Windows 7 boots slower if you set a solid background color
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Windows 7 boots slower if you set a solid background color
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Re: Windows 7 boots slower if you set a solid background color
#2This reminds me of how in Windows 95, installers would complete quicker if you constantly moved the mouse, but would take longer if it was still.
Re: Windows 7 boots slower if you set a solid background color
#3This seems random and contra intuitive. The article is also confusing, containing a section on how to set a solid color as a background, while that is actually what causes the issue...
Re: Windows 7 boots slower if you set a solid background color
#4What was the name of that blog post from the old Windows dev? He had some interesting articles like how setting the datetime in the clock fubar'd older windows filesystem items or something?
Re: Windows 7 boots slower if you set a solid background color
#5This seems random and contra intuitive. The article is also confusing, containing a section on how to set a solid color as a background, while that is actually what causes the issue...
No, the workaround is, instead of telling windows to "draw my background as this solid color", you tell it "draw my background as this image (which happens to be a solid color)", ie Windows can paint any image to your background without delay.
From the other workaround, ie edit this registry entry, the delay is directly related to some portion of the Windows session system timing out and switching to a different session.
I wonder what's actually going on though. I was hoping this was a link to Raymend Chen
Re: Windows 7 boots slower if you set a solid background color
#6What was the name of that blog post from the old Windows dev? He had some interesting articles like how setting the datetime in the clock fubar'd older windows filesystem items or something?
https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/, by Raymond Chen.
Re: Windows 7 boots slower if you set a solid background color
#7What was the name of that blog post from the old Windows dev? He had some interesting articles like how setting the datetime in the clock fubar'd older windows filesystem items or something?
The Old New Thing by Raymond Chen
Re: Windows 7 boots slower if you set a solid background color
#8Hands up all the people that used computers before desktop pictures were a thing and still set the desktop to a solid colour because “it will draw faster and use less memory.”
Re: Windows 7 boots slower if you set a solid background color
#9This seems random and contra intuitive. The article is also confusing, containing a section on how to set a solid color as a background, while that is actually what causes the issue...
No, the workaround is, instead of telling windows to "draw my background as this solid color", you tell it "draw my background as this image (which happens to be a solid color)", ie Windows can paint any image to your background without delay. From the other workaround, ie edit this registry entry, the delay is directly related to some portion of the Windows session system timing out and switching to a different sess…
I wish I'd known that years ago. I always use solid colors for background as it's less of a distraction (I suppose if I'd alternated between an image and solid color I'd have noticed it but I didn't).
The question remains why didn't Microsoft notice the problem at the time as to the programmer it should have been obvious. But then from experience I think I've answered that already.
BTW, I've still some old machines with Win 7 so I might experiment with it.
Re: Windows 7 boots slower if you set a solid background color
#10I love that at the end there's a "How to set a solid color as the desktop background in Windows 7 or in Windows Server 2008 R2" section.