How to improve the performance and reliability of Windows Vista if you cannot upgrade to Windows Vista Service Pack 1

If for some reason you cannot upgrade to the full Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1), you can try a Microsoft Automated Troubleshooting Services diagnostic to improve Windows Vista performance. You can optionally download an update that is included in SP1 that may improve the performance and reliability of Windows Vista. This article contains links to the diagnostic and a link that you can use to download the update directly.

This article also provides information for advanced users and IT professionals. It addresses the issues resolved by this update, known issues about this update, and file information for 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows Vista.

Microsoft Automated Troubleshooting Services diagnostic

Automatically diagnose and fix causes of poor system performance, such as the power saver setting, multiple anti-virus programs running, multiple startup programs running, and too many users logged on to the computer.

After you run the diagnostic, determine if the system performance has improved. If not, you will need to install the update listed below.

Before you install the update

Note If you are already running Windows Vista SP1 or later, do not download this update. The fixes in this update are already included in Windows Vista Service Packs. If you are not sure whether Windows Vista SP1 or later is installed on your computer, go to the "How do I find out whether I'm running a 32-bit or 64-bit version of Windows Vista?" section.

Before you install the update, please make sure of the following:

• You do not already have Windows Vista SP1 or later installed.
• You know whether your Windows Vista platform is 32-bit or 64-bit. If you are not sure, go to the "How to check whether you have a 32-bit or 64-bit version" section.

Download and install the update

To resolve performance or reliability issues with Windows Vista, download and install the Windows Vista 938979 update.

Important After you apply the update, make sure that you restart your computer.

Note This update does not replace any other previously released updates.

If Windows Vista SP1 is not installed, and you know whether the Windows Vista platform is 32-bit or 64-bit, click one of the following links to download the update:

Update for Windows Vista, 32-bit versions

Download the 938979 package now.

Update for Windows Vista, 64-bit versions

Download the 938979 package now.

If Windows Vista performance and reliability are not improved

If you cannot install this update, or if the update does not resolve the performance and reliability issues with Windows Vista, you will have to do some additional troubleshooting. For troubleshooting information, contact Support. For information about how to contact Support, visit the following Microsoft Web site: For additional troubleshooting information or to contact Support online about this problem, visit the Windows Vista Solution Center. To do this, visit the following Web site:

How to check whether you have a 32-bit or 64-bit version

If you are not sure whether the 32-bit or 64-bit version of Windows Vista is installed on your computer, you can check. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, right-click Computer, and then click Properties. A window is displayed where you can view basic information about your computer.
2. Look under the System section for the System type. A reference to either a 32-bit Operating System or a 64-bit Operating System of Windows Vista is displayed.

How to check whether Windows Vista SP1 is installed

If you are not sure whether the Windows Vista Service Pack 1 is already installed, you can check. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, right-click Computer, and then click Properties. A window is displayed where you can view basic information about your computer.
2. Look under the Windows Edition section. If Windows Vista SP1 is installed, a reference to Service Pack 1 is displayed. If you do not see a reference to Windows Vista SP1, it is not installed on your computer.

This section provides more information for advanced users and IT professionals only. Included are the issues resolved by the update in this article, known issues with the update, and file information for 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows Vista.

Issues resolved by the 938979 update

This information is primarily intended to help advanced users such as IT Professionals and corporate helpdesk support staff. This update resolves issues that may affect some Windows Vista-based computers. These issues have been reported by computer users through the Error Reporting service or Microsoft Customer Support Services.

If you apply this update, you can improve the performance, responsiveness, and reliability of Windows Vista. This update resolves the following issues reported on Windows Vista-based computers:

• When you try to exit the Photos screen saver, you experience a long delay.
• When you use the Windows Energy screen saver, a memory leak occurs.
• When User Account Control is disabled on the computer, you cannot install a network printer successfully. This problem occurs if the network printer is hosted by a Windows XP-based or a Windows Server 2003-based computer.
• When you write data to an AVI file by using the AVIStreamWrite function, the file header of the AVI file is corrupted.
• When you copy or move a large file, the "estimated time remaining" takes a long time to be calculated and displayed.
• When you resume the computer from hibernation, it takes a long time to display the logon screen.
• When you synchronize an offline file to a server, the offline file is corrupted.
• When you edit an image file that uses the RAW image format, data loss occurs in the image file. This problem occurs if the RAW image is from any of the following digital SLR camera models:
  • Canon EOS 1D
  • Canon EOS 1DS
  For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
  932988

  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/932988/ )

  Files from a Canon EOD 1D or 1DS camera may be corrupted after you use Windows Photo Gallery, Windows Live Photo Gallery, or Windows Explorer to edit the file metadata in Windows Vista or in Windows XP Service Pack 2
• When you resume the computer from hibernation, the computer loses its default gateway address.
• Poor memory management performance occurs.

This section contains information about known issues with update 938979. Some computer users may have manually changed certain default settings or manually removed certain default folders and links. When the updated shell component of this update is installed, it restores the default settings, folders, and shortcuts. These items will not be reset during future shell component updates.

Settings that are reset to default values

After update 938979 is applied, any default settings that have been modified are reset to their default values and the manual changes are lost. The following two user configuration settings are reset to their default values:

• Tablet PCs whose default screen orientation was changed to Left Handed are reset to Right Handed. (For users of Arabic and Hebrew, the default screen orientation is reset to Left Handed.)
  
  To restore the setting, use the Tablet PC Settings item in Control Panel.
• In Windows Explorer, the Show hidden and protected OS files setting on the View tab of the Folder Options dialog box whose default was changed to enabled, is reset to disabled.
  
  To restore the setting, manually reapply the setting.

Default folders that are restored

After update 938979 is applied, any system-created default folders that have been manually moved or removed from their local user profile folder are re-created. The following folders are re-created in their local user profile folders:

Note Typically, the path of the local user profile folder is C:\Users\UserName.

• Contacts
• Desktop
• Documents
• Downloads
• Favorites
• Links
• Music
• Pictures
• Saved Games
• Searches
• Videos

Default links that are re-created

After update 938979 is applied, any system-created default shortcuts that have been manually deleted are re-created. There are three specific groups:

• Shortcuts to the following sample content folders are re-created:
  • Sample Pictures
  • Sample Music
  • Sample Videos
• The Documents shortcut is re-created in the SendTo shortcut menu
• Shortcuts in the Favorite Links section of Windows Explorer are re-created. These shortcuts include the following:
  • Documents
  • Pictures
  • Music
  • Recently Changed
  • Searches
  • Public

File information for the update

This section contains file information for 32-bit and 64-bit versions.

The English version of this update has the file attributes (or later file attributes) that are listed in the following table. The dates and times for these files are listed in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). When you view the file information, it is converted to local time. To find the difference between UTC and local time, use the Time Zone tab in the Date and Time item in Control Panel.

For information about 32-bit versions, go to the "Windows Vista, 32-bit versions" table. For information about 64-bit versions, go to the "Windows Vista, 64-bit versions" table.

Windows Vista, 32-bit versions

Windows Vista, 64-bit versions

For more information, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For more information about software update terminology, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:The third-party products that this article discusses are manufactured by companies that are independent of Microsoft. Microsoft makes no warranty, implied or otherwise, about the performance or reliability of these products.