14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft is offering a way for users of Yahoo Messenger for Windows Vista to enjoy a consistent boost in performance of the instant messaging client. After it was announced at the 2007 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas the last year, Yahoo Messenger for Vista took approximately a whole year to come out as a public beta. Back in December 2007, Yahoo delivered the first taste of Yahoo Messenger for Vista, with versions for both the 32-bit and 64-bit flavors of the latest Windows client. Once the 2008 International CES was out of the way, an update was introduced to the preview version of the IM client this January.
In the case of Yahoo Messenger for Vista, the Preview and Beta labels associated with the product are illustrative of an application in its early stages of development, with the inherent caveats. One of the major downsides of Yahoo Messenger for Vista even at one year since it was announced is related to poor performance. Well, in this respect, it's not entirely the fault of the instant messaging client. Yahoo messenger for Vista is built to leverage the power of Windows Presentation Foundation. But at the same time, this detail contributed to slowing down the performance of the application.
At the beginning of the past week, Microsoft made available Update for Windows Vista (KB938660) for both the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the operating system. "Layered Window performance was one of the top customer complaints that got fixed in WPF in .Net 3.5 / 3.0 SP1," revealed a Product Manager for WPF Performance. "A QFE/Hotifx that improved Vista Layered Windows performance (up to 4x, depending on the machine characteristics, such as the video bus speed, the video bus type, etc) was available since July, 2007. However, since users had to call Microsoft PSS to obtain the hotfix, it was difficult for end-users to install. Starting 1/22/2008, this hotfix is now available for direct end-user download from Microsoft Download Center."
The update was made available for download, even though it will soon be included in Windows Vista Service Pack 1. Sarah Bacon, Yahoo Messenger for Vista Product Manager, explained that the update would also manage to improve the performance delivered by the IM client built to tap Windows Presentation Foundation.
"In the case of Yahoo! Messenger for Vista, this Hotfix improves the response times when you're doing things like opening menus that overlay the main interface (like the options menu or skin chooser). This Hotfix can improve Vista Layered Windows performance up to 4x," Bacon said. "If you are already running Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Beta, this Hotfix is included and there is no need to download it again. If you prefer not to install individual hotfixes, the Layered Windows Hotfix will be included when the final SP1 release of Windows Vista is available."