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Microsoft released a slew of updates on Tuesday, which extended beyond security related fixes. They also made available the Release Candidate for Service Pack 1, which among other things, is said to improve performance when copying and moving files. If you’re running Vista on your production machine, you probably won’t want to install SP1 RC, as it’s not quite ready for prime time. You can now get the disk performance improvements without installing SP1 RC through an official Microsoft Update that was also released on Tuesday.
Referred to simply as a ‘reliability’ update, KB943899 is said to “improve performance, responsiveness, and reliability of Windows Vista in various scenarios”. The three main fixes included are:
- You receive a “Stop 0×000000A0″ error when you try to switch the computer to the hibernate state.
- You receive a “Stop 0×0000009f” error when you switch the computer to the hibernate state or to the standby state. Or, you receive this Stop error when you resume the computer from the hibernate state or from the standby state. This problem occurs on a computer that has a wireless network connection.
- The disk does not spin down after a specified time of inactivity.
After mentioning those fixes, almost as an afterthought, it states:
Additionally, this update can help improve performance when you perform operations that are related to large disk I/O. After you apply this update, you may notice up to a 15 percent performance improvement in some copying operations and when moving some large files.
That’s an awful nice ‘by-the-way’. This is listed as an Update, not a Hotfix, so it has gone through quality control and should be ready for your production Vista installs. So, grab the 32-bit or the 64-bit update and give it a try. Leave a note on your experience, did it make any difference on your machine?
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Comments
Ross Snowden
Dec 13, 2007 at 9:08 pm
I have applied all the updates that were pushed through WUD and cannot truly say I’ve noticed much of a difference. There have not been any negative issues either. All seem OK on my x64 setup.
Joe
Dec 14, 2007 at 12:26 am
This isn’t a pushed update, you have to download this one yourself. Give it a try and see how you do!
Ross Snowden
Dec 14, 2007 at 2:20 am
I went to that Microsoft link, and I can tell that I’ve downloaded that installation file and applied it … strange thing is, I can’t see it in the installed programs at all. I *do* remember installing it a few days ago though. Is there a way to tell if the update was indeed installed?
db.
Dec 14, 2007 at 11:23 am
I’d like to see an update without all the AMD provisions for it
db.
Dec 14, 2007 at 11:24 am
I’d like to see an update without all the AMD provisions in it
Joe
Dec 14, 2007 at 11:59 am
@Ross: Open ‘Windows Update’ and see click on ‘View Update History’ or open Control Panel/Programs/View Installed Updates. I think they both show the same info, but I’m not in front of a machine that I can confirm that on.
Ross Snowden
Dec 14, 2007 at 12:15 pm
Indeed, the update KB943899 shows up under View Update History in the Windows Update Window.
Mark
Jan 9, 2008 at 4:38 am
Installed via automatic updates this morning and now Vista won’t boot at all, standard or safe mode stating ataport.sys is missing or corrupt.
Machine was working fine this morning before the reboot following auto updates. This is on a Dell D600 laptop. Currently trying to repair it (before I end up kicking it up and down the road!).
Joe
Jan 13, 2008 at 12:26 pm
@Mark: Were you able to fix this? Any idea what happened?
Angel
Jan 14, 2008 at 10:53 am
Regarding Mark’s post, KB943899 also leaves my Dell Latitude D830 knocked-out.
I had to “Repair” with DVD cancelling this KB.
I have reported to Dell support in Spain.
Angel
Jan 18, 2008 at 8:36 am
Problem with KB943899 has been fixed.
It is necessary to install the Dell fix “R154198″ for SATA manager, before the Microsoft Update.
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