Community Newsletter: Q&A: What is Windows ReadyBoost and does it improve performance?
- 6/27/08 4:33 PM
What is Windows ReadyBoost and does it work?
by ASTRALNAUT - 5/28/08 2:48 AM In reply to: What is Windows ReadyBoost and does it improve performance? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
ReadyBoost is basically a USB flashdrive that allows Windows to
store information on its memory,instead of using your RAM (Random
Access Memory).I use a Vista/Linux OS and have 1.5GB of RAM.Yes,
ReadyBoost does work but your USB flashdrive should be 3x your RAM.
If you go to Help and Support(Start Menu) and type in ReadyBoost,
you can read the specifications.Lots of luck.
Vista ReadyBoost
by drvms - 5/28/08 6:16 PM In reply to: What is Windows ReadyBoost and does it improve performance? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
ReadyBoost I tried in my computer. I couldnt find any difference in perfomance before and after using readyboost.
Well, I got in trouble using readyboost also, that while using readyboost, I kept the system in sleep mode for some time , then after few minuts i changed to the normal mode, this made a bad sector in the harddisk, this I tried 4 times after re installing vista, and same thing happened, harddisk making a click sound and read write delay showing. Then I stopped using Readyboost for some days, reinstalled Vista. Using readyboost without going to Sleep mode. Now no preoblem..Now fear to go sleep mode with readboost is anabled.
So I understood that, readyboost is actually the swap space for windows, so it uses usb memory as swap instead of Hard disk. When u enter in to Sleep mode, data is retained in the hard disk, when we come to normal mode, fast reading of data from hard disk making errors.
Thank you
Dr Sankaran NAmboodiri
readyboost
by fabianhow - 5/31/08 8:25 PM In reply to: What is Windows ReadyBoost and does it improve performance? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Readyboost is actually a file where system processes are offloaded into. It does improve performance on day-to-day tasks but does not increase performance in games. For readyboost to work best, it is recommended to use fast memory cards, thumbdrives etc. A Readyboost file will be created and the sapce occupied by the file(user defined) will not be available for use. However, readyboost does not improve performance much on systems with 3-4GB RAM as there is plenty of memory for the PC to use but it works best with 1-2GB RAM.
speed up for ur vista
by mdsaifuddin - 6/19/08 1:33 AM In reply to: What is Windows ReadyBoost and does it improve performance? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
hi
if u want to speed up ur laptop so sorry to say that there is no option bcause while bying the laptop u should check all the features ok and plz don't forget to chek the features of evry thing ok,
Readyboost is about on par with Vista. (and that ain't good)
by john3347 - 6/20/08 7:02 PM In reply to: What is Windows ReadyBoost and does it improve performance? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I had a Vista machine (I say HAD) with 2 GB ram which, like other Vista machines, was painfully slow in comparison to the machine it replaced which had an older OS and approximately 1/2 the computing capacity. I heard about readyboost, so I plugged a 4 GB flash drive into a USB port and instructed the computer to devote the entire drive to readyboost. I could tell absolutely no performance difference, but every few days, the ready boost would show a bit less memory than previously. Eventually after only 3 or 4 weeks, the flash drive was "dead". It wouldn't work in that application or in any other application either. I had a 2 GB flash drive hanging around, so I replaced the now totally dead 4 GB drive with the 2 GB drive. Within a couple of weeks, the 2 GB drive was also dead.
Now I have no scientific data or scientific evidence to support my contention that these two flash drives would still be functioning as document and photo back-up devices if they had never been relegated to the ineffective readyboost, but I had lost no flashdrives prior to, nor any since this experience. (I have also since then replaced the entire computer with another one with approximately the same computing power but an older OS and it is performing fantastically. ----without readyboost)
Windows Readyboost
by Jjesse285 - 6/20/08 7:13 PM In reply to: What is Windows ReadyBoost and does it improve performance? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
So you are saying that most adware are the cause of most problems on a computer in the win-xp and because the win-vist is a step up then what the point?
ReadyBoot overview and experience
by djengland - 6/20/08 8:56 PM In reply to: What is Windows ReadyBoost and does it improve performance? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
ReadyBoost maintains a copy of some of the most recently accessed data on your PCs hard disk in flash memory such as a USB memory stick. The premise of ReadyBoost is that small amounts of data can be more quickly read from flash memory while larger, sequential chunks of data can be read from disk faster. When Vista needs to retrieve small bits of recently accessed data, the flash memory is actually quicker to access than a hard disk drive.
If your PC has 2GB of RAM (Random Access Memory) or more and you only use a web browser and a word processor, ReadyBoost may provide little, if any, benefit since both applications can be loaded almost entirely in regular RAM. If you run multiple programs and you find that your PC's hard disk is working hard when you switch between them or if you run guest operating systems in VMWare or Microsoft Virtual PC, ReadyBoost can noticeably increase performance.
ReadyBoost does not pose data corruption risks as it maintains only an encrypted copy of what is already on disk and is not the sole copy used. You can actually remove flash memory acting as a ReadyBoost device from your PC without losing data since Vista will simply read the needed data from the hard disk instead.
I usually have a Sandisk Cruzer Micro 2GB USB drive configured for ReadyBoost in my HP DV9000 with 2GB of RAM. When I play games such as Crysis or Age of Empires, switching between them and my web browser is much quicker than without ReadyBoost. My machine with Vista and ReadyBoost is much better at multitasking than it was with XP and the same amount of RAM.
Your flash memory device will have to be USB 2.0 compatible and meet some minimum performance requirements. I've seen flash memory device manufactures advertise ReadyBoost compatibility, so it shouldn't be too hard to find a compatible device. Worst case: Spend $30 on good USB flash drive and set it up as a ReadyBoost device (Vista should prompt you with this option upon first insertion if it's compatible). If you don't notice any improvement, open My Computer, right-click the device, select Properties, click the ReadyBoost tab and disable it. Now, use the flash drive to back up some of your most important documents, music, and photos and move them between PCs if necessary.
ReadyBoot overview
by Jjesse285 - 6/20/08 9:26 PM In reply to: ReadyBoot overview and experience by djenglandOK that why I thought about it with no one around to ask, so I get the 4GB and a 8GB UBS sop that I can see if it work. All I know is that I don't want to be in deep space without the the Eng.
Beware large USB flash drives
by djengland - 6/21/08 9:27 AM In reply to: ReadyBoot overview by Jjesse285I'm glad I was albe to help. A few words of caution if you're looking for a 4 or 8GB drive. When I bought 2GB Sandisk drive (over a year ago), I also bought a 4GB Transcend USB flash drive figuring the extra space would help. Unfortunately, the larger drive used slower memory and didn't pass Vista's ReadyBoost performance check.
Just make sure whatever you buy mentions ReadyBoost compatibility or, at the very least, save your receipt so you can return it if it doesn't work.
Does Not help if your system memory is 2GB OR MORE
by GEO2003 - 6/20/08 9:44 PM In reply to: What is Windows ReadyBoost and does it improve performance? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I've been using Vista Home Premium for a year and two months now.
Ever since the beginning I thouth that ReadyBoost was going to make a difference in speed but it did not.
I have a 3 year old XPS2 with 2GB of Ram and a 100GB hard drive with a 256MB video card from Nvidia.
I have been doing a lot of testing with different free applications such as antivirus, Registry cleaners, firewalls. But At the beginning I continue to use programs That I was very familiar with.
1-ZoneAlarm Free Edition - For Vista.
2-AVG Free Edition - for Vista - never tried Ver. 8.0.
3-Used a driver for my touchpad for XP because Dell drop the ball and never came up with a driver certified for Vista and my laptop.
4-Vista Driver for my Netgear wireless pc card.
5-Auslogics Register and harddrive defragmenting utilities.
My laptop regardless of what I did alwasy took 2 minutes and 30-50 seconds to boot. These was using ReadyBoost.
After testing these and others to see what they offered, my system crashed and I have to re-installed Vista.
I decided that I was not going to take the chances of loosing my files pictures and music anymore by installing it to the same partion as the operating system and programs. So here is what I did which brought my laptop to boot in 1 min. 05 seconds.
A-Partion my hard drive in two, Giving about 35-40 GB for OS and Programs, and 60GB for all my files. This helps, because the OS now tracks the OS and Program files in a smaller area of the drive, yes the OS keeps tracks of what is on the other partion but does not access the entire drive to do so, if you are not looking for those files.
B-Installed Vista clean, all patches and SP1 and any other patch up to the point when I was ready to intalled anything else.
I think this makes a big difference because there is no programs that may have changed the register or any other windows file.
1-Changed from ZoneAlarm to Comodo's Fire wall which is free.
As soon as I took ZoneAlarm off, my computer started booting faster.
Comodo is fantastic and it is very well designed for Vista. I little harder to use but if you take the time you will see the settings are not that complicated. I am still learning, using it for about 1 month.
After seen how well Comodo worked, I also disable the Vista firewall because it assumens all programs in your computer should have access to the internet, there is a way to set rules but is complicated. Comodo learns and advises you if there is something it cant handle.
2-Changed from AVG to Avast Home Free, again another increase in speed. In my opinion, Avast is also very well design for Vista and has a lot of good features.
3-Found on Dell site a TouchPad driver that even though is was not for my laptop works great and loads properly.
4-Vista Update had a driver for my wireless card and changed to that and uninstalled the Netgear Driver. I also allow vista to handle the connection to my router which is working great.
5-Stop using Auslogics registry and harddrive defrag because they never appear to spead up my computer. I use the defrag utility from Vista because it takes into account the Prefetch, but with one exception, I use it through the command line as Admin. and execute command defrag c: -f -w -v (f=force defrag of all volumens -W=forces defrag of all files regarless of size - v=verbose.
When you use the GUI it won't defrag if your volume is less then 1% fragmented, which is why I run it from the command line to force it.
6-During my testing I found a great application Revo Uninstaller.
It really does a good job at finding entries programs leave behind, eg, Lava Soft, left over 200 entries in the registry and other files.
I always use this to uninstall programs so that my hard drive is cleanner why waste space right.
Last I use CCleaner to clean emty entries on the register as well as any other temp files left on my computer. It does a great job and it is free.
7-I took the 2GB SD card used for ReadyBoost two weeks ago, with no degradation in performance and increase the Page File to 4GB, I know is not recommended (some rule about the page file being a % of your ram)and set it as static by indicating the values for both min and max,but all of these changes combined made a big difference.
Bottom line, Clean your hard drive from junk you don't use with Revo to uninstall programs. Split your drive if you now how to use partion software, Vista has one built in. Defrag your drive once a month through Command line. Find the latest and best drivers for your computer, but before you install the new one alwasy uninstalled the oldone completly.
Last defenetely use CCleaner to clean the register, Everytime you uninstalled a program, with Revo there still some reference left behing (no one program is completely perfect) which CCleaner will handle. There was mentioned that cleaning the register is being paranoid. but windows hss to load all the references in the register because it thinks you still might need to use a program reference in the register. Being the case the bigger the register with useless things, the longer the computer will take to boot.
Good Speed Buddy.
GEO
Excellent journey!
by JCitizen - 6/21/08 1:06 PM In reply to: Does Not help if your system memory is 2GB OR MORE by GEO2003Looks like you went down a similar path I did with XP. I haven't tried Vista yet; but some of your advice works very well with XP also.
I've heard Revo is good; I must try it, but I like RegSupreme Pro so well I am definitly going to buy the license. A LIFETIME license is only $16!!! Don't worry - Macecraft has been around practically forever; when JV6 was free the company continued to, and still does honor the lifetime licenses for their product.
It has a plain Jane GUI, but makes up for it in droves with its ability to clean horrible software like Symantec out of your computer and has found hidden programs, I didn't find before, lurking in the system files and removes/uninstalls them, you won't need to run CCleaner after this, it won't find anything!
Good to hear of some Vista features working well such as the defrag program; sorry Auslogics doesn't cut it, I was going to try it on XP next.
NOD32 is a vastly superiour AV for XP and x64; I would suspect it does even better with Vista; and I doubt it has to invade the kernel like crapware Symantec!
Just thought I'd add some comment; thank you for providing valuable and enhancing information for CNET readers everywhere.
Running Processess at startup
by GEO2003 - 6/21/08 2:24 PM In reply to: Excellent journey! by JCitizenThanks for your comments.
I kind of forgot to mention also that both win xp and vista have the MSCONFIG.EXE where you can disable items that start at boot time.
The problem with this module is that the register settings load first and then the module executes the items you don't want to load. This adds to how slow xp and vista work.
Revo has several modules, including Auto Run Manager, the difference between Revo and MSCONFIG, That I have noticed, is that Revo actually disable the program at the register level and then gets out of the way, unlike MSCONFIG, which always appear to be loading into RAM to track what to load and what not to load. In addition, if you right click on the list of autoruns in Revo, it gives you a list of choices on what to do, including but not limited to looking up the starup process online so that it helps you decide what does it do and if it is absolutely necessary.
As someone mentioned, a good example is ADOBE FAST READER LUNCHER, IS NOT NEEDED. If you open an adobe file, it will give you a msg. indicataing that that process is not running and that you may see some problems with adobe itself, not true, it displays the file just the same.
Now the autoupdate process for adobe might be helpful because it reminds you of updated versions, then again you could manually run, CHECK FOR UPDATES within Adobe reader itself.
I have tested MSCONFIG and defenetly have noticed decrease in performace.
MORE ABOUT READYBOOST.
The files store in ReadyBoost drives are very small in size, someone mentioned files like background procesess which appears to be true.
But remember, ReadyBoost files are just a copy of what has been loaded into memory already, hence if the OS needs memory space from RAM to be allocated to other programs it will unload those procesess that are not absolutely necessary for the OS and use the copy in ReadyBoost itself.
This is just an opinion on how it seems to work derived from spending alot of time reading the performance logfiles for readyboost.
With 2GB ReadyBoost it always show very little speed performance and accesess.
With 2GB RAM, opening all my programs, background procesess, internet explorer with several tabs opened, my Ram never goes beyond 49-55 utilization as meter by the CPU-RAM GADGET on the Windows Side Bar,
this includes, running Cnet TV episodes, Windows Media Player 11 playiing songs, running all of the staff I use on my computer.
My CPU on the other hand is going crazy between 60 to 100 % being that it has only one processor running at 2GHZ.
I help my syster buy an HP TWO PROCESSORS WITH 3GB of ram, the video card is chip Nvidia, 128MB of dedicated RAM, Runs very fast.
The combination of dual core and 3GB or Ram is defenetely good.
That's all, everyone seem to have different experiences and good opinions as to what runs best for them.
EXPERIMENT, EXPERIMENT, EXPERIMENT, Key words with XP and VISTA.
Definitely...
by JCitizen - 6/21/08 2:43 PM In reply to: Running Processess at startup by GEO2003Experimentation is great, I do a lot of work on my honeypots to test AV and AS ware, so I know where you're coming from.
I would rather save time and listen to thoughful comments from people such as yourself though!
One thing about Adobe, I let Secunia PSI tell me when there is update; because, just as in the Fire Fox 3 debacle, I would rather wait until all vulnerabilities have been fleshed out from the updated versions.
I've had such good luck creating PDF files with Open Office I am thinking of uninstalling Adobe Reader! I can use it for my reader from now on! Of course I don't know how well page security features translate in that process, so I must EXPERIMENT, EXPERIMENT!
Isn't that what XP stands for?
by PsychGen - 6/21/08 2:44 PM In reply to: Definitely... by JCitizenXPerimental....
HA! :^0
by JCitizen - 6/21/08 2:46 PM In reply to: Isn't that what XP stands for? by PsychGenGood one Lee! =)
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