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Review of Stardock's TweakVista

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the needs-all-the-help-it-can-get dept.

mikemuch writes "The new TweakVista utility from Stardock surfaces some of Vista's more obscure settings, giving access to diagnostics and making suggestions for services that you should be running. ExtremeTech's review of TweakVista generally likes the software, and though it's called version 0.9, it is for sale — $19.95 — and feels feature-complete. More suggestions on system optimization, however, would be helpful. From the review: 'According to TweakVista, on July 1st, the "Windows Shell Services DLL service took 651ms longer to shut down than usual." That's nice. Other than this stark presentation, there's no digestible information as to why the shell services DLL took over half a second longer to shut down. And there's no hint as to what to do about it.'"

33 of 191 comments (clear)

  1. Vista For Dummies by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Chapter 1:

    Stick with XP.

    The End.

    1. Re:Vista For Dummies by JackieBrown · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Well, if we are blaming the Nvidia/ATI for Vista's slowdowns shouldn't we give credit to AMD/Intel for their speed ups?

      Seems like it should go both ways or neither.

  2. I hate that usage of "surface" by catbutt · · Score: 4, Insightful

    just feel like burning some karma to say that

    1. Re:I hate that usage of "surface" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative
      You should because it's incorrect. You cannot "surface" something in the sense of bringing to light. There's only one definition for "to surface" with a direct object:

      To provide with a surface or apply a surface to: surface a table with walnut; surface a road with asphalt.
      The definition of the intransitive form, which doesn't take a direct object, is what the submitter is really trying to say:
      1. To rise to the surface.
      2. To emerge after concealment.
      3. To work or dig a mine at or near the surface of the ground.
  3. taskmanager? by pedramnavid · · Score: 3, Informative

    Ctrl-Shift-Esc is an even better shortcut for taskmanager. Does that still work with Vista?

    1. Re:taskmanager? by fr4nk · · Score: 2, Informative

      Yes it does.

    2. Re:taskmanager? by Dachannien · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Nice tip! I'll have to remember that one. I usually just pound the left side of my keyboard in frustration until the task manager pops up.

    3. Re:taskmanager? by sgt+scrub · · Score: 2, Funny

      But Windows-Key u r doesn't reboot anymore, which is used much more frequently.

      --
      Having to work for a living is the root of all evil.
  4. It's called debugging. by Short+Circuit · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Other than this stark presentation, there's no digestible information as to why the shell services DLL took over half a second longer to shut down. And there's no hint as to what to do about it. It's called debugging. You recognize a symptom, identify the problem, fix the problem. The software solves step 1; It recognizes when your computer is running slower than usual. Then it helps you with step 2; It gives you an idea of where to look to fix it.

    Without the software, you'd still be wondering why your computer took a half-second longer to shut down, not why a particular process took longer. With the software, you can focus on the process, paying less attention to the computer as a whole.

    The software doesn't fix your computer, it's a diagnostic aid.
    --
    tasks(723) drafts(105) languages(484) examples(29106)
    1. Re:It's called debugging. by Ant+P. · · Score: 2, Insightful

      If they hadn't been running this software, would they have cared about that 651ms delay in the first place?

    2. Re:It's called debugging. by Short+Circuit · · Score: 2, Funny

      It would have irritated me. When I shut down a computer, I'm ready to go. I don't like sitting around waiting for longer-than-usual shutdowns.

      --
      tasks(723) drafts(105) languages(484) examples(29106)
  5. Performance Center. by Henry+V+.009 · · Score: 5, Informative

    The "took longer to shut down" messages are from Windows itself. They're exactly what you get from the Performance Center. It's actually very useful when you're trying to find out which applications are making your startup or shutdown times go slow. It's something that Vista has done right, actually.

  6. Re:Skins by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    The tearing and flickering 2D graphics are often a driver issue.

    On all my XP installs, I had that issue prior to installing the nVidia drivers, but not ater. I do get a little flicker with Intel graphics, but I get the same thing on *nix systems as well...

  7. slashvertisement tag by damn_registrars · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Anybody?

    --
    Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
    1. Re:slashvertisement tag by Dachannien · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Better than slapping "defectivebydesign" on it, considering that Defective by Design refers to the inclusion of DRM in a product intentionally, rather than just writing software that accidentally sucks.

  8. Amazing... by misleb · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It is amazing what developers can sell in the Windows world. $20 for a pretty interface to features that are already in the OS? WTF? Have I just been spoiled by using Linux for 11 years, or what?

    Not that things are much better on the Mac (which I use mostly now on the desktop). I downloaded this program, RDC Menu, to launch multiple instance of Windows Remote Desktop Client. There's the standard "trial" and "paid" versions. The author wanted money just to enable the "bookmarks" feature so you could save your connection profiles and select them from a list in the statusbar. I said screw that and I just wrote my own damn program to do it. Took me all of a few hours to get it working the way I wanted. Only functional difference between the two programs is that RDC Menu is more polished (graphics, icons, language translations, etc).

    Don't get me wrong, I think programmers should get paid for their work if they want and they're certainly free to charge whatever they want, but how much are we paying of "polish?" Doesn't it seem strange that a simple GUI front end for standard OS features is like 1/5th the cost of the entire OS itself (depending on the version you buy) which probably has 1,000 times the man-hours behind it?

    I dunno, when you look at the trivial utilities that people pay $20 or more for, it makes Microsoft products seem pretty damn cheap! That is, if you compare lines of code...

    -matthew

    --
    "THERE IS NO JUSTICE, THERE IS ONLY ME." -Death
    1. Re:Amazing... by MontyApollo · · Score: 5, Insightful

      They have to charge $20 since not many people (relatively speaking) will purchase it. If they knew 50 million people were going to purchase, then they could charge a lot less.

    2. Re:Amazing... by plague3106 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Took me all of a few hours to get it working the way I wanted. Only functional difference between the two programs is that RDC Menu is more polished (graphics, icons, language translations, etc).

      So how much do you normally get paid an hour? Unless its $10 or less, you've spent more money writing it yourself than if you just paid $20.

    3. Re:Amazing... by an.echte.trilingue · · Score: 2, Interesting

      It didn't take him a few hours to get it working, it took him a few hours to write another program that does the same thing. That means that, polish aside, the program that the developer was trying to charge for was probably not worth the asking price, yet people buy it anyway because it looks good. The point being, people pay bucks for stuff with animation, not stuff that does stuff, and that is f'ed up.

      --
      weirdest thing I ever saw: scientology advertising on slashdot.
    4. Re:Amazing... by Senjutsu · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The author wanted money just to enable the "bookmarks" feature so you could save your connection profiles and select them from a list in the statusbar. I said screw that and I just wrote my own damn program to do it. Took me all of a few hours to get it working the way I wanted. Only functional difference between the two programs is that RDC Menu is more polished (graphics, icons, language translations, etc). I don't know about you, but I bill at $89/hour for software development. At "a few hours to get it working the way I wanted", it would be a far more rational for me to just throw the guy a $20 and use my time more productively.

      I'd also say that the idea that "polish" isn't worth paying for, and is something optional and unnecessary is one of the biggest problems remaining problems with the FOSS software development community.
    5. Re:Amazing... by legirons · · Score: 2, Funny

      "Not that things are much better on the Mac"

      Indeed. Imagine having to download third-party software just to disable the startup noise...

      (And if anyone knows how to stop iPhoto popping up whenever it thinks you've attached a camera, I'd like to hear how...)

    6. Re:Amazing... by 75th+Trombone · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The real reason they charge $20 for all their programs is so people will look at the $50 price on their full Object Desktop suite for a year, and say "Hey, I get about twelve dozen more programs for just over twice as much; that's a good deal!"

      The people they con into buying the one program for $20 are just easier money than they're used to; they still want those people to upgrade to the full suite.

      I was a subscriber for a long time. It's not a bad little suite, but every program has its quirks, and I finally found it less trouble to just use the default interface. I still use WindowBlinds, though (Velvet Waves forever!).

      --
      The United States of America: We do what we must because we can.
  9. CMD shell here is about same as the XP power toy by Blahbooboo3 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Especially this one: Shift-RightClick on a folder and you can open a CMD shell at that location!! Fucking A! no more reg hacking.

    You do realize this is just about the same thing as the Windows XP Open Command Window Here power toy?
    Here is the link to get it for XP
  10. You're complaining about 651ms in Vista? by TheDarkener · · Score: 3, Funny

    'According to TweakVista, on July 1st, the "Windows Shell Services DLL service took 651ms longer to shut down than usual." That's nice. Other than this stark presentation, there's no digestible information as to why the shell services DLL took over half a second longer to shut down. And there's no hint as to what to do about it.'

    Seriously, if you're complaining about 651ms when you're using Vista... You need to get out of the house more. ;)

    --
    It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
  11. slashdotforsale by nuzak · · Score: 4, Insightful

    How the fuck was this even remotely newsworthy? Shall I just take every announcement on nonags and pipe it here?

    --
    Done with slashdot, done with nerds, getting a life.
  12. Startup by Mazin07 · · Score: 5, Funny

    As one of the screenshots clearly shows, the guy's computer is infested with Norton AntiVirus and iTunes. Don't worry, I have a utility that can remove programs like those, and it only costs $19.95.

  13. Re:Too lazy to login... but Vista doesn't suck bal by DXMikey · · Score: 2, Informative

    I'm running a Dual-Core AMD x64 4200+ with the onboard x1250 ATI card (all my good cards are AGP - I just haven't broke down yet and bought a decent Nvidia).

    I've had good luck with Vista overall, the x1250 isn't great and only gives the machine an overall 2.8 rating. Otherwise - I'm not noticing the speed issues I did on my older machines running better graphics cards. Aero runs just fine. I'm not seeing any "2D tearing issues" and xVid, DivX, x264 encodes and DVDs run very smoothly. I use Haali Media Splitter and FFDShow to decode the x264 stuff I create with the Windows port of Handbrake.

    IE7 SUCKS, end of story. I use Firefox with the IEtab if I absolutely must run an IE window - useful for getting into our company's webmail. IE7 is nothing more than a miserable hack trying to emulate Firefox and MS should be embarrassed for ever releasing this piece of crap.

    Oh yeah...I ditched the Zune when I realized that high humidity was creating a cloud inside the polycarbonate screen cover that would take a week or more to escape. I never had the problem with my iPods...so I'm back to a 4Gig Nano for now. I liked the Zune except for this and one other issue: You can't see the f**kin' screen in daylight, bright or overcast. The iPod is very readable even in bright sunlight.

    So, with my dandy new iPod I was finally able to check out the latest MGTEK dosisp WMP 11 plugin. It works as advertised so I was able to ditch iTunes. I was able to format and sync the Nano through WMP 11 with no issues. I haven't fired up Winamp yet in Vista so I can't speak for its iPod support.

    Yes - you all can all ding me for my previous Zune comments - but what it did, it did really well. But I'm lovin' the Nano - but would have been happier with the 8G model.

    Oh yeah - the MGTEK dosisp plugin is payware. I'm sure there'll be free solutions before too long. WMP 11 does such a nice job that I can't figure out why MS had to re-hack WMP10 into the "Zune Player". It really was crap.

  14. Nothing new by dalmiroy2k · · Score: 4, Informative

    You can do manually whatever this GUI does and for free:

    http://www.speedyvista.com/

  15. People are funny. by brunes69 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The author wanted money just to enable the "bookmarks" feature so you could save your connection profiles and select them from a list in the statusbar. I said screw that and I just wrote my own damn program to do it. Took me all of a few hours to get it working the way I wanted. Only functional difference between the two programs is that RDC Menu is more polished (graphics, icons, language translations, etc)....

    I dunno, when you look at the trivial utilities that people pay $20 or more for, it makes Microsoft products seem pretty damn cheap! That is, if you compare lines of code...

    Depends on your priorities in life I guess, but IMO two hours of my time is worth much more to me than $20.

    Amazes me sometimes that someone will spend hours of time to save $20, or drive halfway across town to save 10 cents a gallon on gas (a couple of bucks at most for a tank). Then the same people won't take the five minutes it takes to check your tire pressure each month, which costs them way more in the long run.

    People are funny.

    1. Re:People are funny. by misleb · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Depends on your priorities in life I guess, but IMO two hours of my time is worth much more to me than $20.


      Another thing that amazes me is how many people put a price on their time as a general rule. It is as if they can't do something in life without consciously or unconsciously keeping a running tab of how much it is all going to cost someone in the end. Sad, really.

      Amazes me sometimes that someone will spend hours of time to save $20,


      Did it ever occur to you that saving money had nothing to do with it? I did it out of principle... to prove to myself just how trivial the product was. I did it to learn a new type of programmimng (Cocoa/Objective-C). I did it for fun.

      This is Slashdot! You'd think more people would UNDERSTAND the spirit of open source!

      -matthew
      --
      "THERE IS NO JUSTICE, THERE IS ONLY ME." -Death
  16. Re:Too lazy to login... but Vista doesn't suck bal by sid0 · · Score: 2, Informative

    IE7 SUCKS, end of story. I use Firefox with the IEtab if I absolutely must run an IE window - useful for getting into our company's webmail. IE7 is nothing more than a miserable hack trying to emulate Firefox and MS should be embarrassed for ever releasing this piece of crap.

    Try Maxthon if you want to use IE. It's a lot faster than Firefox can ever be, that's for sure. I'm using an optimised build of Firefox and while it is a lot faster than the Mozilla release, it doesn't match up to Maxthon.

    Vista is slower than XP because of the new features: indexing, diagnostics and such. If you disable indexing and other such stuff, you'll find that it runs pretty comparably to XP. Superfetch et al don't hurt, of course.)

    Oh, and the AC is right, Vista doesn't suck. Sure there are a couple of bugs (like the slow file copy issue, solved for a lot by disabling Remote Differential Compression in Windows Features, and seems to be solved completely in SP1), but there's also an amazing amount of FUD and pure lies over Vista, especially over DRM. (File copy slow? OMG, DRM CHECKS! etc) Here's a nugget to chew on: if you don't play DRM'd media you will never ever see DRM.

  17. Free version by Island+Dog · · Score: 4, Informative

    I would like to make an addition that wasn't included in the review. There will be a free version available, and the $20 is for the premium version with additional features. It will also be included for people with subscriptions to Object Desktop by Stardock.

  18. Re:CMD shell here is about same as the XP power to by fbjon · · Score: 4, Informative

    The folder icon for the current folder is up in the left corner, you can right-click there. It always was there, AFAIK.

    --
    True confidence comes not from realising you are as good as your peers, but that your peers are as bad as you are.