On Windows 7 we had a lot of third-part softwares such as Soluto and Passmark, and even Microsoft solutions, such as xperf(Windows Performance Toolkit). Windows 8 changed a lot of functions(boot for example), and even getting better performace, we still want to measure it to know if things are really doing good.
So, how can I measure the performance of a computer that is running Windows 8?
We probably keep running third-part softwares to measure Windows 8 performance(probably Soluto and Passmark will support Windows 8 as well Windows 7). But on Microsoft solution case, there is a new performance measurement platform, where you can run assessments and test a lot of performance metrics and even funcional and reliability functions(this tool also gives you suggestions about how to solve performance problems). It is called Windows ADK(Assessment and Deployment Kit)(PS: It is public, free and it is already released):
The Windows® Assessment and Deployment Kit (Windows ADK) is a collection of tools that you can use to customize, assess, and deploy Windows operating systems to new computers.
Windows Deployment is for OEMs and IT professionals who customize and automate the large-scale installation of Windows, such as on a factory floor or across an organization. The Windows ADK supports this work with the deployment tools that were previously released as part of the OEM Preinstallation Kit (OPK) and the Windows Automated Installation Kit (AIK).
Assessments are for OEMs, IHVs, and IT professionals who measure the operational characteristics of a computer, including its performance, reliability, and functionality. Windows assessments are tools that help you make these measurements, diagnose problems, and determine how to make improvements. Windows assessments can help reduce costs by identifying potential issues as you create your hardware and software experiences. By using these tools, you can help ensure that the hardware and software that you develop are responsive and high-quality.
Tools available in the Windows ADK include:
- Application Compatibility Toolkit (ACT)
- Deployment Tools
- Windows Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE)
- User State Migration Tool (USMT)
- Volume Activation Management Tool (VAMT)
- Windows Performance Toolkit (WPT)
- Windows Assessment Toolkit
- Windows Assessment Services
Assessments are a new set of tools that measure the quality of a computer, including overall performance, energy efficiency, and battery consumption. The results of these assessments are used to diagnose potential problems, ensuring that the hardware, application software, and drivers that you develop are responsive and have a minimal impact to battery life, startup performance, and shutdown time. In addition to the Assessment Toolkit, the Windows Performance Toolkit lets you track detailed system information and resource usage. This tool displays real-time data and diagnostics quickly and easily, ensuring that you have a complete view of the system to help you tune performance.
Windows deployment is intended for OEMs and IT professionals who want to customize and automate the installation of Windows in their factories or organizations. In addition to new tools, the Windows ADK includes the deployment tools that were previously released as part of the Windows OEM Preinstallation Kit and the Windows Automated Installation Kit.
- Run ADK Setup from this Microsoft website.
- Select Install the Assessment and Deployment Kit to this computer.
- In the Install Path box, specify the location where you want to install the Windows ADKfeatures, and then click Next.
- If prompted, select whether you want to participate in the Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP), and then click Next.
- To continue with Windows ADK Setup, you must accept the terms of the license agreement. To accept the terms of the license agreement, click Accept.
- Select the Windows ADK features that you want to install, and then click Install.
With ADK you will be able to run the following assessments:
Boot Performance (Full Boot): Describes the system requirements, assessment settings, and results that are associated with this assessment. This assessment provides metrics like overall shutdown and boot times. You can use it to compare the performance of the full reboot scenario (the traditional Windows 7 boot scenario) to the performance of the default shutdown and boot behaviors in Windows 8.
Driver Certification Pre-validation: Describes the system requirements, assessment settings, results, and issues that are associated with this assessment. This assessment verifies that the drivers on a running Windows operating system qualify for the Windows® Certification Program.
Driver Verification: Describes the system requirements, assessment settings, results, and issues that are associated with this assessment. This assessment verifies that an offline Windows image or a running Windows operating system contains the correct set of drivers.
Energy Efficiency: Describes the system requirements, job settings, results, and issues that are associated with an Energy Efficiency job. An Energy Efficiency job assesses the battery life and energy efficiency of a portable computer.
File Handling: Describes the system requirements, assessment settings, workloads, and results that are associated with this assessment. This assessment simulates file operations like copying, moving, compressing, uncompressing, and deleting files. It also measures duration and throughput to help you evaluate the computer's performance.
First Boot Performance: Describes the system requirements, assessment settings, results, and issues that are associated with this assessment. This assessment identifies issues that affect the time that Windows takes to boot the computer and display the Start screen the first time that the end user starts the computer.
Internet Explorer Startup Performance: Describes the system requirements, assessment settings, results, and issues that are associated with this assessment. This assessment measures the time to fully render a blank page in Windows Internet Explorer®. This measurement includes the load time of the IExplore.exe process and the frame-creation and tab-creation intervals. It also measures the effect of all extensions, add-ins, and toolbars that are installed on the system. It doesn't measure any network or browsing performance.
Internet Explorer Browsing Performance: Describes the system requirements, workloads, assessment settings, results, and issues that are associated with this assessment. This assessment evaluates the browsing experience in Internet Explorer and the capabilities of the CPU and graphics hardware to identify performance issues.
Media Transcoding Performance: Describes the system requirements, assessment settings, results, and issues that are associated with this assessment. This assessment measures the transcode duration and relative speed of changing a video file to a different format or bit rate.
Memory Footprint: Describes the system requirements, assessment settings, and results that are associated with this assessment. This assessment creates a snapshot of memory use during a series of system boots. It then helps you identify ways to improve performance and efficiency by optimizing memory use. You can also use this assessment to compare a baseline operating system image against an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) image.
Minifilter Diagnostics: Describes the Minifilter diagnostic setting that's available in several assessments. You can use the Minifilter diagnostic setting to measure the time that the computer spends in minifilter operations and identify minifilter drivers that are inefficient, using too much memory, or not working.
On/Off Transition Performance: Describes the system requirements, assessment settings, results, and issues that are associated with the Boot Performance (Fast Startup), Hibernate Performance, and Standby Performance assessments. These assessments measures the transition from various computer states.
Photo Handling: Describes the system requirements, assessment settings, results, and issues that are associated with this assessment. This assessment simulates viewing and manipulating photos, and it measures responsiveness to help you evaluate the computer's performance.
Streaming Media Performance: Describes the system requirements, assessment settings, results, and issues that are associated with this assessment. This assessment streams media in Internet Explorer by using video content that ranges from low resolution to high resolution. It then evaluates video playback quality based on the number of glitches that it detects.
Windows UI Performance: Describes the system requirements, workloads, assessment settings, results, and issues that are associated with this assessment. This assessment measures responsiveness and rendering quality while exercising workloads that simulate user activities with Windows® Runtime-based apps. These activities include using search and transitioning from the Start Screen to the desktop.
Windows Media Player Performance and Quality: Evaluates the performance and quality of Windows Media® Player playback and is used in a set of multimedia battery-life assessments.
WinSAT Comprehensive: Describes the system requirements, assessment settings, and results that are associated with this assessment. This assessment rates a computer's performance in several system components, like CPU, memory, disk, and graphics. Windows System Assessment (WinSAT) results express the capability of a computer's hardware configuration in numbers by using the Windows Experience Index scale of 1.0 to 9.9.
Common In-Depth Analysis Issues: Describes common in-depth analysis issues that you can view in the Windows Assessment Console and further analyze in Windows® Performance Analyzer (WPA).
Troubleshooting Assessments: Describes common problems that cause assessments to fail.
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