Help with solving Windows 11 save lag - SCITe and AutoIT

[g0gcd]

Hi,

Just been 'encouraged' to change to Windows 11. All seems well except for lags when saving scripts that I've been editing in SCITe and when running them under SCITe.

I'm using AutoIT v3.3.18.0. My main project is about 20k lines long and has about 30 or so include files, but I wouldn't have called it a large file. After editing the core script (~1.1kb), I press save and there's no reaction from SCITe for 5 seconds, then the save goes through. As the script is saved before running, the same delay occurs when pressing F5 to run the script.

Having observed this on my main development bed, I checked on another Windows 11 machine and see the same effect, I just hadn't noticed it before.

I've done all of the Google tips - updated drivers, checked system files, minimised running processes, freed hard disk space, etc, etc. 

Before going back to my trusted (and perfectly adequate) Windows 10 environment, I'd like to hear if anyone else has had the same issue and has found a solution. It's sufficiently annoying for me to seriously consider remaining with an outdated OS for development but I am willing to accept that it's an issue with my specific machine and installation.

Thanks

John

[paw]

I'm not using Windows 11 but I heard that microsoft forces files into OneDrive and uploads them to their servers by default. Check if it's doing that in storage settings and make sure all your files are actually stored on your PC and not OneDrive. After that I'd uninstall OneDrive just to be sure.

[WildByDesign]

Just a couple of initial thoughts:

Are you running SciTE 32-bit binary or 64-bit binary?

Have you tried temporarily disabling Windows Defender real-time protection?

This is not something that you should have to do, but I am only curious to see if somehow Defender is slowing down the process of saving your script. So if you could temporarily turn off the real-time protection of Defender in the Windows Security app, you can at least rule this possibility out. Turn the protection back on after, of course. And if it does end up being Defender getting in the way, there are ways to exclude certain directories and/or processes from the real-time scanning.

[g0gcd]

Thanks for the ideas.

Going back to Win10 proved to be a disaster. Fortunately I had made a system backup of this Windows11 installation and was able to recover. So it looks like I'm going to have to find/fix the issue or learn to live with it.

OneDrive. That went as soon as WIndows 11 was installed. I'm not a cloud based guy (they said at work that Amazon AWS would never go down. Well who had the last laugh?) My files are local and I've just rechecked to make sure that no sneaky update process has switched OneDrive back on again. Was a good idea but I don't think that it's that.

SciTE. I'm running the 32 bit binary for maximum compatibility. However, it's another good idea and I'll try installing the 64bit AutoIT package tomorrow to rule that in or out.

AV. I've just disabled Windows Defender whilst testing the save and that's made no difference. To test, I add a space into the line and take it out. SciTE puts the asterisk next to the file name and then I click the save button. Nothing for 5 seconds, then 'not responding' appears in the title bar for 2 seconds, then the title back goes back to normal - file saved. Whilst in the AV I noticed an 'asynchronous scanning on Dev Drives' setting which seems to be scanning my non-system 'Data' Drives. Turned that off and on with no noticeable effect.

I should have added that the script is saved in a folder on my desktop, which is sitting on a 256GB SSD,  with 100GB free at the moment. I'll also try moving my development folder to a different location to see if that makes any difference.

Good ideas - not seen these on other posts where people have noticed the problem. Thanks

John

 

Edit: Following up on another idea - that unavailable, yet mapped, drives cause save delays - I noticed that my File Explorer had a Phones folder. It was not openable because 'no connection with the server was possible'. With a little hunting, I found that it was trying to connect to my wife's phone (I have no idea why). As I don't use that, either, I've uninstalled the Phone Link app and deleted the folder;  but no change to the issue unfortunately..

Edited Thursday at 07:45 PM by g0gcd
Additional test information

[mLipok]

My first tip:
In the task manager, run the resource monitor, check what files are modified by SciTE and when you save yours Au3 file.

Questions:

1. Which ScTE version you are using ? (default from AutoIt instalation ? full current Jos version ? Beta Jos version ?
2. Are you using BETA version with Dynamic LUA feature ?
3. On what kind of drive all yours au3 files are stored ? HDD, SSD, NVME ?
4. What kind of CPU you have and how much RAM ? (it is important when you migrate from Win10 to Win11)
5. Can you share to us results from "AS SSD Benchmark 2.0"
 

 

Edited Thursday at 09:47 PM by mLipok

[g0gcd]

My first tip:
In the task manager, run the resource monitor, check what files are modified by SciTE and when you save yours Au3 file.
OK. I can't see the Resource Monitor (I remember that from Windows 7) but there's a Performance tab that seems to do a similar thing. At the end of the delay, as SciTE comes back, the CPU jumps from 2% to about 40% then back. No disk activity visible on either physical drive, although AutoIT, SciTE and my source files are all currently on C:. I can't see a tab where I can identify which files are being processed but I'll continue looking.

Questions:
1. Which ScTE version you are using ? (default from AutoIt instalation ? full current Jos version ? Beta Jos version ?
Default from AutoIT v3.3.18.0 installation. Tried installing with both 32bit and 64bit as preferred options. Each time I install, I opt to remove the previous version.
Help/About is showing:
32-bit Version 4.4.6 Mar 16 2021 13:51:55
by Neil Hodgson. Updated by Jos

2. Are you using BETA version with Dynamic LUA feature ?
No

3. On what kind of drive all yours au3 files are stored ? HDD, SSD, NVME ?
C Drive: Micron_1100_MTFDDAV256TBN M.2 SATA III 6GB/s SSD 540/500MB/s Read/Write
D,Z Drives: Model    CT1000BX500SSD1 2.5in SATA III 6GB/s SSD 540/500MB/s Read/Write
AutoIT, SciTE and my source files are all currently on C:.

4. What kind of CPU you have and how much RAM ? (it is important when you migrate from Win10 to Win11)
Processor    Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-8250U CPU @ 1.60GHz, 1800 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 8 Logical Processor(s)
Installed Physical Memory (RAM)    16.0 GB
Total Physical Memory    15.9 GB
Available Physical Memory    10.7 GB
Total Virtual Memory    17.8 GB
Available Virtual Memory    12.8 GB

(I have my page file set at a fixed size of 2GB on Drive C)

5. Can you share to us results from "AS SSD Benchmark 2.0"
C Drive
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<ASSSDBenchmark   XmlFormatVersion="1">
  <Information>
    <Name>Micron_1100_MTFDDAV256TBN</Name>
    <Firmware> M0MA020</Firmware>
    <Controller>iaStorAC</Controller>
    <Size>238.47 GB</Size>
    <DateTime>24/10/2025 14:45:10</DateTime>
    <BenchmarkVersion>2.0.7316.34247</BenchmarkVersion>
    <Mode>MB/s</Mode>
    <Note />
    <Signature />
  </Information>
  <SeqTest>    <Read>492.63 MB/s</Read>    <Write>474.80 MB/s</Write>  </SeqTest>
  <Random4K1TTest>    <Read>20.81 MB/s</Read>    <Write>66.24 MB/s</Write>  </Random4K1TTest>
  <Random4K64TTest>    <Read>234.34 MB/s</Read>    <Write>265.95 MB/s</Write>  </Random4K64TTest>
  <AccTimeTest>    <Read>0.149 ms</Read>    <Write>0.061 ms</Write>  </AccTimeTest>
  <Score>    <Read>304</Read>    <Write>380</Write>    <Total>846</Total>  </Score>
</ASSSDBenchmark>

D Drive for completeness
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<ASSSDBenchmark XmlFormatVersion="1">
  <Information>
    <Name>CT1000BX500SSD1</Name>
    <Firmware>M6CR072</Firmware>
    <Controller>iaStorAC</Controller>
    <Size>931.51 GB</Size>
    <DateTime>24/10/2025 14:52:10</DateTime>
    <BenchmarkVersion>2.0.7316.34247</BenchmarkVersion>
    <Mode>MB/s</Mode>
    <Note />
    <Signature />
  </Information>
  <SeqTest>    <Read>515.45 MB/s</Read>    <Write>413.52 MB/s</Write>  </SeqTest>
  <Random4K1TTest>    <Read>23.62 MB/s</Read>    <Write>58.97 MB/s</Write>  </Random4K1TTest>
  <Random4K64TTest>    <Read>155.49 MB/s</Read>    <Write>218.35 MB/s</Write>  </Random4K64TTest>
  <AccTimeTest>    <Read>0.135 ms</Read>    <Write>0.155 ms</Write>  </AccTimeTest>
  <Score>    <Read>231</Read>    <Write>319</Write>    <Total>671</Total>  </Score>
</ASSSDBenchmark>

I have checked and the 'Windows 11 CFA (protected folder access)' feature under Ransomware is disabled 

Thanks for hand holding me here. I'm sure that the solution is simple. I'm frustrated that this upgrade is eating into my project time!

Best wishes

John

Edited Friday at 02:12 PM by g0gcd
Added SciTE version info

[WildByDesign]

It might be worthwhile to try the SciTE beta 5 binaries:

https://www.autoitscript.com/autoit3/scite/download/beta_SciTE4AutoIt3/
 

There are many improvements there. I switched to that many months ago and haven’t looked back.

Again, make sure you go with 64-bit.

[argumentum]

re-install/update the VCredist x86. Maybe that's all there is to it.

Edited Friday at 02:14 PM by argumentum

[g0gcd]

Hi argumentum,

How does VCredist x86 fit into the picture? Before doing any further updates, I don't want to be changing too many things at once and misleading everyone. I think that mLipok is helping me check that my machine is up to the job at the moment and I'm tempted by WildByDesign's suggestion to try a more recent editor (although I usually steer away from Beta releases). I'd just like to understand what that module does ...

It has occurred to me that I've not been as aware of a save lag on any of the other programs that I use - most of my screen time is AutoIT at the moment. I'll go away and do some tests with a more broad base of files to see if I'm focussed on the wrong target. 

Edit: Saving a 1MB Word 2010 doc and a 600k JPG image, from/to the same folder as my .au3 files, took no time at all.

Thanks for the suggestions all..

John G0GCD

Edited Friday at 02:47 PM by g0gcd
Updated findings

[argumentum]

3 minutes ago, g0gcd said:

How does VCredist x86 fit into the picture?

SciTE is compiled depending on these libraries to be at least from the same version and will not do anything other than those libraries.
It takes a minute to do and you'd see results right away if that was the culprit.

Your hardware is what is. No need to dig deep into what you have or not. That PC is 6 or 7 years old ( my guess ) and that's that. But it feels much slower with SciTE. That library update is not a big deal.

10 minutes ago, g0gcd said:

Before doing any further updates, I don't want to be changing too many things at once and misleading everyone.

Am not after "what was the problem" or who solved it. Just to fix it.

19 hours ago, g0gcd said:

I'm running the 32 bit binary for maximum compatibility. However, it's another good idea and I'll try installing the 64bit AutoIT package tomorrow to rule that in or out.

Nah, the x86 should work just as well. But the VCredist needs to be up to date.**

If that wasn't it then, windows 10 IoT enterprise end of life is in 2027, and there should be a way to buy it online if you need the support.

** I mean the SciTE editor. The one on the site and not the beta ( v5 ) that has a 64 and 32 bit compile.

[g0gcd]

argumentum..

Got it. Thanks

I'll try updating VCredist and see if that helps.

(Spot on with the PC age, by the way. I hate chucking away what seems like perfectly good hardware .. but .. perhaps time to catch up now!)

Thanks

John

[mLipok]

1 hour ago, g0gcd said:

Processor    Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-8250U CPU @ 1.60GHz, 1800 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 8 Logical Processor(s)

I have i5-8350U nad NVME Samsung 980

Wondering ... do you use SSD thumb drive / pendrive for au3 files - I had such issue in the past.
Is it DeskTop or Notebook ?
What is your "ENERGY PLAN" or "POWER SCHEME" in windows.

try also:

powercfg -duplicatescheme e9a42b02-d5df-448d-aa00-03f14749eb61

and then choose the "highest performance"

 

[WildByDesign]

57 minutes ago, g0gcd said:

Edit: Saving a 1MB Word 2010 doc and a 600k JPG image, from/to the same folder as my .au3 files, took no time at all.

So definitely an issue with SciTE it sounds like.

I wonder if creating a fresh SciTE profile would help. If you do, don't forget to backup the original.

EDIT: C:\Users\your-user-name\AppData\Local\AutoIt v3\SciTE

Edited Friday at 03:21 PM by WildByDesign

[g0gcd]

Thank you all so much.

WildByDesign and I hit on the cause at the same time. I uninstalled AutoIT (again) and just checked through that it had all gone before restarting the machine. I discovered the  C:\Users\your-user-name\AppData\Local\AutoIt v3 folders still sitting there with files in, so I deleted those. I also found several folders hanging around in odd places in the main folder structure, so it looks like I had some debris from my (now past) Windows 10 days which may have caused further problems. I deleted those too.

Argumentum, yes, you were right - I had only installed the VCRedist C++ libraries up to 2017. Adding the missing 2018 to 2025 ones didn't immediately solve the problem but by being there, they have got to help.

Did a fresh AutoIT v.3.3.18.0 install and found that the included SciTE Lite worked properly (i.e. as I had hoped) and then went on to install Jos' full SciTE v4.4.6 version and that works too.

Solution: Do an AutoIT and SciTE uninstall and then delete the hidden C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\AutoIT v3\ folders before restarting and reinstalling. Check VCRedist status because upgrading Windows does not update the libraries.

Once again, thanks to all of you for your help

John G0GCD