NoelC

Beyond what Big Muscle has said above... What the heck are you doing putting stuff in the C:\Windows directory? -Noel

Is WIndows 8.1 Update 1 available via Windows Update yet? No? Then it's NOT LEGITIMATE. Some of you seem to think you get to make up whatever rules and terms you want. That's ridiculous. You're just lucky no one takes notice of your illegal activities. You might find out how unpleasant that can be. If you don't want to be without Aero Glass, which is clearly 3rd party software and not from Microsoft, what the heck are you doing installing an unreleased, illegitimate OS? Do you actually THINK about things before you do them? EVEN IF Big Muscle were so energetic that he would want to try to support it, don't you think it might take him a little time to get it to work? I'm sure Microsoft is not trying to do him favors. They don't want Aero Glass to work! You folks who haven't a clue act like software is easy to write. Relax and wait for the release. Then wait patiently some more for 3rd party software authors to make their stuff compatible. -Noel

Keep in mind this thread is about getting the maximum speed out of the I/O subsystem. I've had experience with plenty of HDDs and the NTFS compression always slows down operations. I don't care what's written, I've seen it in action. From what I can see, it's typical Microsoft implementation. Works, but isn't fast, and isn't all that good at compressing things either. -Noel

If you've compressed files on disk that are needed for execution - for example, DLLs in WinSxS, then you will almost certainly have slowed down your system. There is some tradeoff between size of disk access and speed of CPU to decompress data, but practically speaking using file system compression slows things down in general, even on a very powerful computer system. Compression is an especially bad idea when using SSD. Most SSDs run worst on compressed data, because they attempt to compress it internally. If you're struggling that hard to get back 2 GB of disk space, you should consider saving some pennies to get a bigger drive. -Noel

I like the way you think, jaclaz. Those of you who are running "leaked" software: You have no idea who's added what to it. Do you think that you're safe running such software? You do understand that what you're doing is illegal, right? -Noel

My hat's off to you for trying. I've pretty much decided that if I'm going to keep up to date with the latest Windows I'm just going to buy full version discs - which I did with Windows 8.1. A few hundred bucks is cheaper than all the pain and anguish of trying to get through the quagmire of online updates/upgrades/configuration to end up with a stable and maintainable system. My systems (going back to Windows 2) have always needed only one installation for the life of each computer. But I figure that the first time I try to go "on the cheap" with the latest Microsoft cloud BS I'll find myself in some kind of "can't get there from here" situation not unlike what you've just described, Barfly. Then I'll put hundreds or thousands of dollars of time into trying to make it work. At one time in my life, decades ago, when time was less valuable than money to me, I might have enjoyed the challenge. Not that I don't enjoy tweaking, still, but more and more now I enjoy the work I do using the system. It feels less and less lately like Microsoft is sharing their software magic with us and rather like they're trying to fleece us with smoke and mirrors. Best of luck, and do keep us informed here on what you discover. -Noel

Big Muscle has said that he'll have something better going soon. Twisted3313, just deal with it for a few days. Or just uninstall it. And NO, there is no other way to get glass effects. None. Big Muscle is THE man. A watermark on your desktop should not bother you so much; try to come to grips with why it does. Being able to grin and bear it is a life skill that will serve you well, young padawan. -Noel

The screen grabs I showed above are from Windows 8.1. The option is there but it's anything but clear. -Noel

Ooh, I can't wait to test your new stuff. Unfortunately I'm right in the middle of a big software release and can't risk destabilizing my system until probably tomorrow or the next day. WAH! -Noel

1. Yes, the donation page is temporarily offline. See the link just above your post. 2. Your Machine ID will be used to generate a donation.key (when the donation process is back online) that you will download and which will avert the pop-up and watermark. 3. No other product offers translucent "glass effect" window borders and taskbar. This is it. The good news is that this product can augment the various other products and makes the Windows desktop look better with virtually any theme. You really don't even need a theme, because this product can load an alternate set of resources for use with the standard Windows 8 aero implementation. 3a. Check out Classic Shell. I find it to be an excellent Start button/menu replacement. I happen to like the "Classic style" setting, which doesn't really match any of the prior Windows Start menus exactly, but is actually better. 4. You have two Taskbars because Microsoft thought that would be a useful or reasonable feature. Frankly I don't find any use for a Taskbar whatsoever on other than my primary monitor. To configure that, right-click the Taskbar, choose Properties, and note the [ ] Show taskbar on all displays option. -Noel

You may be right that there's something hidden that's responsible for this. We can only hope it's a good thing. But It's not really reasonable to keep it a secret, then! I'm not the only one who cares about having to give up performance. Briefly I held a secret hope that when Microsoft makes Windows capable of booting from a volume formatted with the new ReFS file system (which I have set up on one of my HDDs), things will get better. But no, I tested it. I can only enumerate files at the following rate (remembering that this is an HDD, not SSD, so the second number is more interesting) 1,500 files/second first time.10,000 files/second after the data is cached.By appearances, this is even slower than NTFS. -Noel P.S., Nothing is being logged in my event logs to indicate there are any problems with the volumes on my system.

Your Machine ID will change if you change disks, meaning your donation key will become invalid. Just generate a new one with the Machine ID the software is now showing you. -Noel

Thanks for checking. It's difficult to feel a slowdown that measures in milliseconds, but yes, there's a definite slowdown - e.g., in starting File Explorer, or in programs that access a lot of files. For example, I have careful measurements of software system build times and other operations where tens of thousands of files are accessed. The change is felt as a change from something like 28 seconds to 34 seconds to do the same things. That's not going to break the bank, but I'm not willing to accept that a new version of Windows can't do the same things just as quickly as the old. There's no evidence that there's more robustness in the file system or anything to justify a slowdown. I haven't been able to get Microsoft to admit that it even exists, nor the storage driver people (HighPoint Global) who wrote the RAID driver. It's as though no one cares whether there's a difference between "blindingly fast" and "blazingly fast". Thing is, some people pay a premium for the fastest possible performance. That Windows 8.1 throws that investment away does not sit well with me, and I want to know the reason. -Noel

What are your settings in the registry keys identified on this page? http://glass8.berlios.de/guide.html Are you running an alternate theme? -Noel

Aero Glass for Win 8.1 version 1.2 is running flawlessly here with ATI Catalyst 14.2 beta 1.3 drivers. The driver package was a bit balky to install, but it finally yielded fruit. Desktop performance is up a percent or two - as good as I've seen it. -Noel

Out of curiosity, if you do as I mentioned in the first post, selecting all the files and folders in C:\, then right-clicking and choosing Properties, how many files per second does your system enumerate? Measure both the first and second tries. -Noel

HarryTri, you absolutely would not want to compress the contents of the WinSxS folder! Epic, the disk cache functions just as a RAMDrive would once the data is read from the disk and cached. That's the point, even the reading of the data purely from RAM is 1/3 the speed of the same operation in Windows 7 or 8. This problem is not going to yield to a simple "use it differently" type answer. It will likely ultimately be solved by either a) a heretofore undiscovered tweak that returns some part of the file system implementation to what it was, or maybe b) a Windows Update that fixes some new problem they don't realize they introduced. -Noel

>When is it possible to donate? A while. Please, try again later. See also: http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/170850-aero-glass-for-win81-12/page-29#entry1070023 -Noel

Thank you, epic, but this was a fresh Windows 8.1 install from disc, and there have only been a limited number of Windows Updates since it came out. My WinSxS folder has 6 GB, but the Disk Cleanup tool shows it would only release 313 MB of storage. But the amount of used storage isn't the issue here. I have 800+ GB free on the SSD array - a little less than 50%. The real issue here is that somewhere inside the implementation of the NTFS file system there is a significant slowdown in Windows 8.1. It's not just a difference from Windows 7. I've since verified that slowdown has specifically appeared in Windows 8.1. Windows 8 and 7 can be measured to be similarly fast on equivalent systems (not my workstation but others). Windows 8.1 is a good bit SLOWER compared to Windows 8 - something I didn't expect. I believe Microsoft deleted something that mattered to performance in their grand quest to hobble Windows. Thank God the bums that led the charge have all been thrown out. But how can they rescue the ruined culture at this point? Maybe we'll see something good again in 2017. -Noel P.S., I'm GLAD Microsoft doesn't have a bunch of "delete files" type maintenance activities they choose to do. I don't want them deleting my data! They actually DO do all too much of that already (e.g., from within the Windows.old folder, or "broken" shortcuts on the desktop).

FYI, I've been running Windows 8.1 as a desktop-only system since last year, with EnableLUA disabled. My system is stable and fast, and everything works. There are really no problems with doing this (I consider not being able to run the Metro/Modern BS a bonus, not a negative). UAC doesn't really protect people much anyway, since virtually everyone gets in the habit of clicking through so that they can run what they want. However, may I suggest, to augment your system security that you do these things: Install the MVPS hosts file to block thousands of parasite web sites. These sites deliver ads and malware, and never even allowing their servers to be contacted by your system is a SUPER way to insulate yourself from them. Reconfigure Internet Explorer to not run ActiveX from the Internet Zone, but only from the Trusted Sites zone. Since there are browsers that don't allow ActiveX, many sites can run just fine with scripting only. Even then, there are configuration settings that limit what scripts can do. Sweep through the entire security settings block for the Internet Zone and lock it down. Get a better anti-malware package than Microsoft provides. It doesn't have to be an intergalactic solution, just have good shields for blocking malware from getting on your disk or coming in via eMail or the web. This is strictly a safety net. With the above two changes malware will almost never get into your system to start with. Last but not least, practice healthy computing habits. If you are prone to testing and trying out a lot of downloaded software, get a virtualization system set up - e.g., VMware workstation or maybe even use Windows' own Hypervisor. Test in a Virtual Machine, and only when you've vetted new software, then install it on your host system. DON'T ever run any "cleaner" applications. You don't need them! I have run Windows for years without "cleaning my registry", and they were just as fast the day they were upgraded as when they were first installed. If you want to keep your system maintained, occasionally have a look for extra temporary files having accumulated in your TEMP folder, and rid your system of them. That's trivial to do - it doesn't require a cleaner application! Those are almost exclusively snake oil. You wouldn't let a stranger come into your house and just delete whatever he wants from your computer and registry would you? And also get the freeware tool Autoruns and watch all the extra junkware that various applications install. Much of it is unneeded. But only YOU can decide that, not some pre-packaged application.-Noel

Did you do that by setting EnableLUA to 0 in the registry? If not, it's not completely disabled. -Noel

Do you have more that the basic Shields active with Avast? I'm not seeing stalls like what you describe, and I only have the 3 Shields active and the one Tool that checks the installation status of various software packages. Plus, I have de-configured the "Deep Screen" feature, as it was downright intrusive, blocking things while it went off to ask the Avast server permission to run this or that. -Noel

Actually it didn't. You just missed the intentionally difficult to see prompts that would have led you to be able to set it up with a local account. It's one of the most devious things Microsoft has done, and very telling about how they view their users. I'm surprised the Justice Department hasn't taken more notice of this predatory practice. Note: -Noel

Sorry, it didn't occur to me that someone here might not know how to edit the registry. Big Muscle has not been big on providing turnkey configurators for the software. You're expected to be somewhat expert at tweaking Windows to use Aero Glass for Win 8. You've got some choices: 1. Learn to edit the registry using regedit. Note that this is a capability assumed in a lot of threads here. Be careful. 2. Try the configurator listed by raiden89 above. 3. Switch to a different operating system entirely that does not expect you to have to tweak it for days just to make it usable. -Noel

http://www.lmgtfy.com/?q=Aero+Glass+for+Windows+8+disabled+on+battery -Noel