The trouble with Windows by dreamtrove

REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS

The trouble with Windows

POSTED BY: DREAMTROVE
UPDATED: Monday, April 25, 2011 18:08
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Friday, April 22, 2011 2:22 PM

If anyone has any suggestions on optimizing either Vista or Vaio to turn off unnecessary services and start up items, any kind of a background process that is slowing the machine down, it would be appreciated.

ETA: The topical point is that Windows machines currently ship as some degree of non-functional, which will sink the company, regardless of the merit of the product. It's like if when you bought a car the engine came with 154 belts hooked up to the engine, each running something different, and 130 of which were unnecessary, but unless you were a mechanic, you'd have no idea which ones; and at the same time, the car had been reinforced and ballasted for balance and security against accidents, rendering the driver safer but the vehicle immovable. The resulting car with it's 1 mpg fuel efficiency and its top speed of 5mph would not compete well against others on the market. That said, I'm going to try to hammer out how to trim windows to make it a functional OS. I know Vista is the much maligned toad of the windows world as the new ME, but all windows products are going to have these issues to some extent.

I have my brand new Sony Vaio P, a wonderful little toy. I got a real deal, and I'm quite happy. It's much more stable than the UMID M2, and operates and works like a real computer, and it fits in my pocket. It replaces the Poquet that I have missed for many years.

It also has a netbook keyboard, very typable, and a very high resolution screen. It would be great for watching a 720P widescreen movie, or tracking stocks on, writing, various things that I can do in windows that I can't do on other machines, which is why I got it.

However, it comes preloaded with Windows Vista with added bloatware. My first instinct is NOT to replace Vista with a more stable OS because the machine was shipped with Vista, and that means there will be a nightmare of drivers and controllers associated with switching to a different OS.

Rather, I've decided to trim the OS as much as possible. I've gotten it to where it will play a youtube quite well (As shipped, it barely functions, and plays video at one frame per second,) but it it will still not play a full screen video at a decent frame rate.

I will need to continue to trim unnecessary services and start-ups, which probably means looking each one up, one at a time.

My initial mass-disable which was a standard issue inadvertantly disabled my wifi, and I had to go back to the mac and search to find the service required. This didn't help, so I searched more to find the dependencies, of which there were two, and that did the job, and now the internet is back.

Now Java keeps asking for permission to run this or that and I have a strong temptation to disable Java altogether, but I can't figure out how to do it.

This whole process will take me several hours, as a programmer and someone pretty familiar with computers and windows, and even having used Vista before.

This is a serious problem for Microsoft. The product does not work out of the box, and requires an expert to make it work. That is not going to be competitive in today's marketplace regardless of the ultimate capabilities of the machine. For a handheld, Sony has presented something with out of this world specs, and I think it will eventually be a very useful machine, but getting there is a bit of a rocky journey.

As for battery life, it's falling short of its specs, but as the machine gets cleaned up, that should improve. (looks like we're looking at 4-5 hours)
http://www.pocketables.net/2009/02/sony-vaio-p-battery-life-standard-v
s-extended.html

For anyone who is thinking about a netbook, the extended battery on all netbooks is a must. Not only is the battery life essential, but the change in form factor that the larger battery yields always grants a more typable slope to the keyboard, and most importantly of all, takes the base of the machine off the table and prevents the radical heat build-up.

My favorite "why is this a netbook" machine, and also favorite netbook to date is the Lenovo S-12. It's truly beautiful simplicity. What it's not, is small. It's small for a laptop, and very light-weight, carries about a 6 hour battery life on extended (6 cell) and a beautiful screen, and full sized keyboard. I would seriously consider it if it weren't for the "Oh how I don't need another computer" factor. I got the Vaio because I needed to be realistic about using my lovely little girlie pink S-10 as my principle business machine (which it does very well at, but seriously a pretty small screen res for charting, and netbooks are not quite portable enough.)

Another exasperation: When will this nonsense with 3G be over? The Vaio comes with a 3G card internal (Nice, but...) it's locked to Verizon (I have a verizon data plan, but...) I need a special Vaio plan to get my vaio on it (I don't, because I can use the Mifi, but...) Why? Why can't a 3G card just connect to whatever network is nearby and available and I could be charged a reasonable rate for the data?

I mean, they're willing to sell you data at $5-$10/gb if you go over on almost any plan. That's at a profit, but lets assume that they want to make a profit, it would be fine with me if that was always the case. You want a GB? buy it when you sign on. I could be driving along, I stop, and I see that the only tower is a T-Mobile tower, and I have no account, and there could be a little thing that pops up "Buy 1GB for $10 from T-Mobile" then, if I don't use the whole GB, they make off like a bandit, but if I do, I buy another one. And, while I'm at it, that GB should stay there until used, not expire in 30 days. Even nice would be data-trading. If I only use half of my T-Mobile GB, I could transfer it over to my AT&T account. (Yeah, I'm aware that these networks did at one point use different technology, but the newer technologies are much more compatible with one another, they're exaggerating the differences. No one is really going to be connecting to CDMA or GSM.)

That's what a ship is, you know - it's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails, that's what a ship needs.

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Friday, April 22, 2011 2:42 PM

LILI

Doing it backwards. Walking up the downslide.

Wish I could help you, I have a Mac. I've heard good things about Linux though, which can apparently be set up to closely approximate Windows, without the headaches.

Facts are stubborn things.

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Friday, April 22, 2011 3:48 PM

FREMDFIRMA

You bought a machine with Vista on it ??!!
Of your own free will ??!!
Even the CAT is laughing at you.

That's like accepting a hunting party invitation from Dick Cheney...
Dude, seriously, WHAT WHERE YOU THINKING ?!!

-F

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Friday, April 22, 2011 3:50 PM

FREMDFIRMA

Ok, done being a jackass.

START->RUN-> and then type in MSCONFIG and hit enter.

Work it out yourself from there, you're clever enough.

-F

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Friday, April 22, 2011 4:44 PM

DREAMTROVE

Oh, yeah? If it's not Ceiling Cat, I'm not worried.

You know I can change OS at any point, but I don't want. It's native to the machine, and it's also a short-lived OS on a unique kernel, I'm hoping that's going to radically reduce the virus count, not that I intend to take any risks. All updates and anti-virus are turned off, the only download I made was Firefox, I didn't let ie Launch a single page, even its own, just mozilla.org. I'm not about to start randomly surfing the web on it.

Now, of course you have to figure that I already did run>msconfig, which is how I hacked and slashed services and startup in the first place, it's just the painstaking task of trimming down the supposed essentials, and probably bringing back some of the non essentials that actually improve performance, which sometimes some of them do.

I think at 1/4 retail price, you might buy a Vista machine too. Worst case? I either upgrade to Win7 or downgrade to XP, I know Sony has the drivers on their site.

Oh, as for Linux, it's a great OS, I have two linux machines. Most of the time I use the Mac, but I must confess that Linux is faster. I have Ubuntu 8 downstairs and Ubuntu 9 up here, I'm using Snow Leopard at the moment and I have Leopard in the store. Also an Anroid, iPad, a bit gadget heavy, I know, All of these are great Os's, but they're not Windows, and they will not run Windows specific software like QuoteTracker. I have two old XP machines, one actually works, and I have a pink girlie netbook with XP on it, which actually works quite nicely, but I wanted something on a sort of tablet level to run my key Win apps on, and the Vaio P was just sitting there, like the last Pim.

Upside, it's a pretty awesome machine. Dual core 1.33, 2gb, 64gb sdd, 1600x768 screen, which makes it like a cinemascope aspect ratio which is kind of odd, but that's something I liked about the old Poquet, no wasted space, screen and KB same size, the result is about the size of the Galaxy Tab, barely pocketable, but pocketable.

ETA: A lot of terrible advice out there. "Delete programs you never use." Um. Deleting something from my drive is not going to speed up my machine. And there were so many "reinstall and interrupt, delete this, hack that," I think, no, it's easier than that, and more reversible, just do msconfig. But even a lot of the service kill suggestions kill fairly essential stuff and ignore useless things, esp. bloatware. Problem is, because it's such a specific piece of hardware, I have to figure out which of the services and start up items put there by Sony are essential to interface with the device and which are bloatware.

That's what a ship is, you know - it's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails, that's what a ship needs.

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Friday, April 22, 2011 8:18 PM

FREMDFIRMA

Okay, fine - look, Vista *IS* bloatware, the operating system itself is boobytrapped six ways to sunday with all manner of ridiculously obscure, overbearing and clobbered together "content protection" and various backdoor shit which is all hardwired integrally to the OS to the point where shitcanning it is easier than fixing it.

You will never, EVER get it to work within your specifications and requirements, period - why do you think even Micro$hit ditched it ?

A Cost Analysis of Windows Vista Content Protection
http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/vista_cost.html

In particular for your case - THIS.
http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/vista_cost.html#cpu

What you have done is the equivalent of buying a car with one wheel on it, and then wondering why it takes so long to get to the store, and what all that scraping noise is.

-Frem

I do not serve the Blind God.

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Friday, April 22, 2011 8:47 PM

PHOENIXROSE

You think you know--what's to come, what you are. You haven't even begun.

Quote:
Originally posted by dreamtrove:
If it's not Ceiling Cat, I'm not worried.

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Saturday, April 23, 2011 2:43 AM

DREAMTROVE

Thanks for the links, I'll take a look.

To play devil's advocate for a second, security and update network services are pretty easy to route out, it's not rocket science, and underneath is the core of Win Server 2003, which IIRC is the Kernel.

Someone here made the point that minor operating systems don't get attacked because they just don't represent enough of the food supply for predators, which means Vista-specific attacks based on exploiting flaws in the Kernel will be rare, and your many worries are a) general windows attacks, b) anything in system update functions which I disabled on first boot, and c) compatibility issues which might be a real problem. I'm hoping there are patches.

That said if it fails, I just install Win7 or something and go back to the Sony site for drivers.

I've gotten rid of the delay between "click something" and "response" but there's still a lot of trimming to do. I'll clean the actual house first today, and then come back and see what I can do about Vista.

My hunch is this: The problem isn't Vista so much as it is Microsoft. The company is so bent on "features" which is a mix of things that will wow the user with the awesome power of microsoft and things they can exploit from the back end to lure you in to using only their technology; that they push equipment manufacturers to preload this overbearing OS that is going to cause any system to fail.

So, sure, it would run better if I put Linux on it, but that's not what I got it to do. You can run Linux on a Kindle if you want (this is actually true.) I wanted a 9 inch wand of power in my pocket that could things that ironically require it to also be micro and soft.

I'll keep hacking away at it. I know that Win7 has better benchmarks across the board, but I also know that it will come with its own host of issues security-wise. If it comes to that, that's what will happen.

Last night I noticed that the screen on the Vaio P is a little on the small side. Not in total area, but in how all the text is tiny like. The high resolution pixel density adversely effects windows in a way that it doesn't affect the iPhone, because there's no automatic compensation for that. Anyone know any tricks beyond Lower the res, increase system font size or Control-+?

ETA: Let me know if ceiling cat has any tips other than "get a new OS."
That's what a ship is, you know - it's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails, that's what a ship needs.

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Saturday, April 23, 2011 5:25 AM

ANTHONYT

Freedom is Important because People are Important

Hello,

I don't know enough about this topic to be useful, but I will share this:

Until recently I had Vista on my machine. I happily used Windows Movie Maker to edit videos for work. It was not sophisticated, but it was reliable and did everything I needed it to.

Recently I had a system crash and installed Windows 7 because I had no Windows Vista CD.

Windows 7 did not come with Windows Movie Maker, but I was able to download the more sophisticated Windows Live Movie Maker from Microsoft's website for free.

It is a horrid, crippled pile of trash. I have no idea what they did to it, but editing footage has become a whole world harder. I will now have to go buy a real video editing program for Windows 7.

Why Microsoft would design and release a less useful, less intuitive, and more glitchy version of their editing software as a new and improved program is beyond me.

--Anthony

_______________________________________________

“If you are not free to choose wrongly and irresponsibly, you are not free at all”

Jacob Hornberger

“Freedom is not worth having if it does not connote freedom to err. It passes my comprehension how human beings, be they ever so experienced and able, can delight in depriving other human beings of that precious right.”

Mahatma Gandhi

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Saturday, April 23, 2011 5:49 AM

BYTEMITE

Quote:

Last night I noticed that the screen on the Vaio P is a little on the small side. Not in total area, but in how all the text is tiny like. The high resolution pixel density adversely effects windows in a way that it doesn't affect the iPhone, because there's no automatic compensation for that. Anyone know any tricks beyond Lower the res, increase system font size or Control-+?

Never had Vista, but I'd think it still works pretty similar to the Display Options tab on other windows machines. You can access it in the control panel from the start menu, or 'right click' on your desktop picture (not sure how that'll work on an iPhone).

Sounds like they call it the Personalization Center on Vista. Try running desk.cpl if it doesn't come up the normal way and isn't in the control panel.

Or you can do this, because it also sounds like on Vista they made it into an annoying step-by-step process:

http://www.techidiots.net/notes/vista/vista-how-to-get-back-a-tabed-di
splay-options

EDIT: Hmm, It sounds like you might've already tried doing this with your "lower the res increase font size control-+ comment. I'll keep looking.

You've tried all of these?

http://www.abilitynet.org.uk/myway/Making%20Text%20Larger%20In%20Windo
ws%20Vista.php

This might help if the trouble you're running into is a problem of the text looking bad after changing resolution or font display. If the problem is that resolution changes and font increases stretch out web pages, there might not be much you CAN do, as that's more a problem with the webpage being incompatible with scaling.

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/why-do-my-windows-vista-f
onts-look-horrible/

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Saturday, April 23, 2011 6:12 AM

DREAMTROVE

Anthony,

Yes, this is just the sort of thing that I worry about: I can tell you why: Because it's a different Kernel.

This happens to Microsoft all the time. They are running concurrent development projects that are based off of different Kernels. When one bombs (Like Millenium or Vista) they can just switch to another Kernel's latest update, rather than take the time to fix the bugs with the current OS.

This means that any software that they had written, they now have to rewrite by reverse engineering it, and writing a new version to look like the old version. This can be done really well, like "Snow Leopard" which I'm using right now is a OSX reverse engineered and built on a Unix Kernel instead of a PowerPC based Mac OS Kernel, like the nearly identical but much slower Leopard. But this took them years to do. It can't be done in 6 months, which is what Microsoft forces itself to do when it launches a product that flops.

The other issue is one of the widely used OS. This is a double edged sword. Vista-native security routines, are, as Frem says, burdensome, but probably can be disabled, as there will be almost no Vista-native attacks.

The downside is that because it's an off-OS, there will be compatibility issues with programs, particularly the sort of indy dev programs I want to run. Mainstream popular programs will be fine tuned to work on any version, but they don't tend to require windows because people generally write ports to Mac and Linux if something is popular.

Byte, thanks, yes, I know about display options, personalization center, I'll check it out, after I'm done stripping down the OS and looking through each and every service and startup process.

ETA: DPI scaling sounds more like what I'm talking about that iPhone 4 does.

That's what a ship is, you know - it's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails, that's what a ship needs.

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Saturday, April 23, 2011 8:47 AM

FREMDFIRMA

There's a variant of Win7 which allows full backwards compatibility with any version all the way back to Win95, but I am unsure of its commercial availability.

I'm running a split-option boot with that and Dos6.22/Win3.1/Win32X native, and also available via DOSBOX emulation, for legacy software of a type not written any more.

I have a standing offer with a couple of Geekfarm folks, if they can find a file or program I can't read or run, I'll buy them dinner - only once has this ever happened.

But then I am also running on a hand built custom PC which can stomp an Alienware Aurora into the dirt handily, too.

-Frem

I do not serve the Blind God.

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Saturday, April 23, 2011 12:32 PM

DREAMTROVE

Okay, I just downloaded quotetracker and it wouldn't run. I'll have to see if it's something I disabled

[stuff i disabled initially]
At the advice of:
http://www.mydigitallife.info/optimize-vista-by-disabling-unused-unnee
ded-or-unnecessary-windows-services/

* Application Management
* Background Intelligent Transfer Service
* Base Filtering Engine
* Block Level Backup Engine Service
* Certificate Propagation
* COM+ Event System
* Computer Browser
* Diagnostic Policy Service
* Diagnostic System Host
* Distributed Link Tracking Client
* Fax
* Function Discovery Provider Host
* Function Discovery Resource Publication
* Human Interface Device Access
* IKE and AuthIP IPsec Keying Modules
* Internet Connection Sharing (ICS)
* IP Helper
* IPSec Policy Agent
* KtmRm for Distributed Transaction Coordinator
* Messenger Sharing Folders USN Journal Reader Service
* Microsoft iSCSI Initiator Service
* Microsoft Software Shadow Copy Provider
* Net.Tcp Port Sharing Service
* Network Access Protection Agent
* Network List Service
* Network Location Awareness
* Offline Files
* Parental Controls
* PnP-X IP Bus Enumerator
* Portable Device Enumerator Service
* Print Spooler
* Program Compatibility Assistant Service
* Quality Windows Audio Video Experience
* ReadyBoost
* Remote Access Connection Manager
* Remote Registry
* Routing and Remote Access
* Secondary Logon
* Security Center
* Server
* Shell Hardware Detection
* SL UI Notification Service
* Smart Card
* Smart Card Removal Policy
* SNMP Trap
* SSDP Discovery
* Superfetch
* Tablet PC Input Service
* TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper
* Telephony
* Terminal Services
* UPnP Device Host
* Volume Shadow Copy
* WebClient
* Windows Backup
* Windows Defender
* Windows Error Reporting Service
* Windows Firewall
* Windows Image Acquisition
* Windows Media Center Extender Service
* Windows Media Center Receiver Service
* Windows Media Center Scheduler Service
* Windows Media Center Service Launcher
* Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service
* Windows Search
* Windows Time
* WinHTTP WebProxy Auto-Discovery Service
* Virtual Disk
* Volume Shadow Copy
* Wired AutoConfig

For those who doesn’t use Windows Aero theme, the following services can be disabled:

* Application Experience
* Desktop Window Manager Session Manager

For those who doesn’t use any themes in Windows Vista, the following services can be disabled:

* Application Experience
* Desktop Window Manager Session Manager
* Windows Themes

[recently disabled]
arcsoft connect daemon -
application layer gateway service -ics
DFS Replication - sync files
intel(R) sample collector - unknown
healthkey - security protocol
microsoft office diagnostics - ms office
office source engine service - checks for ms office updates
onecare antivirus- built in vista slow protection
onecare firewall - "" firewall
MSCSPTISRV -openMG sony mp3 player
pacsptisrv - more sony openMG
Peer Networking Identity Manager - homegroup, remote assist and other ms p2p
Peer Networking Grouping - more ms p2p
peer name resolution protocol - some p2p apps require
PNRP Machine Name Publication Service - ms p2p
Problem Reports and Solutions Control Panel Support - reports errors to MS,known security risk
qualcomm gobi - runs qg 3g verizon card. i should disablethe card,since vz charges a fortune for data and it probably east about a watt.
Remote Access Auto Connection Manager - one of many direct internet connection controllers
Sony SPTI - sony pictures on demand video service
terminal services configuration - vista only TSCS system remote desktop, probably unnecessary
TPM Base services - required for anything that uses TPM local encryption
vaio Multimedia services, lots of them - unnec
windows live onecarev - security and perf enhancer discontinued in 2009
windows modules installer - part of windows update

[future trim]
windows cardspace - secure id, known powerhog
thread ordering server - not sure
task scheduler - this looks non essential,not sure.
Secure Socket Tunneling Protocol Service - connects sstp to vpn
RPC locator - tracks RPC clients, deprecated, but available for backward compatibility
Performance Logs and Alerts - data gathering perf.probably unnec.
Multimedia Class Scheduler - prioritizes multimedia, win audio is dependent on it.Known recource hog
netlogon - authent mostly for vpn
interactive services detection - win dialogue popups
cryptographic services - may be needed for ssl, might generate errors if missing
DHCP Client - receives allocated IP
DNS Client - caches DNS
Distributed Transaction Coordinator - communication betweeen .net and windows live programs
iviregmgr - intervideo service for windvd
link-layer topology discovery - maps network devices
virtualdisk - i assume this is for a swap file, i'd usually rather crash but i guess its essential
Windows event collector - manages WS and IPMI based subscriptions. I don't know what that is
windows presentation foundation - keeps fonts looking pretty for presentations
windows remote management ws - appears widely used, runs hardware locally from servers, ms only, prob apps
wmi performance adapter - provides performance data to wmi, been around a while

[staying for now]
workstation - creates server connections using SMB, might be deprecated
wlan autocongfig - main wifi driver
Windows connect now- wifi mgr, probably essen
Windows color system, vaio prettiness.
win audio - sound
ms.net ngen - for vb
extensible auth protocol - wifi/encryption?
cng key isolation - wifi/encryption
vaio power management - sets power profile, useful
vaio event service - controls brightness,etc.
Network Store Interface Service - notify network connections, prob ess. to internet
System event notification service - part of COM+
network location awareness -finds area wifi
network connections - prob essen. wifi lan mgr
Network List Service - prob avail networks wifi
cammonitor - motion eye camera drive
com+ event - registry rpc
Protected storage - enrypts saved passwords
group policy - rpc
Security Accounts Manager - notifies SAM secure connection formed,systerm fails without it.
realtek audio service - probably my soundcard driver
themes - useless, but pretty
Windows Driver Foundation - User-mode Driver Framework stores drivers in user account instead of kernel, for crash recovery
Windows event log - this has been around forever, surely it's essential seems to be part of xml
Distributed Transaction Coordinator - svchost foe diag
windows installer - i assume this replaced install shield. handles msi files
windows management instrumentation, provides system data to software, essen

ETA: Performance is much better, but 480p on youtube full screen is still playing around 8-10 fps. Much better than before, but I can see jerkiness. This would be watchable, but some of the above processes still have to go.

More importantly, QuoteTracker is not launching. I probably need to figure out what its dependencies are and see if I can get it working.

ETA2: QuoteTracker is running. Now I need to see what I can still remove without killing it.

That's what a ship is, you know - it's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails, that's what a ship needs.

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Sunday, April 24, 2011 5:12 AM

DREAMTROVE

Going to try trimming some of these

First, anything unnecessary that is running:

Cammonitor. When I need a webcam I can turn it back on.

COM+ I'm setting to manual. If a program uses this, it can launch it. this means System event notification service and another COM+ process, all to manual. I think only active X is using this, but some programs will use that.

windows cardspace - secure id, known powerhog
task scheduler - this looks non essential,not sure.
Secure Socket Tunneling Protocol Service - connects sstp to vpn
cryptographic services - may be needed for ssl, might generate errors if missing - known powerhog
Distributed Transaction Coordinator - communication betweeen .net and windows live programs

I'll get to the rest of these in a sec.

wmi performance adapter - provides performance data to wmi, been around a while
Performance Logs and Alerts - data gathering perf.probably unnec.

thread ordering server - not sure
RPC locator - tracks RPC clients, deprecated, but available for backward compatibility
Multimedia Class Scheduler - prioritizes multimedia, win audio is dependent on it.Known recource hog
netlogon - authent mostly for vpn
interactive services detection - win dialogue popups
DHCP Client - receives allocated IP
DNS Client - caches DNS
iviregmgr - intervideo service for windvd
link-layer topology discovery - maps network devices
virtualdisk - i assume this is for a swap file, i'd usually rather crash but i guess its essential
Windows event collector - manages WS and IPMI based subscriptions. I don't know what that is
windows presentation foundation - keeps fonts looking pretty for presentations
windows remote management ws - appears widely used, runs hardware locally from servers, ms only, prob apps

ETA: This last change made things run better. It just occurred to me I could look at running processes, stop them, and see if things fail before disabling them.

Here's what's running currently: (Win7 may be a different kernel, but it's a pretty similar process list, and you guys might want to think about trimming processes if you have to use windows for any reason. So this isn't completely irrelevant.)

My html didn't work. Here's what's running

Appl. info.
CNG Key iso
Crypto. Serv. (Powerhog)
DCOM Server Prc. Lanch *(think is part of COM+)
DNS Client
Ext. Auth. Protocol
Group Pol. Client
IviReg Mgr (intervideo DVD, video)
MultiMedia Class Sch.
Network Conn.
Net. list serv.
Net. Loc. Aware.
Net. Store Interface serv.
PnP
Realtek Audio
RPC
Sec. Acc. Mgr.
Soft. Lic. Mgr.
Task Sch.
Themes
User Profile serv.
Vaio Event
Vaio Power mgmt.
Windows Audio
Windows Audio Endpt.
Win. Drv. Foundation
Win. Event Log
Win. Mgmt. Inst.
WLAN autoconfig
Workstation

Of those, these are on manual, but running:
Appl. Info
CNG Key Iso
Ext. Auth. Protocol
Net. Conn.

I figure if they're on manual but running, something required them. I'm running only two things: Firefox and QuoteTracker. I'll add to that, but not much. I might want to add Netflix if I can get video working, but most software is obsolete now that there are webapps. Running photoshop on a Sony Vaio P seems like an impractical thing to do in any event.

Here's what's on manual but not started:

Com+ ES
Com+ SA
Diag Host Serv.
Interact. serv. detect.
Link-layer topo. disc.
MS .NET NGEN
Netlogon
Perf. log & Alerts
Protect. Storage
RPC Loc.
Sys Event Not. serv. (com+)
thread order. server
Virtual disk
Win. color sys.
Win. connect now
Win. Event Collector
Win. Installer
Win. Pres. Found.
Win. Remote Mgmt.
WMI perf. Adapter

I'm not going to list the 120 disabled services.

Some of the manual serv. have to stay, they will be called (like win. installer) but some can go. (largely those that rep. a sec. threat, or that are called as non-essential by the OS itself for some reason on a sch. basis, and will slow down the machine.)

Going to cross notes and try to get rid of some of the running processes.

ETA: I'm running services.msc now, it's more flexible than msconfig, but won't allow certain options
That's what a ship is, you know - it's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails, that's what a ship needs.

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Sunday, April 24, 2011 8:15 AM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...

The only thing I have to say is "THE trouble with Windows"?? Like there's only ONE?? :biggin:

Hippie Operative Nikovich Nikita Nicovna Talibani,
Contracted Agent of Veritas Oilspillus, code name “Nike”,
signing off

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Sunday, April 24, 2011 1:23 PM

FREMDFIRMA

I really cannot understand why you even make the effort here, it's like trying to fly a concrete airplane - sure, enough tinkering and engine power might someday, eventually, get you in the air, but for crying out loud... WHY?!

-F

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Sunday, April 24, 2011 1:38 PM

DREAMTROVE

Okay, this program won't let me disable the following

DCOM launch
Task Schedule

I just switched these to "manual"
Soft. Lic.
Sec. Acc. Mgr.
Crypt. Serv.
Ext. Auth. Protocol
Net. Conn.

I think I want to try this setup now.

ETA: Messages on stopping these

App. Info: Could not be stopped.
Net. Conn. could be stopped without error, but I might want it back

These maybe should be put back on Automatic:
CNG Key Iso: WLAN autoconfig is dependent on this process.
Ext. Auth. Protocol: WLAN autoconfig is dependent on this process.

ETA2: QT wouldn't load until I launched Sec. Acc. Mgr. so I put it on automatic.

That's what a ship is, you know - it's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails, that's what a ship needs.

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Sunday, April 24, 2011 2:02 PM

DREAMTROVE

Okay, this is probably as trim as I can make Vista and still function. A lot of things are on "Manual" that maybe should be on "Disabled" but they're not running right now.

The Mexican Pepsi ad played at 480 fine on a small frame, but full screen it was a hair slow. Just shy of fluid. Carrie Underwood at 720p even on small is coming in at around 4fps. I think that I probably need to launch some video routine that ups performance.

As for the machine itself, general operation is now fairly optimal, there's no noticeable lag or slowness to any standard operation. For comparison, I'm going to go over and try to play Carrie Underwood on the Mac. (these are the default videos youtube is offering me.)

ETA: Carrie Underwood plays fine on the Mac at 720.

On the Vaio at full screen she was down to 1-2fps, and there was a full second lag on controls.

I'm going to scout through the things I disabled looking for things that might improve video performance.

That's what a ship is, you know - it's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails, that's what a ship needs.

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Sunday, April 24, 2011 5:46 PM

DREAMTROVE

The video story appears to be the underpowered video driver which was deliberately unstacked to make videos only play from Sony's own video service, which is not unlike other vendors, alas.

There are some hacks around it, I might try one.

That's what a ship is, you know - it's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails, that's what a ship needs.

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Sunday, April 24, 2011 10:30 PM

FREMDFIRMA

Dude, seriously...
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2011/1/28/

Or are you just, like.. BAITING me now ?

-F

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Monday, April 25, 2011 6:08 PM

DREAMTROVE

Oh, I'd be happy with 15

Yeah, I'm mostly just putting this here for my own reference so I can go back and forth between looking things up on the mac and tweaking them on the Vaio, posting them to FFF made an easily accessible page, plus, I might get comments.

Vaio can clearly play video because it's more powerful than the lenovo netbook, but it's not doing it. Okay, now it's playing at 360 and 480, but the screen was deliberately made for 720 playback, but they only want you to get it from Sony. that's not why I got the machine though, so it's not that important. I might try a tweak that someone suggested though.

Mainly what I wanted was a pocket stock market analyzer, which I now have. I see there's a hack to unlock the 3g, but what do you do with an unlocked 3g?

That's what a ship is, you know - it's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails, that's what a ship needs.

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