Counters The browser's built-in range control does not show its value to the user internal meaning. Instead, the number is translated into a graphical representation of the slider. This is great for certain types of data. Other data types are intended to

Counters with display: none Non-displayable elements, that is, elements whose display property is set to none, cannot increment or decrement the counter value. For example, in the stylesheet below, H2 elements of class do_not_display do not increment

Reference Counters One of the main features that kobjects provide is a unified system for supporting reference counters. After initialization, the number of references to the object is set to one. While the value of the object's reference count is not

Defect Counters A development team definitely needs a to-do list. These include both tasks for the implementation of new features and functions, as well as bug fixes. For a reasonable sized team (5 to 12 developers), this list should contain

On my main desktop, a Dell XPS with 4GB of RAM, Vista Ultimate runs great and I haven't noticed any speed issues. When I bought a new laptop, I expected Vista to work just as well on it. I really liked my previous model - a Sony TX, which ran XP, so I decided to replace it with an almost identical laptop with Vista Business Edition. My new purchase came with 1 GB of RAM, and I decided that this would be enough (the XP laptop had 512 MB of RAM installed). However, from the very beginning I noticed that the new computer took much longer to boot - not in a matter of seconds, but in several minutes; when running more than two applications at the same time, the speed of the system became completely unacceptable. Using Vista on a new laptop, I constantly drummed my fingers on the table, waiting for the system to react to my actions - this is exactly what our readers wrote about.

Unwilling to accept this state of affairs, I bought another 512 MB of RAM and a 4 GB removable USB drive optimized for the ReadyBoost function. This improved the situation somewhat, but the computer was still much slower than an XP machine. Then I decided to look for other ways to improve the performance of my laptop, and in this article I will talk about what helped me and what didn’t.

Disable unnecessary

One of the easiest ways to speed up Vista is to make it look like XP, that is, turn off the beautiful Aero interface, convenient sidebar and all the other features that make Vista unique. But, of course, few people will be happy with this option.

Understand the reason

To solve any problem, you must first understand what is causing it. Vista offers a number of tools that can help you understand why your system is running so slowly.

Performance Manager

Included in Vista, as in previous ones Windows versions Business Class (XP Professional, Windows 2000 and NT Workstation), includes a system performance monitoring application that allows you to analyze detailed metrics from various software performance counters and hardware components.

This application, renamed Reliability And Performance Monitor, can be launched from the Administrative Tools menu in Control Panel ( Control Panel).

In Fig. A shows Performance Manager graphs for CPU load (%) and Pages/sec. for RAM.

Figure A. (Click to enlarge)

For large IT professionals, Performance Manager is extremely useful tool, but it’s not easy for the average user to understand. Luckily, Vista has other, easier ways to determine which device is slowing down the Aero interface.

Counters and Productivity Tools

One of the new features in Vista is the Performance Information And Tools application, which analyzes the performance of all devices and produces a performance score called the Windows Experience Index (WEI). The application evaluates each of the elements: processor, RAM, video card (performance for the Aero interface and performance for 3D graphics and games are assessed separately) and the main hard drive. The lowest score determines the overall System Performance Index.

The range of possible scores is from 1.0 to 5.9 points. For the Aero interface to display properly and other Vista features to work properly, the Experience Index must be at least 3.0. To find out the computer performance index, you need to open the Start menu | Control Panel | Performance counters and tools (Start | Control Panel | Performance Information And Tools).

After running this application, I realized why Vista runs so much slower on my laptop than on my PC: the desktop hardware received an overall score of 5.1, but the laptop only scored 2.0, as shown in Figure 1. B and C.

Figure B. (Click to enlarge)

The problem, as can be seen from the figures, is now not at all in the RAM (1.5 GB) or in the hard drive. Even the processor scored almost 3.0 points. Can't handle Aero interface graphics adapter laptop.

Figure C. (Click to enlarge)

The question arises: why does Sony sell such laptops with the Vista Business operating system pre-installed if they are not even able to display it properly? new interface? True, the answer to this question still won't solve the most pressing problem - how to improve your computer's performance so that you can take advantage of at least some of Vista's new features.

The Performance Meters and Tools application allows you to configure some of the features to improve Vista performance. On the left side of the application window is the Tasks panel, which lists options for solving the problem (see Figure C), including:

Control startup programs to speed up Vista startup
Visual effects settings that can improve Vista performance if your computer has a weak graphics card
Changing additional settings, including processor resource allocation parameters, size and location of the paging file
Configure indexing settings to prevent the indexing program from using too many resources, which slows down applications
Customize power settings to find the optimal combination of performance and energy savings
Cleaning the hard drive, which speeds up system access to files

Use additional tools to diagnose and resolve problems, such as Disk Defragmenter, Task Manager, applications for viewing additional system information and event logs, Reliability and Performance Manager

Configuring startup options

The more programs that are launched when the system starts, the longer it will take to load. By removing from startup those programs that the user does not need every time the computer is turned on, you can significantly speed up the system boot process.

When you click the Manage Startup Programs link in the Meters and Productivity Tools app, Windows Defender launches ( Windows Defender Software Explorer), shown in Fig. D.

Figure D (Click to enlarge)

The list shows all the programs that start when the system boots. On the right side of the window it displays detailed information about the selected program, including file name, display name, description, publisher, information about digital signature, startup option, file path, file size, file version, installation date, startup type (where the file is launched from - for example, from the current user's registry key), location, and information about whether the program came with the operating system.

Some programs from this list can be removed or disabled by selecting the desired entry in the list on the left and clicking the “Remove” or “Disable” button in the lower right corner of the window. For a number of programs, these buttons are inactive - in this case, you will have to remove the program from the startup list manually, for example, from the “Startup” folder, which is located in the “Start” menu | All programs (Start | All Programs), as shown in Fig. E.

Figure E

In addition, you can open the Startup folder from Windows Explorer (Windows Explorer), as shown in Fig. F.

Figure F (Click to enlarge)

To find in file system Startup folder, just right-click on the “All Programs” menu and select “Open” or open the partition of the hard drive where Vista is installed and go to the Users\ or All Users\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows folder \Main Menu\Programs\Startup (Users\ or All Users\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\StartMenu\Programs\Startup).

To remove a program from Startup, just right-click on it and select “Delete”. This folder contains only shortcuts, so it will not harm the program itself. The list of programs launched at system startup can also be viewed using the System Information application, as shown in Fig. G.

Figure G (Click to enlarge)

You can launch the System Information application from the Start menu search bar by typing "msinfo32" or from the All Programs | Standard | Utilities (All Programs | Accessories | System Tools). This application only allows you to view information - you cannot change startup settings here.

Sometimes, to remove programs from startup, you have to edit the registry. You can find information about which registry entry to change in System Information.

Setting up visual effects

System speed can be improved by changing Vista's visual effects settings - that is, sacrificing beauty for increased performance. When you click the appropriate link in the Meters and Productivity Tools app, a User Account Control dialog box appears and prompts you to enter your administrator password. If the user is logged in as an administrator, they will be prompted to confirm to continue the operation. The Performance Options dialog box will then appear, shown in Figure 1. H.

Figure H

You can also open the Performance Options dialog box from the Control Panel | System | Advanced system settings | Settings button in the Performance section (Control Panel | System | Advanced System Settings | Settings button in the Performance section).

In any case, there are four options available in the Visual Effects tab:

Restore Defaults (Let Windows choose the best settings for your computer)
Provide best view(Adjust for best appearance)
Adjust for best performance
Special effects (Create custom settings) - here the user can disable any visual effects at your own discretion

The more effects are enabled, the slower the system runs. The "Ensure best performance" option disables all visual effects. In principle, it makes sense to disable purely aesthetic effects, such as displaying a transparent selection rectangle, smooth scrolling of lists, and fading menus after calling a command, while leaving more functional ones, such as displaying thumbnails instead of icons.

Changing advanced settings

By opening the Advanced tab in the Performance Options dialog box, the user can change other settings that affect system speed. In the first section, you can change the processor time distribution parameters, as shown in Fig. I, optimizing the performance of programs or services running in the background. In order for the system to respond faster to user actions, it makes sense to optimize the operation of programs. In the second section, you can change the size and location of the paging file, which also improves performance. When you click the “Change” button, the “Virtual Memory” dialog box appears, shown in Fig. J.

Figure I

By default, the operating system automatically selects the size of the paging file. By unchecking the box next to the corresponding item, the user can change the location of the paging file, distributing it among several physical hard drives, if any - this allows increasing the speed of access to data located in the paging file.

Figure J

The size of the paging file can be increased and/or fixed - then it will always remain the same, and the system will not draw resources to increase and decrease the size of the paging file. This also allows you to slightly increase the speed of the system, but takes away free space on disk. To fix the size of the paging file, you need to select “Custom Size” and specify the same values ​​(file size in MB) in the “Initial Size” and “ Maximum size"(Maximum Size).

Configuring Indexing Options

The user can determine which folders will be indexed by the Vista search engine. If your computer is not powerful enough, indexing takes up too many resources and slows down other applications.

To change indexing options, select Indexing Options on the left side of the Performance Tools and Tools dialog box. In the dialog box that appears, you need to click on the "Modify" button, and then click the "Show All Locations" button at the bottom of the "Indexed Locations" dialog box. The user can then mark which folders will be indexed and which will not, as shown in Figure. K.

Figure K

Setting up the power supply

The more power a computer consumes, the faster the system runs. You can determine the relationship between performance and energy savings in the power plan settings menu. Vista offers three preset power plans, shown in Figure 1. L:

Balanced (automatically maintains a balance between performance and energy consumption)
Energy saving (minimum power consumption by reducing computer performance)
High performance (maximum performance at the expense of increased energy consumption)

Figure L (Click to enlarge)

The user can create their own power plan by selecting “Create A Power Plan” on the left side of the window. The New Plan Wizard allows you to change the settings of one of the three proposed templates and save the plan under a new name.

Disk cleanup and defragmentation

Vista's disk cleanup and defragmentation programs allow you to remove unnecessary files and change the location of the data on the disk by defragmenting it. This increases system speed by making it easier to access files on the disk.

The Disk Cleanup application can be launched from the Taskbar in the Meters and Productivity Tools application or from the All Programs | Standard | Utilities (All Programs | Accessories | System Tools).

The Disk Cleanup application allows you to delete files for both the profile of one user and for all users of the computer. When you select a hard drive to clean, the application determines how much space can be freed by wiping the drive (see Figure M).

Figure M

The Disk Defragmentation application can be launched by selecting Advanced Tools on the left side of the Performance Tools and Tools dialog box, or from the All Programs | Standard | Utilities (All Programs | Accessories | System Tools).

Disk defragmentation can (and should) be programmed to run regularly, for example once a week. To ensure that the system speed does not decrease, the schedule should be designed in such a way that the disk is defragmented at a time when no one is usually working at the computer. If necessary (for example, if the computer began to work slower after installing and uninstalling programs), defragmentation can be started manually - just click the “Defragment Now” button shown in Fig. N.

Figure N (Click to enlarge)

How else can you get information about system performance?

In the Additional Tools section of the Performance Meters and Tools application, there are links to some applications for obtaining system performance information:

Event log
Reliability And Performance Monitor
Task Manager
System Information
Performance Options
Disk Defragmenter
System Health Report

Conclusions

The Vista operating system may be slow, but its performance can be greatly improved by changing a few settings. Microsoft developers have made the task easier for users by combining almost all the tools they need for this in the System Counters and System Performance Tools application.

A modern computer is a complex device, the final performance of which depends on many factors. Speed hard drive, RAM, video card power often become more significant than clock frequency central processor. Intuitive job evaluation Windows systems can roughly indicate the problem, but accurately calculate weak points and the solution can only be found using the performance index.

What is a performance index

To calculate system performance indicators, Microsoft uses test tasks that maximally load each hardware component computer separately. In this way, five indices are calculated: for the central processor, graphics, game graphics, RAM and the main hard drive. The smaller of these is considered the base index for the entire system. The scale starts at 1.0, the highest score is 7.9, but it rises as more powerful hardware solutions become available.

The underlying index is close to the balanced average universal computer, since all estimates in this configuration are approximately equal. Dedicated hardware solutions are subject to deviations. For example, in office computers usually a weaker video card is installed, and for multimedia solutions a faster one is important hard drive. In such cases, the overall computer index will be significantly lower than the average, since it is determined by the lowest value. This leads to a simple rule: to increase the base index (and overall computer performance), you should increase the power of the weakest component.

If the hardware requirements for the installed software indicate a minimum base index value, this means that it will work stably on a computer with this or a higher index value.

How to recognize him

To see what your computer's performance index is, open Start, then Control Panel.

In the large “All Control Panel Items” window that opens, find the “Performance Meters and Tools” tab and go to it.

The same result can be achieved using a system search. Click "Start" and enter the word "Counters" in the search bar.

Another way to immediately go to the desired window is to press the Win key combination (with Windows icon) and Pause/Break (a utility key, usually located next to the Print Screen).

The “Evaluating and increasing computer performance” window that opens contains a lot of information.

The central part is occupied by the current indexes of computer components with brief description. The overall score is highlighted large and provided with a comment on the calculation “Determined by the lowest score.” Several buttons lead to reference materials: “What do these numbers mean?”, “More about estimates and software(on the Internet)”, “Recommendations for improving computer performance”. Windows 7 tries to clearly explain both the principles of forming the rating scale and the best ways to increase the base index. This window is especially useful when upgrading computer hardware, as it stores indexes from previous testing. You can use the special button “Display and print detailed information about computer and system performance” to print the current indicators, and then run a new test by clicking on the “Repeat assessment” on-screen button in the lower right corner.

The same button must be pressed to begin the current test, which usually takes a few minutes. The computer is running at this time maximum power, the screen goes out and lights up several times, which is a consequence of ongoing tests and does not pose a danger.

What do the points mean?

Possible maximum score

Although Windows currently advertises a maximum score of 7.9 points, this value can only be achieved in the maximum configuration using the most modern processor, memory and graphics accelerators. The need for such powerful equipment usually arises in computers designed for resource-intensive applications - games, virtual reality systems, and so on. For specialized solutions, lower performance of the base index is considered normal.

Table: scores and performance description

Considering the methodology for forming the index (based on the lowest indicator), there are no clear boundaries between configurations. The same index value can also be powerful computer with a slow hard drive, and a balanced weak hardware solution.

How can you improve your score?

An obvious way to increase the overall performance of a computer is to update its weakest nodes. RAM can be replaced with a faster one or simply increased in quantity. The same goes for the hard drive. On a desktop computer, you can also replace the graphics card or processor. Laptops have significantly less upgrade capabilities. A more economical way is to configure the system and its individual components, allowing you to eliminate some restrictions in their operation.

Graphics settings

Visual effects, high screen resolution, and working with multiple connected monitors take up a significant portion of the resources of the computer’s graphics nodes. Therefore, you can reduce the load on this component and, accordingly, improve overall performance by disabling some Windows 7 options or reducing the screen resolution.

To change the graphics settings, you need to right-click on a free area of ​​the desktop. In the context menu that opens, select the “Screen resolution” line.

The “Screen Resolution” window that appears contains other parameters of the connected monitors, for example, graphic design(topics). Now we select the "Resolution" drop-down list.

From the list possible options choose a resolution lower than the current one.

Hard drive care

Cleaning from unnecessary information and maintaining a sufficient amount of free disk space can significantly increase the speed of the drive. In addition, if the computer does not have a solid-state drive, but a regular disk, then it is necessary to regularly carry out the defragmentation procedure. This operation combines disparate parts of stored files, bringing them together, thereby reducing read and write times. The reader needs to spend less effort to move from one part to another if they are located in a row. In addition, free space is also consolidated, allowing new files to be written as a whole block.

Click the “Start” button and type “Disk Defragmenter” in the input line, then select the tab that appears with the same name.

The system shows all available drives in one window, allows you to analyze their status and carry out immediate defragmentation.

For regular operation, you can set up an appropriate schedule so that, for example, you run the utility at night.

Defragmentation takes a significant amount of time if the hard drive is large and has little free space, so it is recommended to remove it first unnecessary information- this will speed up the work.

System care

Timely updating, replacing drivers with current ones, and using special programs to detect problems in software also have great value for the index. You can use the system interface to update the driver for the selected device.

Click the “Start” button and type “Driver Update” in the input line. The system shows search results, including the required “Device Driver Update” tab, which we go to.

The main window of Device Manager contains a list of all hardware components installed on the computer. We select the one whose driver we want to update and right-click on its name.

By selecting the line “Update drivers...” from the context menu, we start the process. In the next window, the system will offer to choose one of two options: automatic search on the Internet or manual search on the computer.

The average user rarely downloads new drivers to the computer in advance, so we select “ Automatic search..." and wait for the update. Windows 7 checks that the installed driver is up to date and updates it if necessary. The same steps should be taken for other devices from the list of “Device Manager”.

There are also many free applications, including those that do not require installation, and perform the process of checking and updating drivers in a semi-automatic mode. For example, DriverPack Solution First, it scans the computer and compiles its own list of hardware components and drivers. The program accesses the websites of device manufacturers and checks for updates, after which it downloads and installs new drivers. The application has a simple and user-friendly interface designed for entry-level users.

Changing Power Settings

To work more efficiently, Windows 7 sometimes deliberately reduces performance. For example, this applies to power settings. You can sacrifice some of the autonomy (for a laptop) or energy savings by preventing Windows 7 from switching to the appropriate modes. To do this, type “mobility center” in the search bar and select the appropriate tab.

There are several settings in the window that opens. We are interested in the power parameters in which we select the mode high performance. In this case, you need to take into account: battery consumption will increase slightly, which will reduce the battery life of the laptop.

Using the ReadyBoost feature

There is free space not only on the hard drive, but also on external media, including USB flash drives. ReadyBoost allows you to reserve some of it for the needs of Windows 7. To enable the option, you need to select removable media in Explorer and right-click context menu, in which select the “Properties” option. Now all that remains is to go to the ReadyBoost tab and set the size of the reserved space.

If the performance review doesn't work or is missing

In some cases, the system refuses to evaluate performance due to cost considerations or more serious obstacles.

Time to troubleshoot

Possible reasons why the assessment could not be made:

• The assessment has already started. The ability to update scores is disabled while the test is running. You should either cancel the current process or wait for it to finish before starting it again.
• Lack of access rights. Sometimes the reason may be the restriction of user rights to a specific account. You should log in as an administrator and try to complete the assessment again.
• The laptop is disconnected from the network. Since calculating indexes requires significant energy consumption, Windows 7 prohibits it from being performed when battery life laptop. The computer must be plugged into a power outlet.
• Lack of disk space. To evaluate Windows 7, you need a certain amount of free space on your hard drive onto which the test file is written. You should clean the drive as much as possible and then try the evaluation again.
• No multimedia support. Windows 7 can't measure the performance of computers that don't have multimedia capabilities.
• Outdated video driver. A faulty or outdated video driver will prevent Windows 7 from testing performance. You should check for the latest system updates and install them if necessary. current versions drivers or, conversely, return earlier ones. When installing drivers, it is better to use the official website of the manufacturer of your computer, and not, for example, a video card.
• Antivirus operation. Sometimes the reason is active work antivirus programs. You should turn them off for a while and try the test again.
• Outdated BIOS. You should update the BIOS to the latest version.

Reinstalling video codecs

A common cause of the problem is damaged or conflicting video codecs. These are files containing video decompression algorithms, without which the computer will not be able to display the video on the screen. To analyze graphics performance Windows components 7 uses some of the system codecs, so their corruption or accidental removal makes evaluation impossible. Reinstalling will fix the situation.

Click the “Start” on-screen button and select the “Control Panel” tab in the right column of the menu that opens. In the large All Control Panel Items window, select the Programs and Features tab.

We remove video players, as well as codecs for them.

Click the “Turn Windows components on or off” button and go to the “Windows Components” window.

Find Windows Media Player, uncheck the box next to it, then exit the dialog box and restart the computer. After the download is complete, go to this window again in the same way, return the checkbox to Windows Media Player and reboot again. Let's try testing again.

If the problem is not resolved, the VC-1 codec required for testing may be damaged or missing. It can be installed with free package K-Lite for the popular player KMPlayer.

Scan system files

Another reason could be a failure of Windows 7 itself due to damage or deletion of some necessary system files. Press the Win+R combination and in the input line of the Run window that appears, type the command to start scanning the system and updating damaged files sfc.exe /scannow.

Installing additional components

One of the reasons for the inability to determine performance may be the absence of the MSVCR100.dll library on the computer. It can be downloaded for free from the official Microsoft website along with the 2010 package:

• https://www.microsoft.com/ru-ru/download/details.aspx?id=5555 - x32, x86.
• https://www.microsoft.com/ru-ru/download/details.aspx?id=14632 - x64.

If Visual Studio 2010 is already installed, but when you try to determine performance, the system reports problems with MSVCR100.dll, you should reinstall the package, first removing it old version from a computer.

Video: Everything you need to know about the Windows 7 Experience Index

When focusing on the Basic Performance Index when purchasing a computer, you should take into account that the current score is stored on the computer in an unprotected form in the folder C:\Windows\Performance\WinSAT\DataStore in a file whose name begins with the date of the test and ends with “. Formal.Assessment (Initial).WinSAT.xml." Unscrupulous seller maybe with the help of a regular text editor change real numbers to the required values. Therefore, you should carry out an actual test before purchasing.