Windows 7 XP Mode

I've been feeling nostalgic for Windows XP lately. Does having XP Mode installed on my machine affect performance in any way? By this, I mean does it have startup entries and services running in the background (while XP Mode is not running) that affects performance?

 

First, feeling nostalgic for what in Windows XP? You are not going to be gaming in XP mode.

I honestly don't like answering these questions because people who chase processes and services around thinking it somehow makes their PC performance better are wasting their time.

This "ain't" windows 98--let windows handle it. Unused memory is wasted memory. Fixed-sized page files are for people who are stuck in the 1990s....blah, blah, blah.

But, since I've not actually seen some one ask this specific question before, I will take a whirl at it.

Short answer--not so you would notice it.

Long answer. Yes, but not so you would notice it. After installing XP mode for the first time, and rebooting, 4 drivers are added to your boot process. Windows needs to review these drivers and determine if it should load them for an elongated boot time of .0000000765 milliseconds.

These drivers are not loaded when XP Mode is not running but loading XP Mode loads these drivers.

There are no start up entries.

When you do load XP Mode, windows loads these drivers and two modules (VPC.exe and VMWindow.exe). These two modules/executables then utilize a myriad of files already in use by windows. XP Mode also consumes 512 mb of ram.


When you close XP mode, these two modules seem to run for about 10 or seconds after the XP Mode windows closes. The they close down as well. While closing, Windows actually consumes about 150mb more of ram in my observation, until it is complely closed and gives you back all the memory it was using.

Because Windows hates people who are consumed with this or that process it retains certain things in memory for a while longer because Microsoft knows how much system resource nuts hate not getting back all their precious resources, which is clearly evident because if you say, "Crap! I meant to do blah, blah, blah in XP mode, and load it back up right away, XP Mode loads much more quickly than the first time (CURSE YOU MICROSOFT! GIMME BACK MY RESOURCES!!!!).

Eventually, Windows loads other files into memory and puts all of its XP Mode stuff away, resulting in a slow load again.

 

Hi,
Ok, no disrespect meant here, but you are somewhat wrong here. Unused ram is headroom. We are the audiophiles of the computer world. This is like saying to a true audiophile unused amp power is wasted power, Just like saying a memory leak is as unimportant as some random THD. Hitting the page file is like clipping, but that is OK too. I could go on but I'm sure you get the idea.

You are somewhat right, that a common stereo is good enough for most users listening enjoyment. We however would tweak the speaker positions, play with the equalizer, find the volumes sweet spot and know where to sit in the room for the listening sweet spot as well.

So in essence we are always searching for the sweet spot, as a true dataphile should. If you are satisfied with your sweet spot please do not put down others for finding theirs. It is your choice as too helping those in finding theirs as well though.........

 

You will be running XP in a virtual environment, as as such, will be using resources as it's being utilized. But for the most part, as long as you have sufficient RAM, it won't be a big deal.

 

You could also try VMware. No good for gaming with, but if you just want to mess around with the old OS for nostalgic purposes, or any other operating system for that matter, it's perfect....

 

Computer enthusiasts?

Yes and no...
Having 1GB of RAM where 800MB is used, you are right. But having 192GB (source: Dell Canada), still having the 800MB RAM used, is wasted space. It depends on what you do with the system.

Some people really need that 192GB and even more, some have 4GB in their system, and they only use 2.5GB as their record high.

For sure... like people move the task bar somewhere else, pin's different programs on the task bar, put shortcuts icons, wallpaper, etc..

You don't crack open your speakers and modify the speaker, like you don't go in Windows background process and cut everything thinking it would be better, but it ends up doing no visible difference or make things worse.

 

For nostalgia, this guy on his sites shows Windows 3.11:
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/11485/geek-fun-virtualized-old-school-windows-3.11/

 

First, I was generalizing, but your analogies are off. Unused ram is not like a memory leak...a memory leak grows and grows and grows until the ram you need is no longer available to you. Hitting the page file means you are accessing pages of memory from a slower source.

I never said nor implied this was a good thing.

What i said was that chasing performance by freeing resources or worrying about 7mb of ram here and 2 cpu cycles there when you have 3gb of ram and 90 unused cpu cycles is a fools errand -- computer resources are meant to be used, not go unused.

Your scenarios suggest you're computer has run out of resources and is degraded in performance. What I said is that chasing tweaks for tweaks sake is pointless, and that most of the time windows does it better than you.

I've got Microsoft's engineers on my side of the argument; you've got people who have been tweaking their systems since windows 98 and cannot quite understand that this is not your fathers OS.

Example: do you know how many computers with 4gb of ram with fixed pagefiles of 6gb I see each month because someone read once that you should set your swap file to 1.5 times your ram?

'nuff said....

 

As has been mentioned, you won't take a noticeable performance hit in Windows 7 (without XP running). However, I recommend instead just changing the GUI to look more like XP. That way you'll always have the benefits of 7, which you wouldn't within the virtual machine. Just a few alterations will make you feel more at home.

-Rightclick desktop, click Personalize and change to Windows Classic theme. Now click "Change Desktop icons" and select "Computer" and "Recycle Bin".

-Open Control Panel, Open the Advanced System Settings, click Performance then Settings. Turn off anything that doesn't seem to interest you. I have everything turned off except "Show thumbnails instead of icons" and "Smooth edges of screen fonts". Click Apply.

-Right click the taskbar and select Properties. Enable "Use small icons", then next to "Taskbar buttons" select "Combine when taskbar is full".

End result:



I've been using XP since the days of Windows 2000, so I was very attached. But those simple changes were enough to make me forget it ever existed.

 

Good god this thread is embarrassing. Someone please delete it. gerryf19, you have assumption and projection issues. I felt like you crapped all over my thread. Gregory, thanks for the tip!

 

@Gregory, yes but you disable several UI features, which I find it very useful to be able to manage my work area better, which translates in saving time.

 

I'm sorry you took it that way.