Why are Metro apps in Windows 8/RT so Slow? Take Forever to Open

[coip]

I have both a Surface RT and two Windows 8 Pro PCs (an all-in-one, new), and a laptop (upgraded from Windows 7). I had the Surface RT first and while I love it, I was always a tad frustrated with how long it took to open up Metro apps. Click on the Games tile, or Twitter, or Skype, or Halo and it would take anywhere from 10-30 seconds to fully load up. I thought this was just a problem with the Surface RT's ARM processor. But after playing around with the Windows 8 Pro PCs, I must say that I'm equally disappointed. Many of those apps take 8-16 seconds to fully load up. If I open up the official Twitter Metro app, it usually takes 10 seconds. If I open up twitter.com in IE in the desktop, it opens up in 1.5 seconds. It's not my Internet connection, a solid DSL connection which is more than adequate. It's got to be the programming of the OS itself, or the programming of the third-party software makers making these apps (Although, even then, Microsoft's native apps like Games and Skype are also slow, so, go figure). I basically spend 98% of my time now on my PCs in dual-monitor desktop mode because the Metro interface is so much slower. What's the deal?

 

[CopaCC]

I noticed that too. I have a five year old P4 3.2 gHz. The Metro stuff takes a while to load, but the desktop stuff seems noticeably faster than Win 7.

 

[Jazmac]

Not slow on my Surface RT, my desktop, laptop or my wife's all in one for that matter. Not sure why it takes forever on your rig but I'd start with your DSL connect.

 

[iampwd]

Opening some/most apps on RT is very slow. Seems even worse after 8.1 update. On my desktop it's fast enough most of the time but that's on i7 with ssd.

 

[mase123987]

I'm not sure if they are really slow on a desktop, or if the illusion of slowness is created by the entire screen being one color in a lot of cases. That said, first-gen RT devices really needed faster hardware and a more optimized OS.

 

[spaulagain]

I've noticed this issue not only on my RT, but on my Desktop. These apps are simple yet they take as long to open as Illustrator or VisualStudio on my desktop. Its really bad. I love Windows 8, but this is a serious issue that seems to plague the OS even after 8.1 update.

 

[michail71]

Actually I can launch visual studio 2012 quicker than I can launch most metro apps. Never really thought about it until now.

 

[coip]

Not slow on my Surface RT, my desktop, laptop or my wife's all in one for that matter. Not sure why it takes forever on your rig but I'd start with your DSL connect.

It's not my Internet connection. I get 15Mbps in a dedicated DSL line. That is more than enough to open Twitter or Skype. And, as I said, I have no problems in desktop mode, which is blazing fast.

I'm not sure if they are really slow on a desktop, or if the illusion of slowness is created by the entire screen being one color in a lot of cases. That said, first-gen RT devices really needed faster hardware and a more optimized OS.

It's not an illusion: these apps take a long time to open. I time it from the second I click on them till the second they become functional (i.e., everything is loaded up and I can move around and do things). Metro apps are much slower than their equivalent desktop apps. I was accepting of it on RT because it's on an ARM, but this should not be the case for Windows 8 proper.

If opening up the Music app in Metro takes 16 seconds (on average) and opening up Windows Media Player in Desktop takes 7 seconds (on average) that sure isn't making me want to use the former.

 

[crash1989]

Disagree - My PC Core i7 2nd Gen, Studio Xps 1645, 4GB Ram , 2 GB graphics etc etc .. apps open instantly (depends on internet connectivity for some apps)

Multiple amateur videos to prove that it is not slow ..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_N7arLk_OUU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zF9LX0bR_fM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Tlf3ecLThA (0.45 secs)

I'd say it is not bad at all.

 

[crash1989]

ooh .. I found this article too TinkerTry IT @ home | Slow Windows 8 Modern UI app startup times resolved!

 

[michail71]

ooh .. I found this article too TinkerTry IT @ home | Slow Windows 8 Modern UI app startup times resolved!

It worked! Wow, it is fast now.

From above article:

Yep, it’s that simple, just turn off Accelerated Graphics in IE 10 settings. Yep, strange. But this workaround works!

 

[spaulagain]

Man, I can't wait to go home and try this. I hope it fixes it!!

 

[michail71]

Man, I can't wait to go home and try this. I hope it fixes it!!

I was skeptical but it was orders of magnitude better. Everything just pops open instantly. I use Chrome for my browser so hopefully this setting will have no other impact.

 

[spaulagain]

I was skeptical but it was orders of magnitude better. Everything just pops open instantly. I use Chrome for my browser so hopefully this setting will have no other impact.

Ya, I'm amazed at the difference. My desktop machine launches them much faster, like probably a third the time or less. And some of the delay is my ****ty internet, but the app itself loads fast.

My Surface RT is about half the time now. Still a little slow IMO, but that's the slow hardware I think. It was taking 10-13 seconds to launch most apps, now its 3-5 seconds. Much better.

 

[crash1989]

of course it does ... sigh ...

 

[crash1989]

I am not too sure but I think software rendering consumes a bit more power and battery. So be aware of that, but it does help load times.

 

[spaulagain]

I am not too sure but I think software rendering consumes a bit more power and battery. So be aware of that, but it does help load times.

Ya, that's fine. The load times the other way made the apps practically unusable. There has to be a fix Microsoft could release. But I have 8.1 RTM on my desktop, so they certainly didn't fix it in that release.

 

[coip]

It worked! Wow, it is fast now.

From above article:

Well, I'm glad it seemed to work for everyone else here, but it didn't work for me. If anything, it exacerbated the problem. I also ran App Troubleshooter, but that didn't do anything either.

 

[iampwd]

How is IE performance on Surface RT after doing this? Not at home to try right now.

Edit: Tried it now and the weather app opened 5s faster with software rendering! But the tablet became slower in other operations so I changed it back and now it's fast again and you know what, apps still opens fast!!! Great find! Hopefully it will stay this way now.

 

[raj1vrag]

I am on the same boat. This change did not help!