Vista memory/CPU usage problems...

[50]

Hello,

I have two laptops, first is my lenovo z60t Pentium M 2.0ghz 2gb RAM Intel GMA 900. This thing is slow as heck on vista even with all the tweaks. I've reformatted twice already and CPU usage is almost always at 100%. I've noticed firefox takes a large amount of the memory under processes. I thought my integrated graphics was killing me but now I have another laptop. I just bought this hp tx1000z 2ghz AMD dual core, 2gb of ram, nvidia 6050 or 6150 (I don't quite remember). Itunes is taking 250k+ resources and will skip when I play music every once and a while, cpu usage hovers between 75% and 100%. Keep in mind I've had this computer for about a week now. Can anyone solve my computer vista memory woes? Shouldn't both these computers be qualified to run vista???!?

 

[lxskllr]

My laptop runs Vista pretty well. What does task manager say is using cpu cycles?

 

[Rottie]

If they are new laptop then you might have a lot of crapwares on it I know HP is known for install so many crapwares to eat up a lot of resources. uninstall crapwares that you will not be using anymore.

Top Windows Vista Tweaks

 

[Arkaign]

I've yet to see a notebook running Vista that wasn't painfully slow. Even a recent customer Dell with C2D, 3GB DDR2, 200GB HDD, NVidia 8400, was a slug.

Do you *need* Vista? A tuned XP or Ubuntu install will fly on either of those.

 

[bsobel]

Originally posted by: Arkaign
I've yet to see a notebook running Vista that wasn't painfully slow. Even a recent customer Dell with C2D, 3GB DDR2, 200GB HDD, NVidia 8400, was a slug.

Do you *need* Vista? A tuned XP or Ubuntu install will fly on either of those.

Oh please, all of my Vista machines run fine (laptops too). If the OP is seeing 100% CPU usage, something is simply wrong and needs to be fixed.

 

[loup garou]

Originally posted by: bsobel

Originally posted by: Arkaign
I've yet to see a notebook running Vista that wasn't painfully slow. Even a recent customer Dell with C2D, 3GB DDR2, 200GB HDD, NVidia 8400, was a slug.

Do you *need* Vista? A tuned XP or Ubuntu install will fly on either of those.

Oh please, all of my Vista machines run fine (laptops too). If the OP is seeing 100% CPU usage, something is simply wrong and needs to be fixed.

Agreed, Vista runs just as fast as XP even on my old Inspiron 700m.

First question to the OP is what process(es) are causing the 100% cpu usage?

 

[heymrdj]

I've run Vista Home Premium on a 2.2 Northwood with 2GB RAM and it ran with no issue whatsoever. Sounds like there's junk running, or there's a "favorite" program of yours that you've loaded on the laptops and it's sucking their power.

 

[Arkaign]

Originally posted by: heymrdj
I've run Vista Home Premium on a 2.2 Northwood with 2GB RAM and it ran with no issue whatsoever. Sounds like there's junk running, or there's a "favorite" program of yours that you've loaded on the laptops and it's sucking their power.

Most likely. The best thing to try would be backup/format/fresh load with NO craplets, see how it runs. If it still runs like crap, then it must be a hardware issue (maybe some driver that's slowing Vista down), if it runs decent, then it must be some software/configuration issue that he's doing.

 

[Rebel44]

Originally posted by: Arkaign

Originally posted by: heymrdj
I've run Vista Home Premium on a 2.2 Northwood with 2GB RAM and it ran with no issue whatsoever. Sounds like there's junk running, or there's a "favorite" program of yours that you've loaded on the laptops and it's sucking their power.

Most likely. The best thing to try would be backup/format/fresh load with NO craplets, see how it runs. If it still runs like crap, then it must be a hardware issue (maybe some driver that's slowing Vista down), if it runs decent, then it must be some software/configuration issue that he's doing.

I agree - I even installed Vista on some laptops with singlecore + 1GB RAM and they were running reasonably fast and without problems.

 

[50]

I think it may be some driver. For my lenovo firefox takes most of the memory from the processes and for my hp it is itunes. The hp is vista certified or w/e, the lenovo is made for xp. This is driving me crazy! I've already formatted the lenovo a few times! I just bought this hp!!!!!

 

[spyordie007]

Originally posted by: 50
I think it may be some driver. For my lenovo firefox takes most of the memory from the processes and for my hp it is itunes. The hp is vista certified or w/e, the lenovo is made for xp. This is driving me crazy! I've already formatted the lenovo a few times! I just bought this hp!!!!!

What process is consuming all the CPU cycles?

 

[Noema]

Originally posted by: Arkaign
I've yet to see a notebook running Vista that wasn't painfully slow. Even a recent customer Dell with C2D, 3GB DDR2, 200GB HDD, NVidia 8400, was a slug.

Do you *need* Vista? A tuned XP or Ubuntu install will fly on either of those.

A friend of mine got a lappy with a C2D@1.8GHz CPU and integrated video. Originally it had only 512MB of RAM, Vista Home Basic and it ran like crap. It was utterly unusable.

However, I added an extra GB of RAM and now the laptop flies. Literally. My friend was absolutely stunned by how well it ran.

Honestly Arkaign...I know you are not one of those 'Z0MG Vista sucks trolls' and you usually provide valuable posts, insights and arguments, but I simply do not get why you get such crap performance with Vista on all machines.

 

[Arkaign]

Originally posted by: Noema

Originally posted by: Arkaign
I've yet to see a notebook running Vista that wasn't painfully slow. Even a recent customer Dell with C2D, 3GB DDR2, 200GB HDD, NVidia 8400, was a slug.

Do you *need* Vista? A tuned XP or Ubuntu install will fly on either of those.

A friend of mine got a lappy with a C2D@1.8GHz CPU and integrated video. Originally it had only 512MB of RAM, Vista Home Basic and it ran like crap. It was utterly unusable.

However, I added an extra GB of RAM and now the laptop flies. Literally. My friend was absolutely stunned by how well it ran.

Honestly Arkaign...I know you are not one of those 'Z0MG Vista sucks trolls' and you usually provide valuable posts, insights and arguments, but I simply do not get why you get such crap performance with Vista on all machines.

To be fair, I see an equal number of slow XP systems. The difference is that I can customize an XP box (with adequate hardware) and make it scary-fast. I've yet to be able to do that with Vista, which is more of my inexperience probably than the inability of Vista to be fast.

Ram *is* by far the best upgrade/solution for Vista systems, but even with tons of ram, I am somewhat disappointed with how Vista runs, especially on newer dual-core systems with 2gb or more. Maybe I'm impatient by nature, but I like to see the least delay possible after clicking on something to the time it runs and is ready to go. I don't use a ton of features, so I'm fairly easily pleased with a workable web browser, media player, and disc burning software + the usual suspects in home office software.

A lot of Vista just seems like change for the sake of change, and not for the sake of progress. Why did they turn the start button into an orb? Why do we now have to click to see program groups expand? Why does getting to wireless settings make you go through extra steps? Why does moving something on the start menu present so much of a security risk that I'm prompted/nagged about it? Ditto with LOOKING at the device manager. Why the delay, and greyed out screen when UAC pops up? Shouldn't it just pop open instantly without causing further hindrances to productivity?

On a lighter note, I like the bubbles screen saver

 

[jacktesterson]

I have a laptop for work running Vista Home Premium....Toshiba A100-Sk9.....Duo 2.0GHz, 2GB Ram, 160 GB HDD, Geforce Go 7600. Runs vista for everyday use just great.

 

[deeznuts]

Just bought the cheap Gateway lappie from Best Buy, the $349 one with Celeron 520M, etc.

Before ever booting it up, I put in 2GB of ram I had laying around, and put the Vista Basic install disk in. I never experienced the factory OS installation. Reformatted, put the basic programs on, and it is quick. Perfectly fine and I'm not sure what the major gripes are.

XP is faster of course, but Vista isn't that bad.