Why does Windows seem to lag when MULTITASKING?

[apple3]

I am d/l some files have plenty of RAM and HD space but when I go to do something it is very sluggish. Is there a way that I can improve this? If I stop d/l then it is fine. THX

 

[garysgold]

Hello apple,

Welcome to the Seven Forums.

Could you click on the 'update sys. specs' link under the 'My sys specs' button on the bottom left of one of your posts. That info will help us answer your questions. Fill in as much info as you can.

Gary

 

[limneos]

I have noticed that too in some cases, when I download or especially when I copy files from network locations (lan and wireless) Windows gets laggy until the transfer finishes...

I think it has something to do with the disk writes....

Please confirm anyone...

 

[Mike]

I do agree that with downloads and transfers certain applications get laggy, especially IE 32-Bit.

 

[garysgold]

Hmm, only d/ls I have done have been from the net, but I haven't noticed any big hit in performance. Well in IE, but I figured it was cause the bandwidth was being used by the d/l.

Gary

 

[Airbot]

I am d/l some files have plenty of RAM and HD space but when I go to do something it is very sluggish. Is there a way that I can improve this? If I stop d/l then it is fine. THX

Well, we wouldn't even be able to tell if you even had true multitasking capabilities if you don't fill out your specifications.

 

[apple3]

Well, we wouldn't even be able to tell if you even had true multitasking capabilities if you don't fill out your specifications.

Okay I did it in it. (sig).

If I download and then go to move a window, the screen lags in re-draw. Also if I unzip, it does the same thing. I would have thought that this wouldn't be possible in a modern system. Otherwise it feels fast. Another operating system doesn't feel like this but I am liking windows 7 a bunch.

Is there a setting I could change that would help.
Updated the system found the place to set it for this board

 

[sevsman]

You have to remember that when your downloading or uploading your discs are in use. So if a sata 2 dics has a true throughput or 50-60Mps then this will be greatly impacted on other applications trying to access the disc, wether it be for read or write. Is the disc/discs in use both used for download directory and access for the app or function that you are using?

 

[waymack91xj]

Sounds like a disk time issue. I wonder if 7 talks to the HDD more than the other OSs have. Also important to remember that this is still a beta and betas are supposed to be buggy I would try (if you have another HDD) moving your page file to another HDD to see if that helps. I know that in order to make it boot faster, it doesn't load as much stuff up front as before. Also, if you are downloading via IE8, it could very well be that because the download window is a plugin of IE. I know that for me, IE8 isn't playing too nice and it gets really slow, like when typing, but the rest of the system remains perky.

 

[apple3]

Sounds like a disk time issue. I wonder if 7 talks to the HDD more than the other OSs have. Also important to remember that this is still a beta and betas are supposed to be buggy I would try (if you have another HDD) moving your page file to another HDD to see if that helps. I know that in order to make it boot faster, it doesn't load as much stuff up front as before. Also, if you are downloading via IE8, it could very well be that because the download window is a plugin of IE. I know that for me, IE8 isn't playing too nice and it gets really slow, like when typing, but the rest of the system remains perky.

I don't understand what you want me to try. I can put in another hard drive if you want but not sure what you want me to do. I am using chrome as my browser but it is not just the internet, just moving a window, any window when doing something like unzipping causes the window to lag and redraw like an old win95 machine. Otherwise it runs fast EXCEPT when I do anything hard drive intensive and this seems a little unusual.

Please tell me what you want me to do.
Thx
Edited:
A plane crashed into the Hudson river and I think we should send vibes and thoughts and prayers as its 20 degree's outside. On the news now. Terrible, terrible. Hope its okay to post this.

 

[waymack91xj]

I just thought moving your page file to a different hard drive might help with your disk performance. I'm downloading chrome right now to see if it has any affects on performance for me.

 

[cartel]

DisableTaskOffload= 0

Microsoft Corporation

Vista Tips and Tweaks - MSFN Forums


There is more tweaks in the Adapter Properties, you need to enable them, not sure what any of it does, be careful.

 

[apple3]

DisableTaskOffload= 0

Microsoft Corporation

Vista Tips and Tweaks - MSFN Forums


There is more tweaks in the Adapter Properties, you need to enable them, not sure what any of it does, be careful.

View attachment 2908

I don't have that feature it seems.

Umm also how do I disable a "you have images waiting to burn"? I tried to burn a dvd a few days ago and it failed and now every time I boot I get a message telling me I have files waiting to burn. :huh:

 

[cartel]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters]
"DisableTaskOffload"=0

You need that in your registry

 

[johngalt]

Might want to do some more reading before you just go an enable a registry tweak / HD tweak without some reference. Cartel supplied the MSFN link, be *sure* to read that first - carefully.

Also, a lot of folks (most notably those using Seagate Barracudas) have been experiencing poor HD performance in their WEI scores *and* in HD speed tests built into W7. I have a small workaround for those using nForce boards and 'Cudas, see http://www.sevenforums.com/general-discussion/342-show-us-your-wei-16.html#post10171 - but this problem exists (without the ability to fix it)for others also using 'Cudas *and* Maxtor drives and *not* using nForce boards.

Finally, you should research your hardware a lot more - why type of HDs do you have, what are the settings, are they installed and jumpered correctly, is your BIOS allowing full bandwidth for your drives, etc.

Finally, remember this: W7 *is* a beta OS - and throughput is one of the problems that W7 hasn't quite fixed yet - early reports show that Vista is still faster in throughput than W7.

Added the following:

Also, do realize that 1) I have no issues when DL/ing and multitasking, and 2) I at times do seriously high powered downloading - GrabIt News Group Binary grabber, at sustained speeds to 2500 KB/s and / or Various *.ISO downloads from M$ and Linux ISO sites - sustained speeds of 2500 - 3100 KB/s.

I have no issues at all except when I let Fx use DTA to DL a file - then I get a minor lag when it first starts, which last typically a couple of seconds.

 

[apple3]

Might want to do some more reading before you just go an enable a registry tweak / HD tweak without some reference. Cartel supplied the MSFN link, be *sure* to read that first - carefully.

Also, a lot of folks (most notably those using Seagate Barracudas) have been experiencing poor HD performance in their WEI scores *and* in HD speed tests built into W7. I have a small workaround for those using nForce boards and 'Cudas, see http://www.sevenforums.com/general-discussion/342-show-us-your-wei-16.html#post10171 - but this problem exists (without the ability to fix it)for others also using 'Cudas *and* Maxtor drives and *not* using nForce boards.

Finally, you should research your hardware a lot more - why type of HDs do you have, what are the settings, are they installed and jumpered correctly, is your BIOS allowing full bandwidth for your drives, etc.

Finally, remember this: W7 *is* a beta OS - and throughput is one of the problems that W7 hasn't quite fixed yet - early reports show that Vista is still faster in throughput than W7.

Added the following:

Also, do realize that 1) I have no issues when DL/ing and multitasking, and 2) I at times do seriously high powered downloading - GrabIt News Group Binary grabber, at sustained speeds to 2500 KB/s and / or Various *.ISO downloads from M$ and Linux ISO sites - sustained speeds of 2500 - 3100 KB/s.

I have no issues at all except when I let Fx use DTA to DL a file - then I get a minor lag when it first starts, which last typically a couple of seconds.

Wow, how ironic, it was Grabit that I first realized this problem so if you can fix it maybe I can? I then noticed the same thing if downloading from browser, you know, felt like 256MB of ram instead of 2GB in in it.

Here are my specs.

Its a Western Digital Hard Drive and its the thin wire, serial right.
It is configured as cable select.
I don't know if there is a setting in the bios and have no idea what to look for.
There are a few BIOS updates from Intel.
The motherboard is Intel

Ummmmmmmm not sure what else to ask for. Didn't do the register update yet.

 

[johngalt]

Sure - I moderate at those forums too, every once in a blue moon....

 

[falfaro]

Gig-E?

You have to remember that when your downloading or uploading your discs are in use. So if a sata 2 dics has a true throughput or 50-60Mps then this will be greatly impacted on other applications trying to access the disc, wether it be for read or write. Is the disc/discs in use both used for download directory and access for the app or function that you are using?

You must be kidding. How come do you expect to saturate a SATA disk that can deliver 40MB/s when downloading something from the Internet? Or do you have a Gig-E internet connection at home?

 

[anachronymous]

I had this problem very badly.... the system IO would lock up and the cpu was always maxed at 100%, with kernel cpu times sitting at 70-80% on all tasks...

I fixed it by flashing my board BIOS to a later version. Was on a GA P35-S3 board.

It is also possible it was fixed by the bios flash setting the drive settings back to IDE Legacy from AHCI, which was a side effect of the flashing.

Before I fixed the problem, Win 7 was a horrid laggy piece of crud.....

Afterwards, Win 7 is the best OS release from MS so far. Guess they will finally get me to ditch XP

 

[apple3]

Well I did a flashing of the bios then copied some files 800MB from the desktop to the desktop and it was faster, ~45MB or so.

I then copied some files from the PUBLIC user folder and sure enough it slowed to .500K or so. Therefore I am conviniced that its a bug. Has to be.

Can someone else confirm? Love this place.
Sorry about the last post (firewire=crash when changed sample rate), didn't know there was a audio forum and probably would have posted here as this was a BSOD but if audio means any audio device regardless of peripheral, then I will post from now on in Audio forums. Again, love this place. Cool stuff.