Acer Aspire One Blog

Thanks to reader, Olivia, who also recommends to turn off the paging file in not only the system properties, but also in the registry. I haven’t noticed any particular difference in performance after editing the registry, but I figure it couldn’t hurt. If anyone notices a difference, please let me know.

You should not disable the paging file if you have not upgraded the RAM to the 1.5G maximum. If the computer does not have enough available real memory and no virtual memory, the system will crash. However, if you have upgraded the RAM, turning off the paging file will make your netbook a bit faster. First turn off the paging file in the system. You can disable it in the control panel:

CONTROL PANEL > SYSTEM > SYSTEM >ADVANCED(tab) > PERFORMANCE(SETTINGS) > ADVANCED(tab) > VIRTUAL MEMORY(CHANGE)

Reader Olivia suggests to also turn off the paging file in the registry:

START > RUN > (type) REGEDIT
Follow the directory structure to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\Session Manager\Memory Management\DisablePagingExecutive
Double click DisablePagingExecutive
Set the value to be “1″
Restart your computer

Larry, a MS MCSA commented advising against doing this and explains in detail why.

BAD ADVICE!
There is a great deal of confusion on the internet regarding the pagefile and the “DisablePagingExecutive” registry entry. This article is as confused as any I have seen.

Disabling the pagefile will most certainly NOT prevent paging. It will probably increase it. Paging of program code, DLL’s etc., can not be prevented and does not use the pagefile. There is no need to copy this code to the pagefile as it can simply be reloaded from the original files. Disabling the pagefile only prevents paging of modified data. This unbalances the memory management system and will probably impair performance. In some cases this impairment can be severe.

The “DisablePagingExecutive” registry entry actually has nothing to do with the pagefile. This setting only effects paging of a small portion of the Kernel and this does not use the pagefile. By default Windows will keep frequently accessed portions of the kernel in RAM whenever possible. Only in the event of heavy memory load would it be paged out. Enabling the setting will force portions of the Kernel to remain in RAM at all times, even if they are rarely used. It is generally best to allow Windows to page as necessary and not impose arbitrary restrictions.

I would strongly urge all who read this not to make any changes in system settings unless you understand what they do. Doing this can cause serious problems as well as impairing performance. The internet is notorious for spreading misinformation. The descriptions of these settings is rarely adequate and is often wrong.

Unless you really understand a system setting and have a specific reason to change it - LEAVE IT ALONE.

Larry Miller
Microsoft MCSA

Thanks Larry for taking the time to write and explain.

I’ve been carrying my netbook around with me a lot and decided to get a case for it. I didn’t want to get anything that was too big and take away from the sleekness of the device so I went with a tight-fitting neoprene case. It makes it a little less slippery so I’m not as afraid it will slip out of my hand, and in the frightening even that it does, will add at least a little bit of cushion to the fall. Having the case on it also allows me to put it in the trunk of my car without worrying about it getting scratched up.

The case was only about $10 shipped and there’s lots of them available in multiple colors on ebay. The one I got is also reversible so it’s red on one side and inside-out it’s all black.

The SSD HD that comes in the Linux version of the Acer Aspire One has very fast read times, but very slow write times and because of this, some adjustments need to be made to speed up the system under Windows XP. All of these tweaks are very easy to make, and make a huge difference in performance. The key is to keep the system accessing the SSD as infrequently as possible.

As mentioned in a previous post, make sure you formatted the HD with the FAT32 file system and not NTFS. NTFS will be painfully slow on the SSD.

BIOS

The first thing you can do to speed up the system is to disable the “D2D recovery” system in the BIOS (Press F2 at startup to access the BIOS). This feature keeps an extra partition for recovery and takes up drive space and usage. Simply disable it, save and exit to boot back into Windows.

Turn off Paging File

If you’ve upgraded your memory (see below post) to the maximum 1.5GB, then you can turn off the paging file, which will greatly reduce startup time and speed up general usage. I do not recommend doing this though if you have less than 1GB of RAM. To disable the paging file, go to System Properties > Settings (under performance), select the “advanced” tab, then click the Change (under virtual memory) button. Click on the “No paging file” radio button and then click “set” and “apply”. You will have to restart your machine for the changes to take effect.

Turn off visual effects

Windows XP is pretty, but a lot of the shadowing and fading in and out that the system uses takes up a good deal of memory and resources. Turning off all or most of these effects will speed up the system. To adjust the effects, go to System Properties > Settings (under performance) and select the “Adjust for best performance” radio button. This will untick all of the visual effects. Personally, I like the blue bar at the bottom with the green start button, so I indulged and instead selected “custom” and ticked the last box, “Use visual styles on windows and buttons.”

Turn off Unnecessary Programs and Services

A lot of programs like to startup as soon as Windows loads so that they can be accessed more quickly. The problem is that these background programs are taking up memory and other resources, and unless you use these programs often, are usually best turned off to boost overall performance. Check the “Startup” folder in your programs list to make sure that nothing is loading that you don’t need started when Windows starts.

Similarly, you can turn off services that you don’t need. To access the services menu, go to Start > Run and type in “services.msc”. To disable a service, double click the service, and change the drop down menu under “startup type” to “disable.”

Here is a list of services that I’ve disabled on my Acer Aspire One that has increased the speed and doesn’t seem necessary in my instance of Windows:

Alerter
Background Intelligent Transfer Service
Clipbook
Computer Browser
Error Reporting Service
Help and Support
Human Interface Device Access
Indexing Service
IPSEC Services
Messenger
Network DDE
Network DDE DSDM
Performance Logs and Alerts
Portable Media Serial Number Service
Qos RSVP
Remote Desktop Help Session Manager
Routing and Remote Access
Secondary Logon
TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper
Uninterruptible Power Supply
WebClient
Windows Time
WMI Performance Adapter

All of these services have a detailed description in the window so you can choose to disable more, or less services depending on how you use your machine. If you happen to disable a service that a program needs, it will just fail to load and usually mention that it needs a particular service that you can just re-enable in the services program.

With all of these tweaks, my cold-start time to ready-to-use time went from 65 seconds to 35 seconds which I’m more than happy with. General usage is also noticably improved and makes this a very nice Windows XP machine even with the slower SSD.

My Acer Aspire One A1101 only came with 512k of RAM and while that’s probably ample for the installed version of Linux, it’s not enough for my Windows XP installation. The good news is that there’s an extra socket for a 200pin SODIMM in the Aspire One. The bad news is that you need to take most of the computer apart to access it.

As long as you’re somewhat inclined with electronics, this install isn’t too hard, but be forewarned that it will invalidate your warranty, and while I haven’t heard of anyone having problems, could mess up your computer. In total the install took me about 20 minutes and I was moving slowly and carefully. I also followed these instructions on where all of the screws are located, and how to disassemble the system:

You’ll need a couple of very small flathead screwdrivers for prying and a small and a very small phillips screwdriver (there’s one silver screw that’s smaller than the rest under the keyboard). I ended up dremeling a screwdriver to make it smaller and fit this one particular screw. Make sure you’re doing this work on a non-carpeted floor to prevent static.

The only portion that I found difficult at all was removing the keyboard. As noted in the above video, there are three tabs that need to be pushed back, while prying the keyboard up at the same time. I used two small flat head screwdrivers, one to push in the tab and the other to gently pry. Just go slowly and be carefully and everything should come out and go back together smoothly.

The 1GB SODIMM can be found for less than $20 online. You will need a DDR PC2 4200 533MHZ SODIMM (if you get something faster it should just run it at 533MHZ). I found a Kingston one from an ebay seller for $14.50 shipped so shop around for a good deal. After the RAM is installed and the computer is put back together, check the BIOS (press F2 at startup) to make sure that the computer sees the new memory.

I picked up (actually I received it as an early Christmas present from my mother after sending her the link in my Christmas list) the Acer Aspire One A1101 (in white) from Newegg, where they had it on sale for $249 + free shipping during the Black Friday sales that were going on. This model came with Linux Linpus and the 8GB SSD HD.

While I know there’s a lot of people that think Linux is just swell, I’m just so much more familiar with Windows, the software and the environment, so the first install for this machine was to toss out the original OS and install Windows XP.

The first hurdle obviously in installing a new OS on the AAO is that it has no optical drive. This requires that you create a bootable USB memory stick with the installation files to complete the install. Any USB thumb drive should work, I used a Kingston Datatraveler 1GB for my install.

To create the bootable USB thumb drive, you’ll need the USB Multiboot Tool, available here:

http://www.boot-land.net/forums/?showtopic=4900

Update
You can get download the multiboot tool directly from either here or here or here.

The Multiboot Tool is a batch file that will take you step-by-step on creating the bootable partition and then copying over the Windows files from your CD. You may also want to check out the N-Lite application to create a stream-lined version of windows that will be smaller and a bit faster on your AAO. N-Lite is a free application.

Once your USB thumb drive is ready to go, change the boot order in the bios (Press F2 on startup and move the USB port to the first bootable position), and then install Windows normally. Make sure not to remove the USB drive until the installation is complete (this will be after about 3 restarts).

*Note: During the Windows install, make sure that when you delete both existing partitions that come on the SSD HD and create a new single partition formatted in the FAT32 format and *NOT* NTFS. NTFS will be very slow on the SSD. I will post tips about speeding up Windows on the AAO in another post, however, it’s important that you format the drive in FAT2 during the installation.

I followed this youtube video and found it very helpful during the installation:

Once Windows has finished loading for the final time, you can remove the USB stick, and on your next restart can change the boot order so that the SSD HD comes first. You may want to keep the Windows copy on your thumb drive so that you can use it if you ever need to recover or repair your copy of Windows.

I finally joined the netbook revolution and picked up an Acer Aspire One A1101 netbook. This is what a laptop should have always been. My current laptops are huge and hardly portable, this Aspire One can be taken anywhere, is fully functional and is a wonderful machine. This blog will be dedicated to the upgrades, hacks and different installs that I do to my machine and news and reviews of similar devices. I’m currently running Windows XP on the A1101 (the SSD version) almost flawlessly. I’m really interested in this netbook/laptop and look forward to posting articles related to this little machine. Enjoy!