[access-uk] Re: slow Jaws? (long-ish)
- From: "Tristram Llewellyn" <tristram.llewellyn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 9 May 2008 15:23:01 +0100
Whenever you have a slow startup, bet it with JAWS or anything else, it
is worth looking at the total system load as a whole here for startup
items. It is common now with almost every piece to install something
into the system that is activated. The build of such items whether they
be useful or not can turn a perfectly tuned system into something rather
less well tuned and as a result the nippiest piece of software forced to
wait its turn in the queue. However efficiently a software application
has been compiled it will still have to be loaded into memory from hard
disk. Since hard disk disks will be anything between 10 to 100 times
slower byte for byte, word for word than the processor/memory
electronics there will be a critical bottleneck just at startup as
everything tries to get in through the door at once so your system is
ready when you have started it.
The simplest answer to this kind of connundrum is to have as little
installed on a machine as possible, and this is definitely a start and
it applies to every kind of modern computer be it PC or Mac or even
Linux. If t here is software you never use don't have it installed.
Most software we have on our PCs is essentially replaceable in the sense
that you usually have a CD or can download it again in the event you do
really find you need it so there should be no net loss if you uninstall
it and find you really do need it and certainly some small gain if it is
not installed on your system and potentially consuming resources.
Another step along the way is to taylor your existing software installs.
I'll pick an example from own life. I have a copy of Nero Premium
suite, despite what the company would have me do with the software I
only use it to make CDs, in fact most specifically only data CDs and
DVDs, I have other facilties when it comes to audio CDs. There are tons
of things in this suite and most I will use rarely and some not at all.
Most such suites have many media tools for example which are
innaccessible to screen readers and are unneceesary duplications of
things which already work better elsewhere that I use, similarly I don't
use packet writing of CDs so InCD is never a feature of my system tray
either. So getting the install right for what you need will be a little
help on the way.
Of course this does not deal with those software packages that just
don't give you the option anywhere to do this. Some of the big names
are worst offenders in this respect like Microsoft and Adobe whose
common practice is to have startup items load parts of their
applications into memory. The reason for doing this is to make it look
like their applications load fast from what the user thinks is a cold
start, in fact it is nothing of the sort. These items come in the form
of startup items like "Adobe Speed Launcher" and similar for Microsoft
Office. You can usually get rid of these without affecting the
software's functionality and save some startup time and user RAM until
you actually need to use the software.
The other common practice is for system tray type items which allow you
to access some software or some functionality, They may look small but
their memory footprint when a few are added together may be significant
and one may ask the question legitimately whether you would use them, or
do use them. If not why have them startup.
One very useful utility for dealing with startup items which is far
better than the start msconfig.exe most of you know is the SysInternals
Autoruns utility, it works on all versions of Windows and you can get it
here:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/systeminformation/autoruns
.mspx
Another tool which can be useful that has the aditional capability of
letting you know when something has been added as a start up item is
this one called WinPatrol. I have it on the work machine and whilst it
is perhaps more aimed at the security conscious it also lets me know
when software installers are adding things into my system that start.
You can get it here:
http://www.winpatrol.com/
I am not saying the above tools are necessarily an answer for everybody
but they can help you take a more active part in managing your machine
in the event you have these problems. There are three benefits of this
aproach:
1 You may potentially reduce boot time because there is less code
to load into memory from your hard disk, and you get to start work
faster.
2 You will have more RAM to work with for the tasks you really
need to perform.
3 If you have followed this through right the way from installing
only what you need to tayloring your installs etc. you will make your
computer possibly more reliable and certainly more secure. A growing
number of malware threats exploit unpatched application software not
just Windows, the more unpatched software you have installed the bigger
target you present to a hacker, the more patches you have to keep up
with and greater risk of reliability issues you may face.
Of course with this extra power one must exercise caution and
responsibility when using them.
Regards.
Tristram Llewellyn
tristram.llewellyn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Technical Support
Sight and Sound Technology
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