70-270: MCSE Guide to

Microsoft Windows XP Professional

Second Edition, Enhanced

Chapter 10:
Performance Tuning
 Objectives
• Create a performance baseline
• Understand the performance and monitoring tools
found in Windows XP Professional
• Log and use logged activity
• Use performance tuning in the system applet

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 Objectives (continued)
• Detect and eliminate bottlenecks
• Boost Windows XP Professional performance
• Optimize performance for mobile Windows XP
users

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 Establishing a Baseline
• Baseline
• Measure system behavior
• Key elements:
• Recorded observations about characteristics and behavior of
computer system
• Recorded by creating a Counter log
• Collecting data at regular intervals
• Establish definition of what a normal load looks like

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 Monitoring and Performance
Tuning

• Monitoring
• Thorough understanding of system components
• Continued observation of those components
• Performance tuning
• Changing a system’s configuration systematically
• Carefully observing performance before and after

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 Task Manager
• Provides overview of current state of computer
• To access:
• Press Ctrl+Alt+Delete.
• Press Ctrl+Shift+Esc.
• Right-click any unoccupied area on the Windows XP
taskbar and select Task Manager from the menu that
appears

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 Task Manager (continued)
• Tabs:
• Application
• Processes
• Performance
• Networking
• Users in Task Manager
• Only appears in special circumstances

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Task Manager, Application tab

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 Task Manager, Networking
Tab

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 System Monitor
• Performance monitoring tool
• Monitor many different events concurrently
• Analyze network operations
• Identify trends and bottlenecks
• Determine system capacity

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 System Monitor (continued)
• Notify administrators when thresholds are
exceeded
• Track performance of individual system devices
• Monitor local or remote computers

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 System Monitor (continued)

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 Realtime Monitoring
• Process of viewing the measured data from one or
more counters in the System Monitor display area
• Formats:
• Graph
• Histogram
• Report

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 Add Counters

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 System Monitor Properties

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 Logging and Using Logged
Activity
• Two types of logging capabilities
• Counter log:
• Records data from selected counters at regular, defined
intervals
• Allows you to define exactly which counters are
recorded
• Trace log:
• Records nonconfigurable data from designated provider
only when events occur

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 Logging and Using Logged
Activity (continued)

• Trace log:
• Operating system environment status dumps
• Measure data continually

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 Counter Logs Node

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 Alerts
• Automated watchdog that informs you when
counter crosses a defined threshold, high or low
• Can consist of one or more counter/instance-based
alert definitions
• Focuses on one or all counters

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 Setting an Alert

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 When an Alert is Triggered
• Log an entry in the application event log
• Send a network message to …
• Start performance data log
• Run this program …

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 Event Viewer
• Tool for examining the performance and activities
on a system
• Tracks all events generated by the operating
system
• Event:
• Anything that causes event detail to be created in one
of the logs that Event Viewer manages

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 Event Viewer Log Files
• System
• Application
• Security

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 Event Viewer, System Log

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 Event Types
• Information
• Warning
• Error
• Success Audit
• Failure Audit

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 Event Log Entry
• Event’s date and time
• Source
• Category (such as Logon or Logoff )
• Event number
• Name of the account that generated the event
• Name of the computer on which the event
occurred

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 Performance Options
• Adjust system performance based on applications
and virtual memory
• Tasks:
• Optimize processor scheduling
• Optimize memory usage
• Manage size of paging file

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 Performance Options
(continued)

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 Setting Application Priority
• 32 levels of application priority
• Determine which process should gain access to the
CPU
• Users have minimal control over priority
• Priority Levels:
• 0–15—User-accessible process priorities
• 16–31—System-accessible process priorities
• 0–6—Low user range

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 Setting Application Priority
(continued)
• Priority Levels:
• 4—Low value (as set in Task Manager, or with /low
parameter to Start command)
• 5—Below-Normal value (as set in Task Manager)
• 7—Normal (default setting for user processes)
• 8–15—High user range
• 10—Above-Normal value (as set in Task Manager)
• 13—High value (as set in Task Manager, or with /high
parameter to Start command)

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 Setting Application Priority
(continued)
• Priority Levels:
• 16–24—Realtime values accessible to Administrator-
level accounts
• 24—Realtime value (as set in Task Manager, or with
/realtime parameter to Start command)
• 25–31—Realtime values accessible to operating system
only

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 Performance Tuning in the
System Applet
• Advanced tab of System Applet
• Category View:
• Start, Control Panel, Performance and Maintenance,
then click the System icon in the Control Panel section
• Windows Classic view:
• Start, Control Panel, System. Next, select the Advanced
tab, and then click the Settings button in the
Performance pane

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 The Visual Effects Tab
• Control how Windows XP handles computer
display when managing screen output
• Settings:
• Adjust for best appearance
• Adjust for best performance
• Custom

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 The Visual Effects/Advanced
Tabs

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 The Advanced Tab
• Panes:
• Processor scheduling
• Memory usage
• Virtual memory

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 Virtual Memory

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 Recognizing and Handling
Bottlenecks
• Bottleneck
• Limitation in single component slows down entire
system
• Always exist in any computer
• No single bottleneck monitor
• Goal:
• Make bottlenecks unnoticeable for everyday functions

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 Recognizing and Handling
Bottlenecks (continued)
• Create a baseline for a computer
• Compare baseline observations to current system
behavior
• Investigate more common causes of system
problems
• Make changes to system configuration
• Test impact of any fix you try
• Some fixes are more expensive than others
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 Common Bottlenecks
• Disk bottlenecks:
• Disk-related counters increase more dramatically than
other counters
• Disk queue lengths become unacceptably long
• Memory bottlenecks:
• Make sure that the paging file is working as efficiently
as possible
• Detect excessive paging activity

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 Common Bottlenecks
(continued)

• Processor bottlenecks:
• Processor object’s % Processor time counter stays
consistently above 80%
• System object’s Processor Queue Length counter
remains fixed near a value of 2 or more
• CPU is being overworked
• Two CPUs do not double performance

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 Network Bottlenecks
• Not typical on most Windows XP Professional
machines

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 Eight Ways to Boost Windows
XP Professional Performance
• Buy a faster machine
• Upgrade an existing machine
• Install a faster CPU
• Add more L2 cache
• Add more RAM
• Replace the disk subsystem
• Increase paging file size
• Increase application priority
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 Optimizing Performance for
Mobile Windows XP Users

• Substantially same as managing performance for

network-connected machines
• Key resources:
• RAM
• Disk
• CPU
• Communications

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 Optimizing Performance for
Mobile Windows XP Users
(continued)
• Make sure network interface appears higher in the
binding order than a modem or other slower link
device
• File synchronization settings do not require
machines to synchronize when running on battery
• Use hibernate and standby modes
• Refresh rates should be extended

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 Summary
• Number of tools to monitor system performance
• Task Manager
• View applications
• Processes
• Overall system performance
• Performance console includes:
• System Monitor
• Log files
• Alerts

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 Summary (continued)
• Event Viewer
• Tracks logs generated by system
• Isolate and correct any bottlenecks

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