Optimizing Your Computer’s Performance

This section discusses steps you can take to assess and optimize the performance of your computer and of Windows. These steps range from getting more RAM if you need it to setting suitable performance options for your computer or specifying the size and location of the paging file. You should also defragment your disk or disks as discussed in the section “Defragmenting Your Disks” in Article 10.

Checking Your Computer’s Windows Experience Index Score

The best place to start optimizing performance is by checking your computer’s Windows Experience Index in the Performance Information and Tools window. The Windows Experience Index is a measure of how well Windows thinks your computer is equipped to run Windows. To view your computer’s Windows Experience Index, take the following steps:

1. Choose Start Control Panel. Windows displays a Control Panel window.

2. Click the System and Maintenance link. Windows displays the System and Maintenance window.

3. Click the Performance Information and Tools link. Windows displays the Performance Information and Tools window .

Understanding the Windows Experience Index Score

Windows Experience Index rates each of your computer’s main components - the processor, memory, graphics capability, gaming graphics capability, and primary hard disk - on a scale of 1 to 5. Windows Experience Index gives the computer a base score, or overall score, that is the same as the lowest individual component score.

Updating the Windows Experience Index Score

If you’ve changed your computer’s configuration for example, by adding memory or installing a bet ter graphics card, update your Windows Experience Index score to see what difference the change made. Set aside a few minutes when your computer’s not busy with other tasks, and then click the Update My Score link in the Performance Information and Tools window. Windows displays the Windows Experience Index dialog box, as shown here, as it runs the test. Windows then updates the scores.

RAM: Does Your Computer Have Enough?

If your computer’s performance seems disappointing, make sure that your computer has plenty of RAM to run Windows itself plus all the programs that may be running in the background. A total of 512MB is usually enough for running a single user session at reasonable speed, and 1GB is usually enough for several user sessions running conventional programs. If you want multiple users to be able to open large programs or large files at the same time, get 2GB or more. RAM is normally the most affordable way of improving performance on your computer significantly. The exception is if your computer has a limited number of memory slots, all of which are full. In this case, you will need to discard some or all of your existing memory when you upgrade, which makes the upgrade more expensive. To find out how much RAM your computer has, press Windows Key+Break, and then look at the Memory RAM readout in the System window. If the readout shows a figure other than one of the standard numbers 512MB, 768MB, 1,024MB, 1,280MB, 1,536MB, 1,792MB, or 2,048MB, the amount of RAM is the next higher figure. For example, if the readout shows 502MB, your computer has 512MB, and 10MB is being used for other purposes typically video.

Using ReadyBoost to Supplement Your RAM

Increasing RAM is the best way to increase performance quickly, but Windows also allows you to improve performance by using a USB flash drive or certain other forms of memory such as a MemoryStick device as extra memory. This feature is called ReadyBoost and lets Windows cache store key files on the flash drive, from which it can access them much more quickly than if it caches them on the hard disk.

How ReadyBoost Works

You can use only one device for ReadyBoost at a time. On that device, you can use anywhere from 256MB to 4GB. Windows lets you choose how much of a device’s flash memory to assign to ReadyBoost. Microsoft recommends having a 1:1 ratio of flash memory to system memory for modest performance and a 2.5:1 ratio for the best performance. For example, if your computer has 512MB RAM, you should assign 1,280MB of flash memory to get the best performance. Table 15.2 shows the figures for common memory configurations.

Table 15.2: ReadyBoost RAM:Flash Memory Ratios

Flash Memory

Getting a Flash Drive Suitable for ReadyBoost

ReadyBoost is used mostly for small files and requires fast-performing memory. For ReadyBoost to work, the memory must be able to manage throughput of 2.5MB/s for 4KB random reads and 1.75MB/s for 512KB random writes across its full range of memory.

Many drives can meet these requirements - but many others can’t. What’s confusing is that the figures you’ll see on devices measure sequential performance rather than random performance. For example, even if a device can manage 12MB/s sequential read, it may not be able to manage 2.5MB/s random reads.

One particular trap is that some flash drives that are marketed as having high speeds achieve those speeds by having a small amount of very fast memory that acts as a gateway to the rest of the memory. Such drives can turn in very fast sequential performance, but if the main memory isn’t fast enough to meet ReadyBoost’s random read and write requirements, you can’t use the drive for ReadyBoost.

At this writing, there’s no ReadyBoost-capable logo to indicate that a device is suitable for use. However, by the time you read this, there may be, so it’s worth doing a little research before buying. If there’s still no logo program, search online to find out which brand of flash drives have been found to work with ReadyBoost.

Setting Up ReadyBoost on a Drive

To configure ReadyBoost on a drive, follow these steps:

1. Connect the drive to your computer via USB. Windows displays the AutoPlay dialog box containing options for the drive. Here’s an example:

2.Click the Speed Up My System button. Windows displays the ReadyBoost page of the Properties dialog box for the drive . If the drive is already connected to your computer, choose Start My Computer, right-click the drive, and then choose Properties from the context menu. In the Properties dialog box, click the ReadyBoost tab.

3. Select the Use This Device option button.

4. Drag the Space to Reserve for System Speed slider, or adjust the value in the text box, to specify how much of the drive to use.

5. Click the OK button. Windows closes the Properties dialog box and starts using the device as extra memory.

Force Windows to Use ReadyBoost on a Drive That It Deems Too Slow

If Windows claims “this device doesn’t have the required performance characteristics for use in speeding up your system,” click the Test Again button to make sure. Sometimes Windows reads marginal devices as viable the second time around.

If Windows still finds the device too slow, you can force Windows to use the device for ReadyBoost by editing the Registry. If the device really is to slow, you may not benefit from forcing Windows to use ReadyBoost on it, but you can try the device and see if it improves performance.

To force Windows to use the device, take the following steps:

1. Close the Properties dialog box.

2. Unplug the device from the USB port.

3. Press Windows Key+R. Windows displays the Run dialog box.

4. Type regedit and press Enter or click the OK button. Windows launches Registry Editor.

5. Expand the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE hive and navigate to the Microsoft\WindowsNT\ CurrentVersion\EMDMgmt key.

6. Select the USBSTOR key for the device look at the end of the long ID number to see a text string that’s related to your device. Registry Editor displays the value entries for the device.

7. Double-click the DeviceStatus value entry, use the Edit DWORD 32-Bit Value dialog box to set its value to 2 with the Hexadecimal option button selected, and then click the OK button.

8. Double-click the ReadSpeedKBs value entry, use the Edit DWORD 32-Bit Value dialog box to set its value to 1,000 with the Hexadecimal option button selected, and then click the OK button.

9. Double-click the WriteSpeedKBs value entry, use the Edit DWORD 32-Bit Value dialog box to set its value to 1,000 with the Hexadecimal option button selected, and then click the OK button.

10. Plug the device back in. Windows displays the AutoPlay dialog box.

11. Click the Speed Up My System button, and then use the controls on the ReadyBoost page of the Properties dialog box to set up ReadyBoost.

Choosing Performance Options

Next, make sure that Windows is configured to give the best performance possible for your needs. Getting the best performance out of Windows on a computer that isn’t screamingly fast is partly a question of choosing the right balance between visual sophistication and speed: the more graphics and visual effects that Windows is using, the slower their display will be, and the heavier the demands placed on the processor as well as the graphics subsystem. The more visual effects you can sacrifice, the better performance you’ll get. You also need to give the foreground program as much of a boost as possible, so make sure that memory usage is optimized for programs rather than system cache, and set an appropriate size for your paging file. To set performance options, follow these steps:

1. Press Windows Key+Break. Windows displays the System window.

2. In the left panel, click the Advanced System Settings link. Windows displays the Advanced page of the System Properties dialog box .

3. Click the Settings button in the Performance group box. Windows displays the Performance Options dialog box.

4. On the Visual Effects page of the Performance Options dialog box , select one of the option buttons:

• Select the Let Windows Choose What’s Best for My Computer option button to have Windows apply the mixture of settings it deems most appropriate to your computer’s speed and your graphics card’s capabilities.

• Select the Adjust for Best Appearance option button to turn on all the effects.

• Select the Adjust for Best Performance option button to turn off all the effects.

• Select the Custom option button if you want to apply a custom set of effects. Then select the check boxes for the effects you want to use. Most of the effects are self-explanatory - for example, the Animate Windows When Minimizing and Maximizing check box controls whether Windows animates windows when minimizing, maximizing, and restoring them. The fewer visual effects you use, the better the performance you’ll enjoy, but the plainer and less subtle the Windows interface will seem.

5. Click the Advanced tab. Windows displays the Advanced page of the Performance Options dialog box .

6.In the Processor Scheduling group box, make sure that the Programs option button is selected. The Programs option button causes Windows to give priority to the foreground program - the active program - giving you faster response time in it. Select the Background Services option button only if you’re using this computer as a sort of server and are not running programs on it or if you want a background task, such as Backup Utility, to get more attention so that it’ll run faster. For the Programs option, Windows allocates short, variable-length quanta time slices to programs, whereas for the Background Services option, Windows allocates longer, fixed-length quanta.

7. If necessary, change the size of the paging file by following the instructions in the next section.

8. Click the OK button. Windows applies your changes and closes the Performance Options dialog box.

9. Click the OK button. Windows closes the System Properties dialog box.