Technical reasons for nLite improving performance?

[roper512]

I've been using nLite for quite some time now to slim down my XP installs. I love it and have seen a definate improvement in the responsiveness and speed of the OS in general...

My question is, why does this happen? I have a pretty beefy system and even with a dual-core processor and lots of ram (2gig) I still can tell the difference between an OS I tweak and one I do not...

It seems odd to me why it would improve performance to such a degree when there's a powerful system behind it..

- What advantages does slipstreaming drivers give as opposed to installing over the default windows drivers after a format?

- What kind of advantages are there to disabling services? Is it just about memory usage or does it go deeper than that?

- In terms of slipstreaming hotfixes and such, does that make any difference over installing the hotfixes post-OS install?

Any other info you can provide on this would be much appreciated.. I'm just curious and looking for some technical info from some of you more savvy folk

Thank you!

[jaclaz]

My personal opinion:

- What advantages does slipstreaming drivers give as opposed to installing over the default windows drivers after a format?

None.

- What kind of advantages are there to disabling services? Is it just about memory usage or does it go deeper than that?

Services usually use some processor time too, and when starting, expecially services that are dependent on others can introduce some "lag" time.

- In terms of slipstreaming hotfixes and such, does that make any difference over installing the hotfixes post-OS install?

Theoretically, (in a perfect word), there should be no differences, but installing hotfixes over existing files can sometimes cause some leftovers can remain, expecially as Registry entries.

One thing to check is the actual size on disk of the Registry in your "standard" install as compared to the "nlited" version, I have found that a small registry (and a defragged one, with ERUNT) can make a difference in overall responsiveness of the system.

jaclaz

[bledd]

regseeker first to clean registry

then ntregopt (erunt) to defrag/compact it

Edited February 15, 2007 by bledd

[nuhi]

roper512, you won't believe this but most of the people believes that that it cannot possibly help, that all we do is break our OS. Well I'm patient and I don't care any more of those "blasphemers" but it sure is nice to read this topic in the times of such fast hardware.

I'm having the same experience and so does anyone who used nLite to it's fullest. Of course it can go the wrong way (frustration) if you're not into it and not ready to do some trials, then stick to the full version.

Biggest improvements are because of the removed services/components, not just disabled, because nLite removes those files before install so they are not registered nor in the memory (emphasis on the threads and handles, not actual memory size), while that disable option (post install, services) is kinda questionable (definitelly not clearing the reg). To remind of add/remove programs for IE and WMP (just removes the icon and hides the files).