Vista users complaining of slow file movements
By Donald Melanson 
posted Mar 28th 2007 12:25PM
posted Mar 28th 2007 12:25PM
Microsoft may be happy with the number of copies of Vista it's pushing out the door these days, but it seems that at least some recipients of the OS are finding that it puts as big a strain on their patience as it does their hardware, with numerous complaints cropping up of delays and stalls while moving, copying, or deleting files. According to The Register, Microsoft seems to be aware of the problem, and has already issued a "hotfix" for a related issue that may or may not also apply to this particular problem, although that's neither as easily accessible or as easy to apply than a proper patch. On that latter point, a Microsoft spokesman would only go so far as to tell The Reg that they'd check to see if a proper patch was in the works, though there doesn't appear to be any further word on that possibility as of yet.[Via Slashdot]
Glad to see I'm not the only one with this problem.
I figured I finally needed to make the jump to SATA, or something.
Good information taken from a post on slashdot by Barny (when they posted this article yesterday morning):
"For those unwilling to read the forums (or who block all MS sites at their router), the problem relates to Vista making thumbnails of files, and trying to continue making them even when you have told it to delete a file, its not a transfer speed problem, and can be VERY easily stop gapped by disabling thumbnail views in the folder view settings :)"
I'm running Vista at home and have experienced no issues with file operations.
Thanks for this info! I disabled thumbnail view and noticed a huge improvement in file explorer performance.
I have also stopped viewing thumbnails, but now i cant view thumbnails.
I also noticed that if i disable my LAN connection my computer loads cached pages quicker, but then my internet stopped working.
wait wait... 1 more...ok
By uninstalling almost all of my games, i have noticed a greater work productivity
i'm running seta drives, and i'll even admit that sometimes it goes much slower than XP when transferring files. but it seems to be random. When i first installed Vista i was moving my backed up files back over and when i moved my music (which was about 6GB) it took a little over 15 minutes. but pictures took under 10 and those were about 5 GB. even small KB files sometimes take 20-30 seconds to move where as on XP they would move instantly.
good to know that there is a fix in the works.
Why did I read this as Vista users complaining of slow bowel movements.
Hmm..
I haven't noticed any issues. Closest I've noticed is thumbnail-related, when I delete thumbnailed photos it often has to re-read the entire folder before it notices that they're gone, leading to some confusion. This is mainly only an issue in folders with tons of photos, and ones in which I've had it group the items by tags or similar criteria that changes while I'm working with them.
finally, i have had this problem ever since i started using vista, but never really realised that it was the os that was causing the slowness. I've been blaming my hard disk all the time, thinking it was dying, until i noticed that it was slow as a camel in all the hard disks.
hope they release a better working hotfix since the one i found doesn't seem to help much (it was stated that it was for network transfers, not local)
"imma transferin mah filez with VISTA!"
Definitely have the same problem. I was thinking it is because of extra security layer and built in anti-virus scanner.
Nice to know I'm not the only one. I did think it was odd that across a gigabit ethernet link files were moving in the kbps speed range. I was thinking 'What?!?!? Don't tell me I'm gonna have to put the 10/100 back in to SPEED UP the network...'
But of course, that's why I'm currently triple booting with Win2k and Fedora Core 6. Vistas gotta go through it's growing pains like every other MS product. Oh well...
......I think I will wait for the first service pack before installing Vista(even tough I got my business edition for free)....
heh, i just recently received my HP express upgrade kit, needless to say i left out the HP dvd for the process as i didnt want their software mucking up a nice clean install of ANY OS.
Anyways, on to my problems with Vista, first let me state my PC stats so that you know that its not the best PC, but the problems clearly do not lie with the lack of hardware.
AMD X2 52000+ processor
2gb DDR2 RAM
integrated nvidia 6150 graphics which have like 64mb ram dedicated and shares up to 256 of the system RAM
320gb SATA 2 drive
the hardware advisor gave everything in my system above a 5 except, obviously, the graphics, but they still got a 3.?
My problem(s) have been that whenever media center records a TV Show, and I play it, it seems to always glitch up towards the end, and i never run any other process' in the background. although the first time it happened i was watching one show and media center had just started recording another, so i thought that might be the problem, then i tried playing a show when i had nothing else going on and no other recordings, same problem. that is problem number one.
number two, i thouroughly enjoy using WMP11, i like the interface, i like the search feature, the organization, etc., etc., but in Vista there is an extra process that does some media protection bullshit that litereally suck a third or more of all my resources, CPU time, Memory, and most importantly, Hard Drive usage, so, doing anything that requires the use of the hard drive, while playing some music, well, its impossible. i looked it up to make sure it wasnt a virus, or something of the sort on a fresh install, low and behold, its not its a Vista process called "Media Foundation Protected Pipeline EXE" any tips would be great, other than switching to another OS/Media Player.
jim, you need to get updated drivers for your onboard graphics and updated drivers for your onboard audio.
"AMD X2 52000+ processor"
Damn, I need to get one of them!
You have a HP, you're messed up even if you clean install a OS. The HP PC I had once was the WORST computer I've ever owned and I am never buying HP again. If this is your first HP PC, then maybe you'll discover the horror too.
slow news day? nitpicking just a little?
if i complain that i don't like the font used in vista, will you post on that?
You idiot.. When it takes 30s to delete a file, it's not nitpicking, it's very annoying.
I recall sometimes hitting delete several times thinking the system was locked up before it finally shows the "preparing to delete" or whatever dialog it shows. I've also seen it hang on said dialog for the 20-30s before it finally gets on with it.
BTW this has happened since the very early versions of Vista, and I'm not sure it's really improved all that much along the way. I don't casually use Vista or I'd try turning off the thumbnail view, but I generally don't have that enabled regardless as I don't want huge icons.
So two weeks old and already with the patches? M$ wants to add to their 2000 release with as many bugs and patches?
At least the patches are free.... unlike Apple who releases patches every year and make you pay for it.
Yeah, glad to know I'm not the only one. I got Vista with a brand new PC, so I assumed it was just a flaw of my machine. Serves me right for buying retail.
I did notice that whenever I try to move/copy/delete anything it seems to go through the extra step in 'calculating the estimated time it will take to perform the proceedure.' I'm always like... in the time it takes you to calculate how long the proceedure will take, you could have just performed it and been done already.
I also notice a huge slow down when accessing files on a digital camera or thumb drive. Much slower than the hard drive.
The tone of the article lends to making it seem biased. I have linux, windows, and mac machines at home. Anyone with a bit of common sense knows that they all have their strong points but I guess hating microsoft is the in thing now. engadget articles have gotten progressively worse because of all the b*tching and a**kissing depending on who is being talked about. I read engadget alot less these days cos but it's annoying when you read an article that doesnt even give the reader a chance to arrive at their own opinion without all the excess vitrol. I guess a little objectivity is too much to ask for these days. Hurray to bias!!!
i run vista as well. and it only takes 30 seconds on a large file. you might be nitpicking on that.
and what i love about vista is it makes you watch the dialog box until it disappears. it locks your computer so you can't do anything else. you're forced to stare at it.
how whiney everyone has become with computers. it's incredible for what it does, but if it takes 5 more seconds to move a file, you bitch like a bunch of digital nuggets.
Huh, haven't had this problem, then again, it might come up eventually.
My biggest issue? Developers not supporting the OS even now, two months out of the door, and many more months after they had access to it before the general public.
am running a SATA 160Gb western digital hard drive and i see the speed difference between vista and xp but am not like mad about it i mean this issue has still been the same when i was beta testing the beta 2 and RC1 i hope they get it fixed bc i love vista and i think i made a good investment buying vista
I have noticed my machine moves files rather slowly. But as of right now my concerns lie with the fact that after update auto-ran my screen went black had to do a hard reboot and now my sound card doesnt work and reinstalling the driver doesnt fix the problem so I have to reimage my 1.5wk old computer.
I am done with you microsoft. Time to move on.... Ubuntu or OSX?
It happened to me once in December (Ultimate), when I was moving the entirety of a harddrive to another.
They need to use more bran!
File transfer was already slow on XP, and now it's slower?
I can ghost my entire C: partition in 3 minutes, but it takes XP 20 minutes to copy the files via drag-and-drop! How much slower can Vista be?
Ah no. We get 10.x.x fixes every few months and they are all free. If you are trying to be clever and insinuate that new versions are release patches that's like the pot calling the kettle black with the number of flaws, security holes, bugs, glitches and 3 different versions you have to fork out for windows. Really, quite humorous.
Your Winspyware is probably logging each file, then checking it against known "naughty/illegal" files, then if offending, calls the FBI, if not warez or illegal .mp3's, it'll delete it.
lol - go ahead neg me down now!
Who cares if you get negged down. I read all the highest and lowest rated. Its the neutral rating you have to avoid.
Yep! avoid being a white sheep at all costs!!!!!
I had similar issues with the Vista zip utility. Eventually gave up and switched to 7zip. Thanks for the tip on the thumbnails...
Is that better than Winrar?
Researching this very issue this morning. For those who are getting the network cramps, turn off QoS and IPv6 provided you aren't on or are your own domain. I killed both of those this afternoon and across the network xfrs definitely sped up. There's apparently some data compression that's going on as well before the data hits the network but I haven't been able to find out what good it does to turn that off. For slow local file deletion issues I've got nothing other than to say yeah Me Too!
I am a Microsoft Partner, a Microsoft Developer and a previous Microsoft Employee and I am sad to say that Vista sucks digital nuggets. I love the UI and the killer search, but the thing has reduced my top of the line core 2 duo laptop into a turtle. The file transfer times across my gigabit network are horrendous and it won't even work with my Buffalo Terastation (save a bunch of wonky hacks). Add to that, the complete castration of Bluetooth support and I couldn't take it anymore. I am back to a lean, mean XP machine - and I will be staying here for quite a while. I am a diehard Microsoft Fanboy and I approve of this message.
Run OSX with BootCamp and XP. You can have the best of both worlds. There are a lot of us ex-Microsoft folks that have gone this (gasp) drastic route. :)
I think the problem is in the calculation of the time that the operation will take. When you have only one tiny file to delete, there's no need to calculate, because the operation should be instant, yet vista tries to calculate the time...
how are these 10.x.x fixes not the same as the microsoft patches? now you're trying to be clever.
and what 3 versions of windows do i have to buy?
Enjoy paying for your service packs. In case you don't know, service packs does include new features as well as previous fixes/patches.
Time machine will not be able to delete your uneducated post. Macwhores are so gullible.
Amen ive have the same problem since the beta last may
thanks for the idea, i had microsoft check for updated drivers still nothing newer than when it checked after installing, although i could probably check Realtek's site and find better/more updated drivers which would certainly help, but i highly doubt NVidia has anything short of a beta driver set that would do me any good, i think it may just be time to pony up for a couple more gig ram, a new ATI dedicated vid card, and another 320gb sata drive, put it in raid 0, i mean, i did get my tax check this week, so i might just do that.
once again, thanks for the help
Your patches are issued much more often. What you call a patch, we refer to and get 'security updates. They occur more frequently and fix small issues. Updates as 10.x.x fix more compatibility issues, extend and add support to 3rd party utilities, programs, etc. I'm not trying to be clever, just compare oranges to oranges.
The 3 versions, you don't have to buy, you have to buy/choose from- actually it's more with Vista: Home, Pro, Ultimate, Basic, Business (enterprise would be our Server version). Otherwise, there is just one OS X across the board, no price gimmicks, stripped down versions, etc and NONE cost the $399/$259 you guys pay.
heh, sorry, too many 0's
OK, 'pcwhore', ah we don't get 'service packs' because there are as many flaws in OS X as there is any virtually and flavor windows. We don't pay for updates. We only pay for completely new OS updates, which have many more features then your moronic uniformed typical pc user post. This grass is greener on the other side, so stop using your own misfortunes as ammunition against macs when they aren't relevant.
HERE IS WHY.... (at least for some users)
NVidia mobo drivers are still trash. Check in the Device Manager, under Storage Controllers. If you have to use teh Forceware drivers, you'll notice there is no pulldown option for DMA! I, and a good number of other people, believe this was due to NVidia just trying to get a non-beta driver into the wild, and settling for PIO. How much does THAT suck? Yes, Vista adds overhead, which is what people with other mobos are probably seeing. But, the ones seeing that ridiculous snail pace probably have the above issue.
In addition to the slow file transfers and deletes, I noticed that it took a long time for the right-click context menu to come up on both of my drives. I turned off Vista's indexing on one of the drives and it solved the slow context menu problem. I am having a love/hate relationship with this OS (Vista Ultimate).
Never had that problem. People with 6 year old rigs should stop complaining about Windows being slow.