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I am currently working on a FileMaker Pro customization project. Two of the client machines on the network are running Vista. Performance on all machines is excellent, except on these two. In this case the server is Windows SBS 2003, there are several XP machines, one new Macintosh, and the 2 new Vista machines. After extensive research, I have found that there are known issues with network performance on in a mixed environment. Since I didn't have any Vista experience and couldn't do all the research and debugging at the client site, I had to find an alternative. Fortunately laptop computers are cheap these days! FutureShop had an HP 14" machine on sale for $999 last week. This week it's $899. Good thing they have a 30-day price guarantee!
It's amazing what $1000 will buy in computers these days. This machine is sleek, fast, and loaded. The Vista experience has been very positive as well. The Windows Experience Index is 3.5, reflected by the fact that graphics is seldom a strong area on laptops. Apart from Vista being prettier than preceding versions of Windows, I find that the manageability is much improved as well. I didn't have any network performance issues either. Until I tried to access the client's server remotely, that is! Then I had to start digging. Eventually I found several sources that recommended the same solutions. First, I ran, as Administrator:
netsh interface tcp set global autotuninglevel=disabled
This turns off a new Vista feature that supposedly adjusts the Receive Window size. The second thing I did was run
Control Panel - Programs and Features - Turn Features Off - Remotes Differential Compression - Off
This disables a compression feature that by all rights should improve performance, not impede it! In any case, after rebooting I was able to connect to the remote database in a more reasonable time.
OK, I just did some additional testing. Turning off Differential Compression actually increases the FileMaker remote application load time by about 15 seconds, so I've turned it back on. This is only a 4% change, but still, when the load time is 6 minutes, anything helps. On Tuesday I try the fix at the client.
One aspect if Vista I like is the ability to access basic Administration functions like System Info right from the "Computer" level of Windows Explorer. A number of things are in more logical places. I also really like the Sidebar. With a wide aspect ratio screen, it's nice to have a selection of useful gadgets at hand. All in all, I think Vista is a step up from XP.
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