my 2 annoyances with vista - perhaps there's a solution?

Day24

Member
Vista Pro
Hey all,

I love Vista, but I still have 2 things which kinda bother me. First off, I want to say that all my drivers are updates and windows is updated as well. This is also valid for any other computers on the network.

My computer runs vista home premium 64 bit, the other computers on the network run home premium 32 bit. We have a gbit network through a d-link router (dir655) which has never given us any problems. We have the d-link because I couldn't find any other router at the time which supported a glass fibre connection at the speed we have (50 mbit synchronous) and which also offered a 1 gbit home networking solution (wired) while also offering the possibility of using it with the occasional wifi device (such as my archos 605 media player).

my first annoyance has to do with the network. SP1 made it better, but I'm still annoyed.
When I copy files from one computer to the other, the file transfer goes at varrying speeds. The transfer speed seems to depend on one thing and one thing only, and that is on whether the other computer is being used at all. If the other computer is idle (so not even the mouse is moved, there is no user input at all), transfer speeds are between 55 and 70 mb per second. Which is good, I like this.
When there is any kind of activity on the other computer, whether this is typing, using the mouse or any such thing (user initiated I mean.... a virus scan doesn't seem to affect the transfer speed) the transfer speeds drop down to a max of about 18 mb per second. When any type of media player is on, even when paused, it drops down further to between 13 and 15 mb per second. When that media player is windows media player, the transfer speed is usually a bit lower still.

I simply do not understand why this is. The transfer speeds with no activity at all show that there is a possibility of achieving these speeds... the network is not used when someone moves their mouse, so why can't I use the full extent of the network when someone is using their mouse, or typing something in word?
Also, I know that a media player automatically reserves bandwidth for streaming, but going from a max of 70 mb/s to 15 mb/s seems a bit much to me for streaming purposes. I would also have thought that MS could make their media player a bit smarter... I mean, how hard can it be for them to disable the bandwidth reserving when someone is playing a local file?

My second annoyance is probably a well known one... it has to do with explorer. It simply does not remember anything. I like my window to be a certain size, so when I open my computer, I can view 3 hard disk tiles next to eachother. Now, every time I open my computer, I have to resize it. This is strange to me, as firefox DOES remember the last size it had, even the last position it was in when I closed it. Explorer also seems to keep forgetting tile sizes and stuff, but well....

Anyway, if anyone knows a fix for these things, please let me know. I'm hoping these things will get fixed, and that MS won't simply think that people will have to upgrade to win7 to get what they want.
 

My Computer

System One

  • CPU
    Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3.0 Ghz
    Motherboard
    Asus P5K Pro
    Memory
    2 times 2GB Kingston (paired) DDR2 PC 6400
    Graphics Card(s)
    9600GT 512MB
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung SyncMaster 226 CW
    Screen Resolution
    1680X1050
    Hard Drives
    74GB 10.000 rpm WD raptor
    750 GB Samsung F1
    750 GB Samsung F1
    2 WD 500 GB drives
    PSU
    Recom Power Engine 600 Watt
    Case
    Apevia X-cruiser Blue
    Cooling
    Auras CTC-868 CPU cooler; 7 Zalman 120mm, 1 Papst casesooler
    Mouse
    Logitech wireless trackball
    Internet Speed
    50 mbit synchronous fibreglass connection
I don't think there's a "one click" solution to your problem, but I've noticed the same problem as you and I do think most people will notice the same problem if they try. One thing you could try is to change the performance option to background services and see if you notice any diff. also check the support for jumbo frames and maybe disable QoS.
 

My Computer

I've tried disabling QoS before, and to be honest, it doesn't solve that much. It ups the transfer rates with windows media player running to about 15 to 18 mb/s, but that's it. As far as I know QoS is supposed to reserve about 20% of bandwidth for streaming....well, going from 70 mb/s to 12 mb/s it is almost as if it reserves 20% for everything BUT mediastreaming....

As for optimizing it for background services.... would this do anything negative when I try running games and other programs? Not that I play heavy programs, but I like how snappy my machine is when I start photoshop while I'm playing civilization and watching a media file... Will changing this performance option change that snappiness in any way?

Also, what are jumbo frames? I'll do a search on it, and I will check what the options are on that. Thanks for the help so far though....
 

My Computer

System One

  • CPU
    Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3.0 Ghz
    Motherboard
    Asus P5K Pro
    Memory
    2 times 2GB Kingston (paired) DDR2 PC 6400
    Graphics Card(s)
    9600GT 512MB
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung SyncMaster 226 CW
    Screen Resolution
    1680X1050
    Hard Drives
    74GB 10.000 rpm WD raptor
    750 GB Samsung F1
    750 GB Samsung F1
    2 WD 500 GB drives
    PSU
    Recom Power Engine 600 Watt
    Case
    Apevia X-cruiser Blue
    Cooling
    Auras CTC-868 CPU cooler; 7 Zalman 120mm, 1 Papst casesooler
    Mouse
    Logitech wireless trackball
    Internet Speed
    50 mbit synchronous fibreglass connection
this might be a total red herring but are vistas security measures behind it? the few times I can think of when vista file transfers were really blazing fast for me are when doing file transfer between a truecrypt area and the rest of the system
 

My Computer

I don't think so.... UAC isn't on on either machine, and the firewalls on either machine are set up so they allow all traffic between them. Besides, when neither computer has any media program opened, there's transfers of up to 70 mb/s.....
 

My Computer

System One

  • CPU
    Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3.0 Ghz
    Motherboard
    Asus P5K Pro
    Memory
    2 times 2GB Kingston (paired) DDR2 PC 6400
    Graphics Card(s)
    9600GT 512MB
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung SyncMaster 226 CW
    Screen Resolution
    1680X1050
    Hard Drives
    74GB 10.000 rpm WD raptor
    750 GB Samsung F1
    750 GB Samsung F1
    2 WD 500 GB drives
    PSU
    Recom Power Engine 600 Watt
    Case
    Apevia X-cruiser Blue
    Cooling
    Auras CTC-868 CPU cooler; 7 Zalman 120mm, 1 Papst casesooler
    Mouse
    Logitech wireless trackball
    Internet Speed
    50 mbit synchronous fibreglass connection
Tools > Internet options > Advanced > Uncheck the top three boxes in Accessibility > OK
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    HP Pavilion dv7-1170us
    CPU
    Intel Core 2 Duo T5800 @ 2.00GHz
    Motherboard
    Compal
    Memory
    4.096
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT
    Screen Resolution
    1440 x 900
    Hard Drives
    289.09 GB
    Keyboard
    IBM enhanced (101-or 102) keyboard
    Mouse
    Synaptics PS/2 Port TouchPad
    Internet Speed
    cable Wireless
thanks boxterduke, I will give that a try.

coolnewyorker.... I'm not quite sure what exactly your advice is for..... would you explain please?
 

My Computer

System One

  • CPU
    Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3.0 Ghz
    Motherboard
    Asus P5K Pro
    Memory
    2 times 2GB Kingston (paired) DDR2 PC 6400
    Graphics Card(s)
    9600GT 512MB
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung SyncMaster 226 CW
    Screen Resolution
    1680X1050
    Hard Drives
    74GB 10.000 rpm WD raptor
    750 GB Samsung F1
    750 GB Samsung F1
    2 WD 500 GB drives
    PSU
    Recom Power Engine 600 Watt
    Case
    Apevia X-cruiser Blue
    Cooling
    Auras CTC-868 CPU cooler; 7 Zalman 120mm, 1 Papst casesooler
    Mouse
    Logitech wireless trackball
    Internet Speed
    50 mbit synchronous fibreglass connection
If you want IE browser window to not go back to default setting after you changed it (i.e., text size, window size, etc.), try my suggestion. If it does not solve your probs, you can always go back and click 'restore advanced settings" to go back to where you were. No harm done.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    HP Pavilion dv7-1170us
    CPU
    Intel Core 2 Duo T5800 @ 2.00GHz
    Motherboard
    Compal
    Memory
    4.096
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT
    Screen Resolution
    1440 x 900
    Hard Drives
    289.09 GB
    Keyboard
    IBM enhanced (101-or 102) keyboard
    Mouse
    Synaptics PS/2 Port TouchPad
    Internet Speed
    cable Wireless
RE: Your first problem - I think it has a lot to do with BITS - because the network sees there is activity and throttle's down the network connections to make sure that the computer has ready access to network and Internet connections.

This has nothing to do with QoS, unless your router *specifically* supports QoS, and you have it actually implemented on your network. QoS, btw, is something actually a bit different - it reserves (up to) 20% of your bandwidth so that you can have anything that is marked as priority get started without having to wait in a queue for all other activities that are using your network connection.

The unfortunate part of BITS is that BITS is *required* by automatic updates. The reason I suspect BITS is that when your automatic updates are downloading, the speed is very slow - but if you manually initiate a Windows Update, the speed is pretty close to your maximum speed available and will usually finish a lot faster than an automatic update.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro X64 Insider Preview (Skip Ahead) latest build
    Manufacturer/Model
    The Beast Model V (homebrew)
    CPU
    Intel Core i7 965 EE @ 3.6 GHz
    Motherboard
    eVGA X58 Classified 3 (141-GT-E770-A1)
    Memory
    3 * Mushkin 998981 Redline Enhanced triple channel DDR3 4 GB CL7 DDR3 1600 MHz (PC3-12800)
    Graphics Card(s)
    eVGA GeForce GTX 970 SSC ACX 2.0 (04G-P4-3979-KB)
    Sound Card
    Realtek HD Audio (onboard)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 * Lenovo LT2323pwA Widescreeen
    Screen Resolution
    2 * 1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    SanDisk Ultra SDSSDHII-960G-G25 960 GB SATA III SSD (System)
    Crucial MX100 CT256MX100SSD1 256GB SATA III SSD (User Tree)
    2 * Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST31000528AS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA II Mech. HD
    Seagate ST1500DL001-9VT15L Barracuda 7200.12 1.5 TB S
    PSU
    Thermaltake Black Widow TX TR2 850W 80+ Bronze Semi-Mod ATX
    Case
    ThermalTake Level 10 GT (Black)
    Cooling
    Corsair H100 (CPU, dual 140 mm fans on radiator) + Air (2 *
    Keyboard
    Logitech G15 (gen 2)
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master (shared)
    Internet Speed
    AT&T Lightspeed Gigabit duplex
  • Operating System
    Sabayon Linux (current, weekly updates, 5.1.x kernel)
    Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo ThinkPad E545
    CPU
    AMD A6-5350M APU
    Motherboard
    Lenovo
    Memory
    8 GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Radeon HD (Embedded)
    Sound Card
    Conextant 20671 SmartAudio HD
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Lenovo 15" Matte
    Screen Resolution
    1680 * 1050
    Hard Drives
    INTEL Cherryvill 520 Series SSDSC2CW180A 180 GB SSD
    PSU
    Lenovo
    Case
    Lenovo
    Cooling
    Lenovo
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master (shared) | Synaptics TouchPad
    Keyboard
    Lenovo
    Internet Speed
    AT&T LightSpeed Gigabit Duplex
hmm.... well, automatic updates aren't on on either machine..... but yeah, I can see how it might be bits. Can't disable that though, as we need that for other services as well.
And yes, my router does support QOS...
 

My Computer

System One

  • CPU
    Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3.0 Ghz
    Motherboard
    Asus P5K Pro
    Memory
    2 times 2GB Kingston (paired) DDR2 PC 6400
    Graphics Card(s)
    9600GT 512MB
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung SyncMaster 226 CW
    Screen Resolution
    1680X1050
    Hard Drives
    74GB 10.000 rpm WD raptor
    750 GB Samsung F1
    750 GB Samsung F1
    2 WD 500 GB drives
    PSU
    Recom Power Engine 600 Watt
    Case
    Apevia X-cruiser Blue
    Cooling
    Auras CTC-868 CPU cooler; 7 Zalman 120mm, 1 Papst casesooler
    Mouse
    Logitech wireless trackball
    Internet Speed
    50 mbit synchronous fibreglass connection
Supporting and implementing QoS are two different things....but I am pretty sure it is BITS not QoS because I have experienced the same in the past - with QoS completely disabled.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro X64 Insider Preview (Skip Ahead) latest build
    Manufacturer/Model
    The Beast Model V (homebrew)
    CPU
    Intel Core i7 965 EE @ 3.6 GHz
    Motherboard
    eVGA X58 Classified 3 (141-GT-E770-A1)
    Memory
    3 * Mushkin 998981 Redline Enhanced triple channel DDR3 4 GB CL7 DDR3 1600 MHz (PC3-12800)
    Graphics Card(s)
    eVGA GeForce GTX 970 SSC ACX 2.0 (04G-P4-3979-KB)
    Sound Card
    Realtek HD Audio (onboard)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 * Lenovo LT2323pwA Widescreeen
    Screen Resolution
    2 * 1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    SanDisk Ultra SDSSDHII-960G-G25 960 GB SATA III SSD (System)
    Crucial MX100 CT256MX100SSD1 256GB SATA III SSD (User Tree)
    2 * Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST31000528AS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA II Mech. HD
    Seagate ST1500DL001-9VT15L Barracuda 7200.12 1.5 TB S
    PSU
    Thermaltake Black Widow TX TR2 850W 80+ Bronze Semi-Mod ATX
    Case
    ThermalTake Level 10 GT (Black)
    Cooling
    Corsair H100 (CPU, dual 140 mm fans on radiator) + Air (2 *
    Keyboard
    Logitech G15 (gen 2)
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master (shared)
    Internet Speed
    AT&T Lightspeed Gigabit duplex
  • Operating System
    Sabayon Linux (current, weekly updates, 5.1.x kernel)
    Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo ThinkPad E545
    CPU
    AMD A6-5350M APU
    Motherboard
    Lenovo
    Memory
    8 GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Radeon HD (Embedded)
    Sound Card
    Conextant 20671 SmartAudio HD
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Lenovo 15" Matte
    Screen Resolution
    1680 * 1050
    Hard Drives
    INTEL Cherryvill 520 Series SSDSC2CW180A 180 GB SSD
    PSU
    Lenovo
    Case
    Lenovo
    Cooling
    Lenovo
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master (shared) | Synaptics TouchPad
    Keyboard
    Lenovo
    Internet Speed
    AT&T LightSpeed Gigabit Duplex
Well, then I guess all I can do is hope that MS will impliment BITS differently for windows 7....
 

My Computer

System One

  • CPU
    Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3.0 Ghz
    Motherboard
    Asus P5K Pro
    Memory
    2 times 2GB Kingston (paired) DDR2 PC 6400
    Graphics Card(s)
    9600GT 512MB
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung SyncMaster 226 CW
    Screen Resolution
    1680X1050
    Hard Drives
    74GB 10.000 rpm WD raptor
    750 GB Samsung F1
    750 GB Samsung F1
    2 WD 500 GB drives
    PSU
    Recom Power Engine 600 Watt
    Case
    Apevia X-cruiser Blue
    Cooling
    Auras CTC-868 CPU cooler; 7 Zalman 120mm, 1 Papst casesooler
    Mouse
    Logitech wireless trackball
    Internet Speed
    50 mbit synchronous fibreglass connection
We can only hope lol....
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro X64 Insider Preview (Skip Ahead) latest build
    Manufacturer/Model
    The Beast Model V (homebrew)
    CPU
    Intel Core i7 965 EE @ 3.6 GHz
    Motherboard
    eVGA X58 Classified 3 (141-GT-E770-A1)
    Memory
    3 * Mushkin 998981 Redline Enhanced triple channel DDR3 4 GB CL7 DDR3 1600 MHz (PC3-12800)
    Graphics Card(s)
    eVGA GeForce GTX 970 SSC ACX 2.0 (04G-P4-3979-KB)
    Sound Card
    Realtek HD Audio (onboard)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 * Lenovo LT2323pwA Widescreeen
    Screen Resolution
    2 * 1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    SanDisk Ultra SDSSDHII-960G-G25 960 GB SATA III SSD (System)
    Crucial MX100 CT256MX100SSD1 256GB SATA III SSD (User Tree)
    2 * Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST31000528AS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA II Mech. HD
    Seagate ST1500DL001-9VT15L Barracuda 7200.12 1.5 TB S
    PSU
    Thermaltake Black Widow TX TR2 850W 80+ Bronze Semi-Mod ATX
    Case
    ThermalTake Level 10 GT (Black)
    Cooling
    Corsair H100 (CPU, dual 140 mm fans on radiator) + Air (2 *
    Keyboard
    Logitech G15 (gen 2)
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master (shared)
    Internet Speed
    AT&T Lightspeed Gigabit duplex
  • Operating System
    Sabayon Linux (current, weekly updates, 5.1.x kernel)
    Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo ThinkPad E545
    CPU
    AMD A6-5350M APU
    Motherboard
    Lenovo
    Memory
    8 GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Radeon HD (Embedded)
    Sound Card
    Conextant 20671 SmartAudio HD
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Lenovo 15" Matte
    Screen Resolution
    1680 * 1050
    Hard Drives
    INTEL Cherryvill 520 Series SSDSC2CW180A 180 GB SSD
    PSU
    Lenovo
    Case
    Lenovo
    Cooling
    Lenovo
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master (shared) | Synaptics TouchPad
    Keyboard
    Lenovo
    Internet Speed
    AT&T LightSpeed Gigabit Duplex
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