Windows Vista Why is Vista so slow?

My wife likes to play Bejeweled so she bought the CD. It ran perfectly on her old computer running XP but she told me tonight that Bejewled runs incredible slow on her new computer running Vista.

Anyone ever seen this?

 

The difference in performance speed between 1 GB and 4 GB with Vista is noticeable and distinct. (Actually, now that I think of it the 32 bit systems will recognize only 3 GB's or a tad over).

Anyway, when I bought my present Vista based PC it had 1 GB of RAM. My wife's old XP based Dell with 1 GB of RAM would outrun it. However, after maxing out the RAM I find my Vista PC runs much faster and gets itself "out of trouble" better.

So while I don't know the nuances CD drive speed and running a game with Vista, I am certain that in terms of even-steven performance speed, Vista requires much more RAM than XP.

My suggestion then is to look into upping the RAM. After that, I'm pretty much out of ideas.

 

This thingd already got 2048 MB of RAM.

Her old Dell has a 2.59 GHZ processor and 256MB RAM and it ran OK with XP.

Her new PC has a 1.6 GHz processor and 2048 MB with Vista and seems to run allot slower than the other one.

So it's got more memory but a slower processor. Weird.

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=10858497


I've got an older Emachine I bought 3 years ago and seems like I had to remove allot of programs running in the background to speed it up. Like "Big Fix ". I just wonder if there is something on her new PC that is bogging down the memory.

My parents bought an HP Pavillion that came with "ME" and it was a dog due to the bundled software that came on it. I helped it somewhat by getting rid of the bundled software but it didn't help much.

Just by simply installing XP without all the bundled software make it run much faster.

 

Does it only relate to that game? From the title of the thread, people are giving you advice on general slowness in Vista.

Here are the system requirements for Bejewelled 2, it will run on a 1GHz Pentium III.

See if there are any installation instructions with the "installer ". There may be link to a User Manual in Start -> All Programs or in the game's folder.
One thing I see in the game's information:

You need version 1.1.

Troubleshooting would probably include uninstalling and reinstalling the game. You could try downloading the trial version and see if that runs correctly.

They have a troubleshooting "Contact Us" link in the Readme.

Matt

 

Here is my growing list of things that could be responsible for slowing the start up, running and shutting down of your computer. Not all of them will apply to you but look through the list and try those that seem appropriate:

1. Make sure your computer is free from malware, i.e. run your ‘anti’ programs.
2. Insufficient memory (RAM) can slow the system down. A minimum of 2GB is recommended, more if your system can cope with it. Also, SuperFetch preloads into memory the programs and data it expects you to use based on past usage. This does result in quite a lot of disk activity after startup as files are read from disk into memory but it can make a difference to the launch times of frequently used programs where a large amount of RAM is installed. Disable it on systems with less than 2GB of RAM via the Windows Orb (Start) > All Programs > Administrative Tools > Services, scroll down to Superfetch, double-click it and change the Startup type to Disabled and click Stop to immediately turn it off.
3. Indexing takes a day or so to settle down on a new Vista computer. However, if you don’t do much internal searching, turn it off completely, look here http://www.mydigitallife.info/2007/...ws-vista-search-indexer-and-indexing-service/
4. Turn off Scheduled defragmentation via Windows Orb (Start) > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Defragmentation. However, every so often you need to check if any disks have become excessively fragmented, which can affect disk performance. Also, stop Windows Defender from auto-scanning and check if your antivirus program is scanning at boot time.
5. You’ll get a slightly faster start up if you optimise the boot files and applications by running a special defragmentation from an elevated CMD prompt, i.e. click the Windows Orb (Start) > All Programs > Accessories and right-click Command Prompt, then ‘Run as Administrator’. Type defrag C:\ -b (note the two spaces) and press Enter.
6. When you have a slow boot, check that no external drives have media in them. If they have, experiment by booting with it inserted and without. If you have a built-in card reader remove the little plastic cover that protects the slot, which can occasionally cause a slow down.
7. To check if a particular program is slowing the machine when you switch on or shut down, e.g. an antivirus program, go to Control Panel > Classic View > Performance Information and Tools > Advanced Tools (in the left pane). On this screen the problem is sometimes shown. If not, click View Performance Details in Event Log (Event Viewer). Events in the 100 series are boot events and I believe those in the 200 series are shut down events. These can be followed up by double-clicking them, then clicking Event Log Online at the bottom. Lots of information on Event Viewer http://www.computerperformance.co.uk/vista/vista_event_viewer.htm
8. Try Microsoft’s Process Explorer. There is an explanation and a link to Microsoft’s site here http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2092881,00.asp
9. I don’t agree with all of these speed improvement tips but you may find something that looks familiar, read through the list here http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/81176-speed-up-performance-vista.html and/or here http://bibwoe.com/1/InfoPages/VistaTweaks/tabid/84/Default.aspx#Advanced System Settings
10. Reduce the number of programs that start up when you switch on the computer.

 

That's allot of information to digest. Keep in mind this computer is brand spanking new. 1.6 Ghz processor and 2048 MB of RAM. We haven't even had it a week.

It seems with every computer I have seen that comes with "extra" non Microsoft software, you have to remove it or disable something in Windows in order to speed it up and I think that's the case with this machine.

There's a Norton's antivirus program on it right now that will be coming off and replaced with AVG.

I just played Bejeweled. And it is slower on Vista than XP.

Here's the best way to describe it. Have you ever played a DOS game in XP? I've got an Atari 2600 emulator called PCAE. It ran fine in Windows 95 and 98 but is slower than whiz in XP.

Bejewled is not a DOS based program but runs like it's a DOS game in XP. Does that make sense?

Sort of off the Vista subject but perhaps the same deal.

A friend just told me if you disable the Themes in XP it will speed the computer up because the Themes is a memory hog and sure enough Internet Explorer and Eudora start up quicker.

Just wonder if something else is bogging down the memory. In other words what are the top 10 memory hogs in Vista?

Emachines come with a program that runs in the background called "Big Fix ". I think it expires once the customer service expires. So I removed it from mine.

Gosh I wish Microsoft still supported 98 SE and just supplied updates that allowed you to use wireless adapters and better USB support rather than coming out with these new versions. I'd hate to see what this new Version 7 is going to be like....

98 SE runs lightning fast on my garage PC with 500 MGz/256 MB of RAM. Boots up 3 times as fast as XP or Vista.

It puts all the later operating systems to shame and takes up less than 1GB of hard drive space.

They should have stuck with something good when they knew it.

 

Arie

I didn’t mean to give the impression of never running defragmentation. Since Vista and Win 7 were introduced, I always turn off the scheduled task and periodically run the ‘analyze’. I will update my previous post to make it clearer to anyone reading it in the future.