Driver Performance: Best Practices

High quality implies good performance. A driver that runs slowly or slows the entire system cannot be considered high quality.

Creating drivers for Microsoft Windows that perform well requires effort throughout design and development, not merely a "tuning" step after code is complete. Some performance guidelines apply to drivers for all types of devices. However, because device requirements vary widely, many performance enhancement techniques are device-type specific.

Performance Tips
White PaperAnalyze Driver Performance
White PaperSix Tips for Efficient Memory Use

General Performance Testing
ToolsKrView - the Kernrate Viewer
Microsoft.comWindows Reliability and Performance Monitor

Network Driver Performance
White PaperHigh Performance Network Adapters and Drivers
White PaperQoS: Assigning Priority in IEEE 802-style Networks
Microsoft Powerpoint (.ppt)Network Driver Performance [250 KB]

See Also
White PaperAudio Device Performance and Windows XP: Best Practices for Drivers
White PaperDisk Subsystem Performance Analysis for Windows
WHDC Portal/NodalArchived White Papers
WHDC Portal/NodalSystem Performance


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