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You are here: MacNN Forums > Software - Troubleshooting and Discussion > Applications > VirtualPC performance with XPpro

VirtualPC performance with XPpro
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joe
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Dec 11, 2003, 10:29 AM
 
I bought VPC 6.1 for my 1.25GHz G4 PowerBook as part of OfficePE. It came with XPpro and seemed to run at a good pace initially. But performance has started to drop off. I'm not sure but I think this started after I ran Windows Update and installed the security fixes. Is there any way to optimize the settings and get back the original performance without re-installing XP?

So far I've installed a gig of RAM and raised the XPpro setting to 512MB (max). Is there an optimum VRAM setting? Also, what effect does the "Undo drives" have on performance? Finally, are there any VPC forums or mailing lists available?
     
bmhome1
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Dec 11, 2003, 07:45 PM
 
Adding security updates, anti-virus software, unnecessary software such as Acrobat Reader (why open a pdf in VPC?) Will simply slow down VPC even further than the bare OS install.

Unless you're connected to a Windows environment network there's no reason to bog down VPC with them, IMHO. You aren't connected long enough to the net and virus' can only affect the drive image anyway, which can be trashed and be reverted to from a backup.

Same with Restore, sound, and all animation effects within the OS. Strip your VPC down to the bare essentials and give enough RAM for decent speed.

At the least, back up the drive image BEFORE adding any MS updates, so you can revert to it when you realize the speed hit that happened.

The only "advice" you can generally expect lately is "buy a cheap PC." MacWindows.com is the last decent users source.
( Last edited by bmhome1; Dec 11, 2003 at 11:08 PM. )
     
keston
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Dec 11, 2003, 11:21 PM
 
Cheap PCs look butt ugly and are never an option

I am using VPC6 w/ Win XP Pro on a DP 1.25Ghz (MDD) and the speed is pretty good. I have not installed any security, win updates, or virus software though. Just the few apps that I use. Oh, and I am using the windows classic appearance, with all animation and effects off, not that that Luna bloat.
     
PubGuy
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Dec 12, 2003, 12:23 AM
 
I agree -- I haven't installed any of the "service packs" on my VPC images. I did once and after apply enough patches, the drive image no longer booted. Reverted back to the virgin install and left it there.

However, I'm not on a network. I don't use VPC to surf the net. Anything that can be accomplished natively on the Mac is done on the Mac. VPC is only used for specialty software (MS Access, flight planning, etc). I've share one of the Mac's hard drives to the VPC image and copy my working files back an forth so that at the end of the day, all my new work is safely filed on the Mac.

Using VPC in this manner has worked like a charm.
     
bmhome1
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Dec 12, 2003, 01:01 AM
 
You might drop your RAM allocated down to 256MB for VPC so that OSX never pages out when running VPC, especially if insisting on having other applications open at the same time.

I usually close everything but VPC, quit the PC List and quit the Finder (Cocktail) for an additional speed boost, about 10-20% actual but perceptually much more.
     
keston
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Dec 12, 2003, 01:10 AM
 
I also use HorseMenu to bump the priority to -20 (highest) If needed. I am not sure it if matters, as VPC has a setting for CPU usage as well.
     
joe  (op)
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Dec 12, 2003, 04:07 AM
 
Thanx to all for the helpful suggestions. After reading them I realize I should've given more information:

This PowerBook does hook up to on an all-PC network via ethernet. The LAN is hosted by a Win2K server and I'm able to mount shared volumes and transfer files back and forth in Jaguar. I don't know how many other servers are on the WAN - though I'm able to logon and get to the internet on the Mac side. All our PCs are running a McAffee client that automatically links to a networked virus scanner (WAN) and is updated daily. I haven't installed the McAffee client software in VPC so I've tried to minimize the time VPC is connected to broadband - essentially Windows Updates only. I'm probably going to have to install the virus client software eventually when I get our Oracle software running in VPC.

I agree that a cheap PC would get better performance. And I've got access to plenty of PCs if needed (this is the ONLY Mac on the entire network). But since VPC came as part of Office PE, I wanted to try and make the best of it. Having never owned VPC I'm not familiar with how to tweak the settings to get the best performance. So I started with the obvious - throw more RAM at it I bought a 1GB memory upgrade from Transintl for a total of 1.25GB of 333MHz DDR. The next upgrade is probably going to be a 7200rpm notebook hard drive. But that may take a while since I believe it voids the Apple warranty.

Given some replies, I should've never installed those service packs. But I hate to start over again - especially with that stupid "big brother" authentication process you have to go through with XP. So I'd like to try tweaking the VPC settings 1st if possible. I was wondering what experienced VPC owners would recommend:
- With 1.25GB RAM on the Mac side, what is the ideal VPC RAM setting to minimize notebook hard drive accessing (ie windows swap file) 128MB - 512MB?
- I've got the VRAM set to 4MB and am running 800*600. Should I increase VRAM?
- Should I disable Undo Drives? Does it tie up system resources?
- Would it help to have the XPpro hard drive file on it's own partition? Or is it possible to just format a partition for Windows?
- This notebook has the latest G4 chip with 512KB L2 instead of 256KB. Is there a setting that recognizes this?
- Any other settings tweaks to get the max performance?

thanx!
     
   
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