Vista Build 5536 Shows Performance Gains

Review: The latest in a long line of Vista builds is much faster to install and more stable in eWEEK Labs' tests.

On Aug. 25, Microsoft released to testers Vista Build 5536, the latest in a long line of sneak peeks at Microsofts forthcoming desktop operating system. eWEEK Labs tests of Build 5536 show that the operating system is gaining speed and losing quirks as its release nears.

We downloaded the new build, which is marked "Pre-RC1," and installed the code on a Intel Pentium 4-based system with 1GB of RAM and an Nvidia GeForce FX 5950 Ultra graphics card. (For those of you keeping score, our test rig rated a 3.1 on Vistas Windows Experience Index.)

Right off the bat, we were pleased by the speedup we experienced in Vistas installation time. It took about 30 minutes for Vista to install, compared to about an hour in our tests of previous builds.

Resource Library:

Once Vista was up and running, we heeded the familiar Windows Security Center call to acquire and configure anti-virus software by installing the same Trend Micro anti-virus for Vista beta that wed been led to while trying out Vista Build 5472.

We didnt encounter the same hang-ups when downloading and installing the software that we experienced with Build 5472. However, we were displeased to find that the Trend Micro app also replaced Vistas built-in firewall, so we uninstalled the software.

In the message that Microsoft sent out to Build 5536 testers, the Vista development team asked testers to keep an eye out for bugs that would keep them from using Vista as their primary operating system environment. In the relatively brief time we spent tooling around in Build 5536, we discovered no such bugs.

Vistas new Aero Glass desktop environment performed without the momentary blackouts and other flakiness that weve experienced with earlier builds, and the systems User Account Control system of tightened permissions management didnt, for the most part, annoy us or really get in our way. For more of our observations of Vista Build 5536, check out our slideshow at http://www.eweek.com/slideshow/0,1206,l=&s=27380&a=187225,00.asp.

Advanced Technologies Analyst Jason Brooks can be reached at jason_brooks@ziffdavis.com.

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