Much slower Windows 7 boot w/DWM running - help!

andrewa

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Jan 1, 2010
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18,510
Hey all -

I'm hoping you can help me unwind an annoying performance issue I've uncovered in Windows 7; one that doesn't seem to be documented at all if the Google is to be believed.

I recently upgraded my laptop (a Lenovo T60p, C2D T7200 proc, 2GB RAM, ATI X1400) with both a new SSD (an OCZ Vertex 60 GB) and Windows 7 Pro x64. Performance and stability has been terrific. Especially that sub-30-second boot time!

Initially, I had desktop composition disabled, so that Windows 7 was running without the Desktop Windows Manager. I just recently enabled it when I discovered that it's pretty damn sexy, and had little impact on battery life (if anything, it seems to have gotten better).

However, now my laptop takes much longer to boot - about an additional 30 seconds or so following the Windows login screen. When I disable DWM, it goes back to booting quickly. Now I realize you can't get something for nothing, but 30 seconds for a single process? A fairly lightweight process that you can enable instantly in the desktop environment? My hunch is that that just isn't right - something is interacting badly. Thus my questions are:

1. Does anyone know if this is normal behavior for DWM?
2. Is there anything I can do to address this?
3. Or, is there a good forum/online resource where I could post this (rather esoteric) question?

Thanks all!
 

andrewa

Distinguished
Jan 1, 2010
9
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18,510
Also, I'm running the generic driver for the X1400 - v8.561.0.0. Does anyone know if there is a better driver option?

And DWM = Desktop Windows Management, the process spawned when you enable Desktop Composition. However, I'm not running transparency, or any of the full time Aero effects.