Windows Vista Ready Boost

New technology in Windows Vista makes your PC significantly more responsive while you are performing everyday tasks. Improved startup and sleep behavior helps both desktop and mobile PCs get up and running more quickly. Greater efficiency in managing both memory devices and input/output (I/O) devices helps your programs run more smoothly and consistently. And as your computer ages, a number of features in Windows Vista work together to help keep it as responsive as the day it arrived.

Windows Vista also takes a new approach to performance problems. The Performance Information and Tools Control Panel helps you understand your PC's performance characteristics so you can manage and troubleshoot performance-related problems.

Self-tuning and diagnostics

State-of-the-art self-tuning and diagnostics make it much easier for you to manage performance effectively. It provides instrumentation and services that support user-driven and tool-driven diagnoses of performance problems, such as media glitching, slow application startup, slow system startup, and network-related delays.

Startup, sleep, and shutdown performance

In Windows Vista you'll experience better handling of all your PC's transitions between On and Off states. You can quickly put your PC in Sleep mode using the power button on the Windows Start menu or, if configured, using the computer's external power button. Sleep is a new power state that combines the quick-resume benefits of Standby with the data protection benefits of Hibernation.

More responsive

Inconsistency in PC performance is one of the top issues for computer users. Consider this common problem: One morning, applications start quickly and everything seems to be working well. Then you go out for lunch, during which the computer's performance slows. Another day, applications seem to take longer to start in the morning.

You want to be able to count on consistent performance from your PC. Windows Vista includes innovative technologies to help ensure that you can launch programs quickly when you start up, and that these programs will continue to be responsive throughout your day.

Windows SuperFetch

A new memory management technology in Windows Vista, Windows SuperFetch, helps keep the computer consistently responsive to your programs by making better use of the computer's RAM. Windows SuperFetch prioritizes the programs you're currently using over background tasks and adapts to the way you work by tracking the programs you use most often and preloading these into memory. With SuperFetch, background tasks still run when the computer is idle. However, when the background task is finished, SuperFetch repopulates system memory with the data you were working with before the background task ran. Now, when you return to your desk, your programs will continue to run as efficiently as they did before you left.

Low-priority I/O

Memory is not the only resource needed to help ensure responsiveness. One of the benefits of Windows is that multiple programs can run simultaneously. However, if multiple applications are simultaneously trying to use the same system resource—such as the hard disk drive—performance can suffer.

Windows Vista introduces the concept of low-priority I/O, which enables background processes to run with lower-priority access to the hard disk drive than other programs. If an application is written to use low-priority I/O, it can run at the same time as one of your high-priority programs, such as Microsoft Office Outlook, without slowing down the high-priority program. In Windows Vista, a number of services use low-priority I/O, including search indexing, automatic disk defragmentation, and the daily system scan in Windows Defender.

Automatic disk defragmentation

Infrequent disk defragmentation leads to an inefficient layout of files on the hard disk, which can slow PC performance. Windows Vista includes a new disk defragmenter that runs in the background and automatically defragments the hard disk as need arises. The new disk defragmenter no longer needs to complete its work in a single session—it can defragment incrementally, whenever the computer is idle.

Faster access to DVDs and music

Windows Vista includes a new feature called Windows HotStart, which is ideal for use with media and entertainment on mobile PCs. Mobile PC manufacturers can now include a separate button for media playback that starts up right to Windows Media Player 11 or Windows Media Center. So when you use your mobile PC on a long flight, HotStart zips you right to DVDs or music, saving both time and battery life.

Diagnosing performance issues

Built-in performance diagnostics can detect and self-correct many performance issues. Performance diagnostics provide instrumentation and services for both user-driven and tool-driven diagnoses of common problems, including glitchy media playback, slow system or program starts, and network-related delays. Built-in performance diagnostic tools track how long it takes to execute common activities, analyze performance declines, and display results in the Performance Center, where users can then take action to remedy the problem.

Performance gains from Windows Vista and new hardware

Today's PC marketplace has an extraordinarily wide range of PC hardware. To take advantage of the varied landscape, Windows Vista scales its features in a way that makes the best use of available hardware. For example, if a Windows Driver Display Model graphics card is present, Windows Vista shows the Windows Aero interface. If a compliant graphics card is not present, Windows Vista will run but will not show the Aero interface.

The same is true of other performance features in Windows Vista, too. Having the right hardware unlocks some of the most innovative performance features in Windows Vista: Windows ReadyBoost and Windows ReadyDrive.

Windows ReadyBoost

Windows ReadyBoost introduces a new concept in add-on system memory. You can use nonvolatile flash memory devices, such as universal serial bus (USB) flash drives, to improve performance without having to add memory "under the hood." The flash memory device serves as an additional memory cache—that is, memory that the computer can access much more quickly than it can access data on the hard disk drive.

Windows ReadyDrive

Windows ReadyDrive is a new feature in Windows Vista that enables PCs equipped with a hybrid hard disk—a new kind of hard disk that adds flash memory to a standard mobile PC hard disk drive—to enjoy better performance, greater reliability, and longer battery life.