The Ed Bott Report

Ed Bott

Speeding up a sluggish Sony

By Ed Bott | March 18, 2008, 6:04am PDT

Summary: Over the past year, I’ve read nothing but horror stories about Sony’s Vaio running Windows Vista. Over the past weekend, I finally had a chance to see one of these allegedly accursed machines up close and personal, courtesy of digital media guru and blogger Jeremy Toeman. Ironically, the well-used machine I received was running Windows XP and was practically unusable. Here’s what happened when I replaced it with a clean installation of Windows Vista.

Last week, Jeremy Toeman’s accursed Sony Vaio arrived here, and over the weekend I had a chance to get my hands on it for the first time. (If you missed the back story, read the first installment that I posted earlier this month.) The short version: Jeremy, a digital media expert and blogger, replaced an older Sony with a $2500 Vaio running Vista Business last spring, and the experience was so awful that he basically wrote it off and purchased a new Macbook. Like Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal, Jeremy found the Vaio unacceptably slow and inscrutably buggy.

After reading a few of Jeremy’s posts, I e-mailed him and offered to take a look at the machine. This post represents some preliminary observations after two days of working with this hardware.

I couldn’t find a way to restore the original factory configuration. The machine includes a 6GB+ recovery partition, but the package I received didn’t include the recovery media, and Sony (apparently) doesn’t make it available for download. That’s probably just as well. [Update: Found the secret (press F10 at boot screen), so will be able to do this after all.] Anyway, Sony is sending me a new, boxed Vaio for evaluation this week, so I’ll be able to report on the retail experience when it arrives.

Before shipping the machine off to me, Jeremy noted that he had wiped out Vista and installed Windows XP. Ironically, the machine with XP installed was practically unusable. My first step was to do a complete backup using Windows Home Server, but as soon as the backup began, the system slowed to a crawl. After clicking the Start button, I had to wait 30 seconds for the Start menu to open. Opening Task Manager or Performance Monitor took two minutes. The CPU wasn’t particularly stressed (7% average usage) nor was disk IO or memory. I finally began killing processes, and after killing a couple of background programs the system stopped its sluggish ways and the backup completed normally.

With the backup complete, I decided to wipe the disk clean and install Vista Business from scratch, using a fresh copy with Service Pack 1 integrated into it. I downloaded more than 30 drivers, utilities, and updates for this model from Sony’s website as well. (I’ll document the entire process in a follow-up post.) The results were eye-opening.

Jeremy’s original complaint was that the Vaio took as much as five minutes to boot up. With a clean install of Vista Business and enough custom drivers to enable all installed hardware devices, the system was a rocket. Boot time to the logon screen was 33 seconds. I was able to swipe a finger in the fingerprint reader and get to a fully responsive desktop at exactly 40 seconds. It made a wireless connection almost instantaneously and loaded web pages in Firefox 2.0.0.12 with no delay. Total elapsed time from the appearance of the BIOS screen to active web browsing: 51 seconds. Every one of the programs included with Windows Vista opened quickly and ran well, with no discernible delays.

That’s pretty impressive, and exactly what I would expect from a system with this Vaio’s specs. The VGNSZ460N packs a lot of power into a sub-four-pound package, with an Intel Core 2 Duo processor running at 2 GHz, 2 GB of RAM, and an Nvidia GeForce Go 7400 graphics processor driving a WXGA (1280 x 800) screen. With that hardware and a clean copy of Vista, there’s no slowdown to be noted.

Next, I loaded all of the Vaio notebook utilities (a camera capture utility, some power management drivers, a handful of network tools). With that extra work at startup, the system needed a few extra seconds, but that’s all. It now takes 45 seconds to get to the logon screen, another 5 seconds to log on using the fingerprint reader, and another 8 seconds to make a wireless connection, open Firefox, and load a web page. That’s still under a minute consistently, and I did nothing out of the ordinary to achieve those times.

My tentative conclusion? There’s nothing defective about this particular hardware, and nothing wrong with Sony’s design. After two days of use, I have noted a few interesting issues and annoyances that I’ll cover in the next post, after I get a chance to speak with the folks at Sony. And now that I have a full image backup of this system running the way it should, I’m dying to restore the original configuration so I can see why it made such a terrible impression on its owner.

Stay tuned.

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Topics

Sony Corp., Sony Vaio, Windows Vista, Hardware, Operating Systems, Microsoft Windows, Software, Ed Bott

Ed Bott is an award-winning technology writer with more than two decades' experience writing for mainstream media outlets and online publications.

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RE: Speeding up a sluggish Sony

FAULKNE 13th Oct

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So....

ejhonda 18th Mar 2008

Too many dumbed-down generic drivers in use?

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Contributr

Don't know yet

Ed Bott 18th Mar 2008

But I suspect it's not just drivers but crapware. That's next on the list.

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RE: Speeding up a sluggish Sony

beijing2008 14th Sep

You're welcome. Enjoy! Oris Watches

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Not surprised

marks055@... 18th Mar 2008

I have a similarly spec Dell and its very fast, Mac's are pretty but I had to give up on them after numerous hardware issues. 3 logic boards and 2 hard drives on 2 different (1 ibook and 1 Powerbook)laptops was ridiculous and Apple still denies any problems with those machine despite being sued in Belgium, over exactly the same problems. My own experience with Vista has been very good. Some driver issues when I first installed it, but they've been taken care of with updates. Many issues with Vista arise from the hardware manufacturers not writing drivers. By the way, I just upgraded a "Vista Capable" Thinkpad R60 to Vista, I added 2 gigs of Ram for $40 and it runs great.

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RE: Speeding up a sluggish Sony

gshell@... 18th Mar 2008

On most Sony laptops, if the restore parttition is still there, all you need to do is hit F10 durring a cold boot to get it to boot from the restore partition. Whereupon it should present you a menu of restore options.

Gary

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Contributr

Thanks

Ed Bott 18th Mar 2008

I discovered that option earlier today (amazingly, I couldn't find it in an hour of searching through Sony's website, and I couldn't find it when I looked through the 239-page manual over the weekend. Just checked again: nope, not there! Ironically, the VAIO Recovery guide is "non-printed documentation" available only from the original factory Windows installation. So if your system gets hosed and you need to restore the recovery partition, your instructions are unavailable. Smart!

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Yeah, but Ed...

hasta la Vista, bah-bie 19th Mar 2008

With the recovery partition, that means all the crapware you just made sure wasn't on there, is reinstalled along with Vista. The same junk you just spent whatever time it was to remove.

I used to buy Sony, but I've heard they have the most bloatware of all OEMs. Which is no excuse since you'll pay more for one of those over a Dell or a HP.

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I thought that was the point?

Ben_E 19th Mar 2008

Ed has proved the machine runs fine, so he wants to put it into the original setup that was compromised to find out the source of the problem.

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RE: Speeding up a sluggish Sony

Unknown 18th Mar 2008

Unfortunately, most consumers will be faced with using the system in the "out of the box" state. I always clean install a new system, but most people simply don't have the expertise to do so. It's very hard to compare a system that has been clean installed with one that has not, but there are obvious differences in performance.

The only real test is one that uses the "out of the box" config, since that's where most vendors manage to screw it up. Hardware is hardware these days, so it's really only the software that matters.

-orev

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Contributr

Yes, but...

Ed Bott 18th Mar 2008

I agree, most consumers don't have the skill to do a clean install. But when you do assess the consumer product as purchased at retail, you are assessing the entire package: hardware, software, drivers, and especially crapware. Ultimately, you're judging how well the hardware maker took care of its customers. Some do a great job, some are terrible.

One unfortunate thing that comes out of the Windows business model is that people buy a retail computer and have a bad experience and say, "Vista sucks." When the reality is that a nearly identical computer put together by someone who respected their customers would have given them a much better experience.

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Agreed

nycebo 18th Mar 2008

Why don't vendors give consumers the ability to opt out of crapware? I would gladly pay a fee to ensure a clean install of Vista. Unfortunately, on my Vaio, it wasn't an option, and moreover, I opted not to do a fresh install of Vista because of problems that I'd read about on the web with finding drivers. Now, as I know otherwise, I fear that it's just too much of a hassle. Besides, my Vista runs surprisingly well all things equal.

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OEM Vista

mitra19 19th Mar 2008

OK. I have a 2 month old Sony Vaio laptop, Centrino with a core 2 duo (1.73 Ghz) and 2 GB of RAM. I uninstalled the programs I knew were crapware and left the programs I felt were possibly Vaio related and the ones I haven't reaserched yet as to whether they are necessary for Windows (Home Premium). There are still about 65 proccesses (all users) running after logging on. System runs good, but....

Assume I want to do a clean install, but I only have the OEM Vista that came pre-installed with the computer. Do I have any options without buying a new license? I may be able to borrow a Vista CD (upgrade or full install) but I still need to use the OEM license.

Thx, Bob.

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Surely not......

deaf_e_kate 19th Mar 2008

"Unfortunately, most consumers will be faced with using the system in the "out of the box" state. I always clean install a new system, but most people simply don't have the expertise to do so."

I take it that this is Microsoft Windows you are talking about, the OS that is so easy anyone can use it? It can't be true. :o)

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You have severe comprehension issues

ibarskiy@... 20th Mar 2008

Anybody can USE not INSTALL. Those are very different things. Installs are typically handled by system integrators, not users. Next question?

If you want to write something negative about MS - pick a sensible argument, and there are plenty to be made, but people like you spewing nonsense give every MS basher a bad name.

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There is a disconnect here, suspect some external difference....

beenky498 18th Mar 2008

If you look at the previous article, they are quoting a vista startup time of 3 minutes 20 seconds, and this article is talking 51 seconds.

That implies there is something besides the OS and hardware different. One obvious cause is crapware, and I agree with that (2 minutes difference, really?).

I'm willing to bet there is something else going on as well, perhaps how wireless is configured in the old environment versus the new environment? If you've got wireless configured to look for preferred networks it cannot connect to, or connect really slowly, it'll take a while to timeout and start looking at other alternatives.

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Contributr

I'll be able to tell...

Ed Bott 18th Mar 2008

...when I restore the original factory image (I cringe just thinking of it).

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Wait !!

michmoor 18th Mar 2008

So you mean to tell me that Vista is actually.....fast ?!?!

As the only defender of Vista at my job, I am glad to hear that Vista isnt that bad when installed correctly on a machine with decent specs and a IT professional. I do not enjoy reading horribly written "tech blogs" from "experts" telling me how bad vista runs on a 486 DX processer (that was a joke but you get the idea, poor hardware equals poor system performance). I have a Gateway MT3422 laptop with Vista home premium with 1GB installed. Run's just fine. Yes, there were issues in the beginning and yes MSFT shouldve ignored Intel instead of apperantly trying to kill there Windows platform but through it all Windows Vista is coming around slowly but surely. As new hardware is released in the upcoming year then consumers will see what Vista is about, which is actually a pretty good OS.

Lastly, lets all not forget the past. How many of us disliked or hated XP ? How many of us, gamers especially, went back to Win98 instead of using the bloated XP ? History is repeating itself but sadly the differnce now as opposed to ten years ago is that the internet is filled with poorly written tech articles proclaiming Vista sloppy or bloated. The internet makes unknowns,known and gives a voice to those who are idoitc.

Ed, would you agree with above statements ?

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Contributr

Yes, I would agree with that

Ed Bott 19th Mar 2008

I think you've done a pretty good job of summarizing what I've been saying for several months here.

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Microsoft and Vista operations

thecreator1965@... 19th Mar 2008

The problem isn't Vista, the problem is Microsoft in not allowing Vista's operating system's Upgrade CD to be installed on a clean partition, but in forcing users who aren't experienced in installing operating systems and software to be forced in installing Vista overtop an existing operating system.

With Windows XP's Upgrade CD, you only needed to prove ownership of a qualifying previous operating system.

With Windows Vista's Upgrade CD, you must upgrade overtop of an existing working operating system or you need to buy Windows Vista Full Version. That's the problem.

You can't do a clean install, format and install of Windows Vista.

And also many Companies have been slow to provide drivers for existing devices to run under Vista.

I heard that you can't get above 54 MBs in speed in a home network environment, while you can get above that in Windows XP.

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NBM's don't wanna hear that...

hasta la Vista, bah-bie 19th Mar 2008

Since they have no problems. Only other people do.

Their favorite weapon? The upgrade to XP from 98 - 2000 excuse.

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Contributr

Wrong, and wrong

Ed Bott 26th Mar 2008

"You can't do a clean install, format and install of Windows Vista."

Yes you can. I just did. You can't use an upgrade product ID to do a clean install. That's different.

"I heard that you can't get above 54 MBs in speed in a home network environment, while you can get above that in Windows XP."

You heard wrong.

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A sad state of affairs:

brian ansorge 19th Mar 2008

"I am glad to hear that Vista isn't that bad when
installed correctly on a machine with decent
specs and a IT professional."

Well, I think most any non-zealot and "average
Joe" might agree. They are the ones who *hate*
their Vista experience. Really. The average
Windows user isn't any less intelligent then the
average Mac user. We all know that.

But, it seems they frequently *are* stuck with
an experience (sans "IT Professional"
qualifications) out of the box that sucks.

Hey, I'm no zealot, I'm just reading what all the
power users, geeks, and IT experts are saying
about Vista . . . out of the box. So much for an
"open" system.

Apple's freaky control of both hardware &
software side of the equation *does* seem to be
an advantage in this case. Just a thought.

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RE: Speeding up a sluggish Sony

aljel 19th Mar 2008

I recently set up a refurbished Vio with the same specs.My start up times from a cold boot are similar to Ed's. After initial boot up which seemed to take forever, i uninstalled all the bundled software including AV programs which were not critical to my use.I then installed my isp's Av(Norton Protection Center), Office 2003, then all available updates for Vista and Office.So far,(63 days), it runs like a top including wireless.
aljel

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RE: Speeding up a sluggish Sony

serenitylodge@... 19th Mar 2008

I had the same problems with my older (3 years) Sony Vaio
and finally was able to get together (thank you tax refund)
this year to dump the beast and replace it with a very
lovable and friendly, 24" iMac . . . it's worked . . . right out
of the box, just like my three year old MAC PowerBook G4
has, without incident. I won't be going down to the closet
to drag out my Vaio again, no matter what you find. Similarly, I've dumped a Gateway Laptop, purchased at the
same time as the GBG4 and am about to replace another
HP desktop, 2 years old, for similar complaints. I'm done
with Windows.

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Glad to hear it.

nycebo 24th Mar 2008

Fact is buddy, I have worked on so-called "FANTASTIC" Mac OS systems that still crashed, couldn't find peripherals, and were difficult to do reasonable configurations of networks. It really depends what kind of user you are. FWIW, my Vaio has NEVER crashed on me, but I did take quite a bit of time to remove craplets and turn off services that I know I don't need. I'd time the bootup, but sleep and hibernate have worked so well for me that I almost NEVER turn the machine off.

I'm glad your Mac works for you. Thanks for the redundant input that PCs suck and Macs rule. How unique.

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RE: Speeding up a sluggish Sony

mikenk 23rd Mar 2008

I saved mine. Just went through that with my Sony VAIO too. After many crashes and many more reboots to get it to run long enough to back up email, pictures and some word docs, I finally stumbled on the F10 VAIO restore utility and let it reformat the disk and load a new installation of Vista and the applications supplied by Sony. Now it runs like new, even after reinstalling all of the applications I had added since May 2007 when I purchased it. Good luck with yours.

P.S., My problems started when Daylight Savings time changed a couple of weeks ago. Windows automatic update was set to 3:00 AM. I believe something became out of sync when the time moved forward to the update start time. When I tried to use it later that Sunday morning, it acted like a drunk, stumbling and seizing up after a few mouse or keyboard inputs. I have since changed the automatic update time to 4:00 AM to avoid that next year.. Best wishes.

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serenitylodge your post

michmoor 25th Mar 2008

was pointless. It added nothing to the blog on which we are all discussing. But since you want to make a point of your Mac and your vaio, you do realize that they are both computers right? The main difference between the two isn?t hardware but software (OS). So basically if I purchased a laptop with the same hardware configuration as a Macbook pro, are you insinuating that my laptop wouldn?t be as good? Your Mac experience is great for you but so is my Vista experience. I run my Vista on a gateway laptop (MT3422) and its fine after a clean install.
Also a point that was mentioned and it?s a great and important point is that Apple doesn?t have to bundle crapware with their systems. Windows have to deal with that. It raises the profit margin for those OEM's. They don?t have the benefit of creating their own OS.
Then End.

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What Windows can learn from Linux

johnf76@... 26th Mar 2008

Look, I'm not going to say Linux is perfect...it isn't. But, as someone who has used MS since Dos 3.3, and recently started using Linux a year ago, I've found there are things Linux does that make a lot of sense.

1) I agree that a properly installed (no crapware) and tuned XP or Vista system will work fine. However, Ed, you should time how LONG it takes to do the re-install, not only of Windows, but the MS updates, search and install the latest drivers for hardware, Anti Virus install and scan, Spyware install and scan, standard apps like MS office, Authenticate because of WGA, etc...and list how many reboots! To expect the average user to spend 4 plus hours on a fast cable line (God help DSL or slower!) is unrealistic at best.

I use PcLinux, (although this could apply to Ubuntu, Mandriva, etc). Base install, from formatting the drive, wireless setup, etc is about 20 minutes...updating the base install through Synaptic takes about another 30 minutes or so. I might have to reboot TWO times, three if I need to adjust video. And my Linux installation is more secure, without the overhead of virus/spyware detection that Windows has to have.Why can't MS do this?

2) Vista, at the default settings, is a memory hog. Yes, someone who knows what they are doing can fix that, but your average user shouldn't be expected to do so. Why should a Vista clean install take 600plus mg or more of a 1 gig setup? All that means is you're going to do more swapping to hard drive, slowing the PC down. Linux does a MUCH better job with memory (I can run PCLinux fine after a default setp with just a 512 chip, including Compiz...see how well Aero does on 512 with the default setup!)

The problem is that MS installs should allow you to define what kind of user you are (business/gamer/casual/etc), and have the memory fined tuned to that type user. Windows tries to be all things to all users, and that just ends up making it worst for everyone, unless you have the knowledge to fix it.

3) MS's Registry is a mess; Ed, I'm sure you can get the Sony to hum, but give that Sony to the average user after you've fine tuned it, and he's going to see it degrade over time as he installs and uninstalls programs. I don't see that on the machines I run Linux on, nor do they need a registry. Why can't MS do this?
(and no, I don't accept compatibility with older software...MS could easily build in virtualization of 2000 or 98 for those apps).

4) I can remaster my Linux install, and run it as a live DVD, or re-install it to my machine should the hard drive die. I know this would be difficult to implement in Windows (because of piracy), but there ought to be a way for MS to implement this functionality in windows.

5) MS needs to make installs better. This isn't the typical story, but stuff like this should NEVER happen!

http://ask-leo.com/why_cant_i_activate_windows_xp.html

Again, there is a lot that can be improved in all the OS's; Mac, Windows and Linux.

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RE: Speeding up a sluggish Sony

bmbrown 28th Mar 2008

I have had a Sony Vaio VGN-SZ61XN since last November. My impression is that the hardware is excellent (light, powerful, beautiful display) but the OS (Windows Vista Business 6.0 in Italian) is terrible. I wanted XP not Vista but Sony told me they were forced to sell Vista. I could probably upgrade to XP and Sony makes available drivers on their web site but I do not have the expertise to do this without spending a lot of time. I would prefer to make a partition but that is probably even more time-consuming. So I will be very interested if you publish a clear report which would help me to do this without too many doubts. I do not expect SP1 (not yet available in Italian) to change things much, because MS policy appears to be to forget about the past. I want to be able to use old software on the new OS.
For my use (mostly business and home ? no games) Vista is a disaster, even for MS products:
- I can no longer use Word 2003 in Italian as the spell checker causes continuous crashes!
- even setting the "Properties ? compatibility" on winword.exe to work as if under Windows XP (I tried all the alternatives?) makes no difference.
- I cannot use my e-mail properly from an Outlook server accessed through the Internet as IE7 under Vista does not allow me to fill in the fields in pop-up windows on "reply to message" or "forward message". Under Firefox it works better but not as well as IE6 under XP.
- the same problem occurs with IE7 accessing a Lotus notes e-mail server through the Internet. In this case I cannot get Firefox to even see the first page. IE6 on XP works fine.
- MS does not support automatic analysis for updates of Office 2003 if using Vista (this used to work well in XP)
- older help files (prior to XP) do not work (not supported by Vista)
Other programs and hardware too:
- Version 8 of Dragon Naturally Speaking is totally unusable (they ask about $100 for an upgrade?)
- I cannot find a way to communicate with my old Palm Tungsten through USB ports
- A small dictionary programme in 6 languages from 1994 only works for two languages instead of 6, and the characters come out in some languages as if they were in Hindi. Changing the "Properties ? compatibility" to simulate previous Operating Systems makes no difference.
- Though not strictly part of the OS, Windows Media Player 11 is very annoying. It tries to synchronise anything I put in the USB port (making the mouse cursor wobble desperately). It continues to play even after being turned off. Several pages (options) are not properly legible and their size cannot be changed.
- I wanted to print on my HP photosmart 7960, about 3 years old. No driver in the Vista pack. HP site provides a driver about which it states "This driver makes it possible to use the basic functions for the printer. HP will not be providing a Full Featured Vista Software and Driver for this product; therefore, some functionality may be lost when you use this product with Windows Vista". It does not say what functionality is lost, but I don?t have time to download 20M of driver to play with only to find it will not work.
Finally, even though the visual effects of Vista are an improvement on XP, there are several annoying problems.
- Icons try to show the contents of files (something I would love to switch off!) so often they are practically indistinguishable, basically being white
- What a surprise to find that it is not possible to change the icon for a certain file type!
- The standard colour scheme of Vista means that it is difficult to distinguish when the focus in Explorer is on a file (so I can copy it, for example) or on a directory.
My conclusion: help me find a way to easily return to XP, fast! Many thanks

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Seems you used a off the shelf Vista

Sheradon 11th Apr 2008

Seems you've been using (ie: buying) an extra copy of Vista
to do what you suggested.

If you were to repeat the same install with the original
system restore. That would be the result that a regular
user would be performing not buying a second license.

it's too bad you were not able to perform this with the
original restore of Sony's.

Sheradon

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RE: Speeding up a sluggish Sony

sgraupner@... 14th Apr 2008

his article gives me hope. I have a Lenovo R61i that I accepted with a Vista Home premium load, and it is slow. I've uninstalled some of the boatware, and may be partially at fault for some of the slowness as I routinely install SW such as AV (EST or AVG), and FW (ZA or Cgmodo) and sometimes anti-spyware (SS). My security concerns are addressed, but this laptop is slower than comparably loaded PC's in my network that use XP as the OS. I've considered Ultimate as I've heard this resolves some speed issues, though I don't understand how it could. After reading this, however, I may try to find an installation disc and try a clean install (rather than use the system restore partition). I'd be interested in opinions (from Ed et al) on which security SW such as AV, FW, etc slow systems down the least. Especially since the HW specs on my laptop are good - while the performance is not.

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OS protection and startup

nycebo 21st Apr 2008

I've had success with Windows OneCare. Anytime you use anti-virus (which scans at startup) and anti-spyware (which also can scan at startup), startup is going to take a little extra longer than barebones. However, I find that the sleep and hibernate functions of Vista work supremely better than they did in XP. I use sleep when I'm walking away from my computer for up to 24 hours, hibernate when I'm walking away for up to 3 days, and try to restart once a week or 2 just to flush the RAM. Haven't had a major issue since.

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RE: Speeding up a sluggish Sony

MACKENZI 11th Sep

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RE: Speeding up a sluggish Sony

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RE: Speeding up a sluggish Sony

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RE: Speeding up a sluggish Sony

SATURNINA 14th Sep

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RE: Speeding up a sluggish Sony

TOCCAR 25th Sep

Well welcome, hopefully you can become a vital member of the community and really help to push far ahead of google. Which Im sure the development team would love. This will of course earn you alot points too and get you on the leaders board. z d n e t t h a n k Im not sure i come to an agreement with you on every level, howevor it absolutely was a good posting, many thanks for taking the time to put up your ideas.

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RE: Speeding up a sluggish Sony

MCKNIGH 26th Sep

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