faster and safer.
- The
majority of Windows Vista-based PCs boot in less than a minute, which can be an improvement over Windows XP boot times. And the new Windows Vista
sleep and resume features can bring your PC to life in a snapin fact, the vast majority of all Windows Vista-based PCs resume from sleep in less than
6 seconds.
- PCs running Windows Vista that are equipped with 512 MB memory experience a performance boost of up to 40 percent with Windows
ReadyBoost. Just plug a USB flash drive into your computer, and Windows Vista will automatically start using it to speed up memory access to important
data.
Read full story.....
neowin.net -
20.01.2008Microsoft posts two major Vista fix packs for download
Remember those Windows Vista
reliability and performance
fix packs beta versions of
which temporarily escaped to
the masses last week? On
August 7, Microsoft posted the
final versions of the two
Vista fix packs for
download.
The Vista performance fix
pack, KB 938979, (both 32- and
64-bit versions) is
downloadable
here.
The reliability fix pack, KB
938194, (32- and 64-bit
flavors), can be downloaded
here.
The two fix
packs include a number of the
updates that Microsoft is
expected to deliver in the
first full-fledged Windows
Vista Service Pack (SP) 1
release, a public beta of
which is expected real soon
now. SP1 is expected to
include a number of security,
performance and reliability
fixes that Microsoft has been
delivering since it shipped
Vista, all in one single
package.
Microsoft is promising to
make the two new Vista fix
packs available via Windows
Update at a later date. The
full statement, provided by a
Microsoft spokeswoman:
The two
updates will be available on
Microsofts download center
today, and will be available
through Windows Update at a
later date.
winbeta.org -
08.08.2007Windows XP SP3 Yields Performance Gains
After a
disappointing showing by Windows Vista
SP1, we were pleasantly surprised to discover that Windows XP Service Pack 3 (v.3244) delivers a measurable performance boost to this aging desktop
OS. Testing with OfficeBench
showed a
10% performance boost vs. the same configuration running under Windows XP with Service Pack 2.
winbeta.org -
24.11.2007Catalyst 8.12 display driver
AMD has released the new Catalyst 8.12 display driver for Windows XP 32-bit, Windows XP 64-bit, Windows Media Center Edition, Windows Vista 32-bit and
Windows Vista 64-bit. The new Catalyst 8.12 drivers, aside from performance improvements, enable ATI Stream technology. View: ATI website
Download: ATI Catalyst 8.12 Display Driver
Read full
story.....
neowin.net -
11.12.2008HP releases 64-bit Unix file system for Linux open sourcing
In a move that could help boost the scalability of Linux for grids and other advanced 64-bit multiprocessor applications, HP has release its Tru64
Unix Advanced File System (AdvFS) source code to the open source community...
betanews.com -
23.06.2008Vista SP1 will be stability and reliability, not performance
The problem is one of the major issues with Vista is performance...
Adrian Kingsley-Hughes: Will Vista SP1 and how this won’t bring
any relief to those who find Vista a bit slow or sluggish? Not really, but then again service packs aren’t about performance increases;
they’re about reliability and stability.
I’ve seen a lot of service packs in my time. Windows 95 and ME both got one service
pack, NT 4.0 saw six, Windows 2000 had four and XP has so far seen two. But what I don’t remember regarding any of these service packs is
installing it onto a system and then seeing any significant boost in performance. Service packs don’t really work that way. Sure, you’ll
feel specific improvements as a result of some of the tweaks and fixes contained in the service pack, and you might feel the benefit of having your
operating system refreshed by loading the service pack onto it, but a service pack should not be looked upon as a performance upgrade. If your system
can’t run an OS, what it needs is upgrading or replacing, not the application of a service pack.
neowin.net -
27.11.2007Google searches for holy grail of Python performance
Google has launched a new project called Unladen Swallow, which aims to bring a major performance boost to the Python programming language by making
runtime speed five times faster. The project is being implemented as a branch of the conventional CPython runtime and will be fully source-compatible
with regular Python applications and native extensions. This will make it possible to eventually merge the improvements into Python trunk.
winbeta.org -
27.03.2009Shift to x64 Vista, but where are the drivers?
A big "shift" is now on to 64-bit Windows Vista PCs, even among consumers, according to Microsoft product manager Chris Flores. But he acknowledges
that, even now, few if any 64-drivers are available for some categories of consumer products, including DVD/RW devices.
"The installed
base of 64-bit Windows Vista PCs, as a percentage of all Windows Vista systems, has more than tripled in the US in the last three months, while
worldwide adoption has more than doubled during the same period," Flores contended, late on Wednesday.
Microsoft's newly minted claims
of tripled 64-bit adoption over the past three months are based on download figures from Windows Update. "Another view shows that 20% of new Windows
Vista PCs in the U.S. connecting to Windows Update were 64-bit PCs, up from just 3% in March."
jcxp.net -
31.07.2008Microsoft makes its way to
Microsoft said some
upcoming products, including
its Exchange 12 email server,
will run only on 64-bit
processors.
At a conference for its
management software customers,
company executives detailed
its plans to add support
64-bit microprocessors in its
server applications and
operating
systems.
By late
next year, Microsoft expects
to deliver Exchange 12, which
will run only on
x86-compatible 64-bit servers,
said Bob Kelly, general
manager of infrastructure
server marketing at
Microsoft.
Kelly
said 64-bit chips will make
the greatest impact on the
performance of applications
such as Exchange and its SQL
Server
database.
"IT
professionals will be able to
consolidate the total number
of servers running 64-bit
(processors) and users will be
able to have bigger mailbox
size," he said...
winbeta.org -
16.11.2005
