I’ve just spent a very productive three hours with Ian Emmett, an R2H owner from Cologne. The aim was to optimise the R2H and I think we can safely say that we’ve done a good bit of work. The R2H we had at the end of the session was a lot more desirable than the one we started with. I really like it. If it came with a docking station, my i7210 would be on E-Bay tomorrow.
You might recall that when I saw the R2H for the first time, it was running 70 processes and using over 500MB of the 768MB memory leaving very little for the user. After our optimisations, we’ve managed to recover 200MB of memory and reduce the process count by around 25 processes which has had a really positive affect on the performance and boot-up time.
Slaving over hot UMPCS.
So what did we do? Well we went through the list of startup processes via a tool in Spybot and then we went through the services list and the installed software to see if there was any more fat we could remove. We used the i7210 (which is a very clean machine out-of-the box) as a comparison along the way. Here are a few notes which I hope can help all ultra mobile PC owners.
Startup processes – Cut the crap.
Using the start process manager within Spybot we disabled most of the crap. This cleaned up a lot of background tasks and freed up a huge chunk of memory. Note that this doesn’t remove the programs, it just stops them from starting up at boot/login time.
What we disabled:
- Live update
- QuickTime
- ASUS Power DVD
- Sun Java update applet
- Tablet Wizard
- MSN messenger auto startup
- Skype
- Dial Keys
- Intervideo Scheduler
- Multiframe
Process list – It hurts.
We then went through the process list and compared it to the i7210. Here are the extra processes we found. (I’m writing these down from the notes Ian wrote. There could be some spelling errors as I translate his engineers writing style!)
- ACEngsvr
- acmon
- acovcnt
- asghost
- atkosd
- batterylife
- dllhost
- dmedia
- Framework services
- GPSwatch
- Hcontrol
- IMCsvr
- naprdmgr
- settingpage
- syntpenh
- tosa2dp
- tosbthid
- tosbthsp
- tosbtmng
- tvtvengacq
- vstskmgr
- wcourier
- wdfmgr
That’s a huge list of extra processes.
Process optimisation – Be careful!
In order to improve the list we did the following:
- Disabled the IPSec and Fast user switching services from windows. You may want to leave this running. It depends on your usage model.
- Removed all anti-virus software. (We want to try out Windows Live One Care to see if it has a better footprint than some of the other AV programs.)
- Removed the Bluetooth software (This has disabled the BT. We still have to reload the BT driver from somewhere but we’re hoping that we can just install the driver and use the Windows BT stack to re-enable the BT.)
- Removed ASUSTek Mobile theatre. Its a ‘program launcher’ type overlay package that is nice but not necessary. Could be useful in a car so you’ll have to decide yourself if you need this. Remove this through the windows add remove programs window.
- Disabled GPSwatch from the startup processes (using Spybot again.) This means that you have to manually enable and disable the GPS through the program launcher ‘gps’ program section. There is a program called ‘c:\tools\swtich.exe’ that is used.
- Removed the DVD player software. (I didn’t write down what if was called I’m afraid and Ian and the R2H have gone home.)
- Disabled Notebook Hardware Control auto-startup option. You can probably remove this software (if you have it) on the R2H as the built in ACPI control software seems to do a good job.
What we have found is that the security software on the ASUS uses a lot of processes. We were reluctant to remove this because its a real value-add to have a single sign-in capability.
There were a few other pieces of software that we removed but unfortunately I didn’t write them down. [IAN: Maybe you can remember and make a comment here?]
Ian is a really fast worker!
At the end of the day, we were eating Pizza over an ASUS R2H running only 43 processes and having over 450MB of memory free. Nearly double the memory that we started with after only 3 hours work. I’m sure that this could be improved further, after all, the i7210 in front of me runs only 30 processes after login.
If you have any more R2H optimisations tips, please let me know and we’ll put them all together in an R2H tips page.
One other thing that we tested was the battery drain. With the Wifi and BT off and the screen set to something like 30%, we were seeing 10W drain. That’s almost exactly the same as the i7210 and the v7110. This gives about 2hrs real-world usage. Adding Wifi on top of that is going to drop your battery life down to 1:40 or less but (and here’s a big tip) browsing using a 3G data connection via Bluetooth consumes about 2W less than via WiFi and gives you around 20% more battery life (assuming your mobile phone is charged!.) Around here where T-Mobile own all the hotspots its arguably cheaper and more secure too. I also find that its quicker to set up via my mobile phone than via a hotspot. (I use Nokia PC Suit with one-touch Internet access through my Nokia 6280 3G phone.)
A big thanks to Ian for bringing the ASUS R2H over.
Regards
Steve / Chippy
After removing the Asus Security software I now have R2H down to 40 processes
however I will re-install this package.
The other software we took off was the Asus Info Pen.
I still think there are many processes we can take off,
so I need a copy of the comparison list we made against the i7210.
cheers
Ian
The process list is in the article. These are the processes that were running on the R2H but not on the i7210.
Let me know if you find anything new.
Steve.
I’ve deleted and disabled many things on my new R2H, and it’s now unstable (won’t connect to a wired network, etc.).
I’m thinking that I will scrub the hard drive to get rid of everything, then reinstall Windows and see how it behaves (speed & stability). From there I may selectively install some of the ASUS utilities.
Two questions, anyone…
1. Any comments or warnings?
2. How do I get it to boot from a CD (I have an attached & functioning CD drive, but I don’t know how to get into the R2H bios)?
oops!
But re-installing could be a good move.
To get to the bios, attach a keyboard and del (i think) will interrupt the boot process and put you into bios.
Be carefull!
Steve
You gotta press F9 not DEL.
Better saying: F9 – Recover OS ; F2 – BIOS
My R2H is bogged down. I didn’t have naprdmgr (cuz I don’t have McAfee) Sun Java applet or QuickTime. I’ve trimmed the fat, but not enough, apparently, because Firefox is still consuming all my CPU. I know I have leaky extensions, but they weren’t this bad on my tablet. Ah, well, time to resume the fight.
Any luck finding a different Bluetooth driver other than the Toshiba stack it comes with? I’d love to get rid of the Toshiba stack, which is bulky, slow and pointlessly overloaded with services, but while the Bluetooth inside is definitely a CSR chip connected over USB, I don’t think there’s any drivers to support it directly around, even though I’m willing to bet you can solve this with just an .inf file.
Here’s the list of the various process I still have running on my Asus R2H after “trimming down the fat” with the help of your precious blog entry. It still needs a lot of work, but it’s become less bloated now and the R2H is becoming almost usable (i.e. when plugged to the AC adapter, with the CPU running at full speed, things are OK. When reducing CPU speed to save battery life, things degrade noticeably.)
C:\WINDOWS\System32\acovcnt.exe
C:\Program Files\Toshiba\Bluetooth Toshiba Stack\TosBtHSP.exe
C:\Program Files\Toshiba\Bluetooth Toshiba Stack\TosBtHid.exe
C:\Program Files\Toshiba\Bluetooth Toshiba Stack\TosA2dp.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\ACEngSvr.exe
C:\WINDOWS\ATK0100\ATKOSD.EXE
C:\Progam Files\Microsoft Touch Pack\DialKeys\DialKeys.exe
C:\Program Files\Toshiba\Bluetooth Toshiba Stack\TosBtMng.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\IGFXEXT.EXE
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Ink\TabTip.exe
C:\Program Files\ASUS\ATK Media\GPSWatch.exe
C:\Program Files\ASUS\ATK Media\DMedia.exe
C:\Program Files\ASUS\Power4Gear\BatteryLife.exe
C:\Program Files\ASUS\WLAN Card Utilities\Center.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\IGFXSRVC.EXE
C:\Program Files\Wireless Console 2\WCOURIER.EXE
C:\Program Files\AsusTek\IMCSvr\IMCSvr.exe
C:\Program Files\ASUS\Asus Setting Center\SettingPage.exe
C:\Program Files\ASUS\Splendid\ACMON.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\System32\IGFXPERS.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\System32\HKCMD.EXE
C:\Windows\ATK0100\HControl.exe
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Ink\TCServer.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\CTFMON.EXE
C:\Program Files\ASUS Security Center\ASUS Security Protect Manager\Bin\ASGHOST.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\EXPLORER.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\System32\WDFMGR.EXE
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Ulead Systems\DVD\ULCDRSvr.exe
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\CCPD-LC\SYMLCSVC.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\System32\SVCHOST.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\System32\WISPTIS.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\System32\SPOOLSV.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\System32\DLLHOST.EXE
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Ink\KeyboardSurrogate.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\SVCHOST.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\System32\SVCHOST.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\System32\SVCHOST.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\System32\SVCHOST.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\System32\SVCHOST.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\System32\SVCHOST.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\System32\LSASS.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\System32\SERVICES.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\System32\WINLOGON.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\System32\CSRSS.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\System32\SMSS.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\System32\ALG.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\System32\SCARDSVR.EXE
Removing the (memory-hungry) IMCSvr.exe process doesn’t seem to have any noticeable side effect yet…
Removing the ACMon.exe process prevents you from switching between the various color modes using the built-in resolution/color switching tool with the bottom right button of the R2H.
There’s another thread dealing with R2H startup items here:
http://www.gottabemobile.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1265&PID=9049
I’m currently trying to use a RAMDisk (I’m evaluating Cenatek’s one) to see if it improves the R2H usability. So far, after preventing a couple of processes to start at boot and using the RAMdisk for the temporary folders in Windows/IE/Firefox, the R2H is quite useable. :-)
I just recieved my ASUS R2H and already I’m ready to toss it out the window. It’s running the Windows XP Tablet PC. No Vista for me thank you. I am not a computer techie/geek (hats off to those of you that are) and don’t know the first thing about computers other than turn them on, point and click, or drag & drop. I’ve read numerous reviews from various sites for the ASUS R2H and finally on this site I find tips on removing the software/bloatware to make the performance of the R2H better. Even by name. Only problem, the list is very overwhelming and I’m not sure what I’m actually reading. My question is…is there someone/somewhere to go who can actually walk me through it step by step or should I take it to FRY’s or Best Buy and have them do it? Not that I really want to spend the extra money after just buying this thing. What programs/software should I add to improve the performance? Please help – LS
hello LS,
No master ever dropped from the sky, so my best tip is to read through this page:
http://www.theeldergeek.com/
It helped me and in a way that I now run the RH2 with 22 processes, still ebing stable. The page explains but you need about a week to read throug all of it.
Have fun, it is worth it
arnego2
I tested this camera for a client. I didn’t have the light running for more than 15 minutes. The battery lasted approximately 6 hours before recharging. The LCD, however, had a few dead pixels – never saw this before. Tried returning for exchange and had to put up quite a fight. Anyone else seen this? laptop battery
Verizon is about the only place you can get the authentic RIM product and matching door. Most other sites are out of stock and even when they are in stock they have the black battery door which looks like crap. new battery
:)
Hi, thanks for the kind words, and yes, feel free to post this on your blog. It’s always nice to get conversation and links from others interested in the same things.Very special!