Saturday, June 30, 2007

What's making my hard disk thrash in Windows Vista?

Wondered what is causing your Vista machine's hard disk to thrash at seemingly random times in Vista? Well on a bare clean Vista install here is what is what I believe is causing the usage, and when - use this guide to help diagnose which you have:

ProcessOccurs When?
Superfetch/ReadyboostReadyboost device inserted, first run, when Vista analyses that you use particular programs/data regularly.
Indexing service/Windows Search
Assumed after every new file write/delete - reindexing for greater index performance occurs randomly (well, when the index needs cleaning up).
Windows DefenderPeriodically in the background, automated scheduled scans.
System RestoreWhen a new driver or piece of software is installed.

If you have Vista on a laptop and use Readyboost (via built in card reader or similar which I do), I'd recommend leaving Superfetch/Readyboost enabled, and System Restore for obvious reasons. I've disabled Windows Search via the services (because of heavy disk/battery usage) and Windows Defender as I'll enable and use this manually when I need it (I don't need it bugging me every 3 days/running whilst I work).

Friday, June 08, 2007

Aerofoil Irony - Vista Laptop Battery Saver

I just came across Vista Laptop Battery Saver by Clint Rutkas which was also created on exactly the same day I uploaded the first revision of Aerofoil. Functionally it is identical but actually has commented, properly written source -i.e. not done in an hour - (no source licence specified), a slightly uglier About box, but much nicer system tray (notifyicon) icon. He's also got a much more popular blog I'm hoping to get some traffic from ;)