Windows version is extremely slow on unlock
I am using 1Password both on Windows and on the Mac, however the Windows version exhibits an extreme slowdown when trying to unlock it. Once I enter my master password, the whole PC freezes for about 5 seconds. Also the browser extension is quite unresponsive on windows. Many times when I click on the icon I have to wait 2-3 seconds until the window actually pops up. I am using Windows 8.1 and Chrome. On OSX i am using Chrome as well and everything is really fast there.
Comments
-
@svondutch thank you very much, that actually helped a lot! :) Could you explain what this is doing technically and why it is not enabled/done by default?
0 -
Could you explain what this is doing technically
Certain features (such as custom icons and password strength, for example) are encrypted. In other words: we need to decrypt every item for this. This setting turns OFF those features, along with a few others that might ruin your unlock experience.
why it is not enabled/done by default
Because it turns off a couple of nice features. Most users will never have this problem. This setting is something that I added for our excellent CS guys. They might ask you to turn this setting ON if 1Password appears to be slow or unresponsive.
0 -
@svondutch thank you very much for the explanations. So this is rather a workaround than a fix. I'm wondering why only the Windows version has these performance issues. My Mac latop actually has less powerful hardware than my Windows machine (which is mainly a gaming rig), so from a pure performance standpoint the Windows version should work equally fast if not better than the OSX version. Will this be fixed in an upcoming version of 1Password for Windows?
0 -
I'm wondering why only the Windows version has these performance issues
For most users, it doesn't have performance issues. However, if you have large quantities of encrypted data (for example: lots of custom icons) then 1Password for Windows might be slow because decrypting every item takes time.
On Mac, we rarely see this problem because it has an internal (SQLite) database. It doesn't work on the data in the cloud, like 1Password for Windows does. The data we have in the cloud (aka 1Password.agilekeychain) is very File I/O intensive.
0 -
Thank you very much for taking the time to explain things :) So both clients are based on different technology, which explains the different behaviour. Any plans of adding a SQLite backend to the Windows version as well?
0 -
@derkork, a search of the 1Password 4 for Windows user's guide leads you to this article, which explains many of the menu commands, including this information:
[2 Feb 2015: Update highlighted in image above]
0 -
both clients are based on different technology, which explains the different behaviour.
The technology is not different (as a matter of fact, both clients are fully compatible), but under the hood the approach is sometimes different.
Any plans of adding a SQLite backend to the Windows version as well?
We do not really need it on Windows at this moment.
how many saved passwords would constitute a "very large vault" by the definition above?
The number of passwords isn't really the problem here. We see this problem when 1Password needs to decrypt lots of items, where a substantional number of them contains large quantities of encrypted data (for example: custom icons).
0 -
The number of passwords isn't really the problem here. We see this problem when 1Password needs to decrypt lots of items, where a substantional number of them contains large quantities of encrypted data (for example: custom icons).
ok, so assuming that every login has a custom icon containing 16, 32 and 48 pixel icons, roughly how many of these logins would constitute a "very large vault"?
0 -
so assuming that every login has a custom icon containing 16, 32 and 48 pixel icons, roughly how many of these logins would constitute a "very large vault"
@RichardPayne Hard to say, because the number of Logins isn't the only thing at play. We do see vaults with more than 2000 items.
0 -
Hmm okay, my vault has 357 items with roughly 75% having a custom icon assigned to them (most of the time the website icon in 16x16 or 32x32) and about 15 of them having PDF files attached. Compared to 2000 that looks not so very large.
0 -
my vault has 357 items with roughly 75% having a custom icon assigned to them (most of the time the website icon in 16x16 or 32x32)
Please note rich icons (aka favicons) do NOT count against this because we do not store those with your vault. We do store custom icons with your vault.
and about 15 of them having PDF files attached.
This could be the culprit. If we need to decrypt every item, then decrypting those items (having a PDF attached to them) is what might be slowing us down.
Compared to 2000 that looks not so very large.
Correct. The number of items isn't the only thing at play.
0 -
This could be the culprit. If we need to decrypt every item, then decrypting those items (having a PDF attached to them) is what might be slowing us down.
Why are you decrypting attached files when trying to unlock? Maybe I've misunderstood this but doesn't the unlock operation only decrypt the master key? I thought the items details weren't decrypted until it was opened, either in the detail view in the main app or by right clicking on an item in the extensions menu.
Even then, the file content itself shouldn't be decrypted until you actually try to copy it to disk. What have I missed?
0 -
Why are you decrypting attached files when trying to unlock?
@RichardPayne We're not. Thank you for reminding me. @derkork's problem must be elsewhere (not with attachments).
I thought the items details weren't decrypted until it was opened, either in the detail view in the main app or by right clicking on an item in the extensions menu.
@RichardPayne If either of these features are ON, then we need to decrypt every item when we populate the listview:
- View > Show Rich Icons
- View > Show Password Strength
the attachment shouldn't be decrypted until you actually try to copy it to disk
@RichardPayne Correct. You're right.
0 -
@RichardPayne If either of these features are ON, they we need to decrypt every item that is "in view":
View > Show Rich Icons
View > Show Password Strength1) Can I assume that Show Password Strength does not affect the browser extension since it does not display password strength?
2) Why does the item need to be decrypted for Rich Icon support? The url is not encrypted and surely that is all you need to index the correct icon?
3) Are custom icons stored as attachments? If so, does it need to decrypt the attachments to identify the correct attachment to use?0 -
Is there something I could do to profile the slowdowns such that you would get a better idea on what is causing them?
0 -
Did that, and it seemed to work on the next unlock but after a restart I was back to the 5 second wait. So no joy here.
There also seem to be quite a few differences between the Mac and the Windows version (in addition to the slow behaviour of the windows version in general). For example while the Mac version fills out a particular login form (on the Unity3D forums) without any problems, the Windows version leaves the username empty. I had to manually change the field name in the saved login to resemble the actual input element to have the username filled correctly with the Windows version.
When I recently changed my master password on the Windows version, the Mac version was ignoring it. I still need to use the old master password to unlock the data on the Mac, while I have to use the new when unlocking under Windows (and android for that matter). All my installations are synced with dropbox. The URL mapping seems to be different as well. On WIndows I had to manually enable the "lenient URL matching" option to get the same login options as on the Mac. Also the editing of items is much more complicated in the Windows version. So I take it that the Windows version is not quite there yet. I can for now live with these inconsistencies and slowdown on unlock (I'm not unlocking that often) but it would be nice if the Windows version could be brought on par with the Mac version in a future release.
0 -
For example while the Mac version fills out a particular login form (on the Unity3D forums) without any problems, the Windows version leaves the username empty.
We're working on a new (cross-platform) filling engine that should make this inconsitency go away. This new filling engine is currently in beta on the Mac.
0 -
Why do you need to decrypt every rich icon/password strength on unlock to populate the listview? Are you not using a virtual listview, so that you only have to decrypt what's currently visible?
0 -
Why do you need to decrypt every rich icon/password strength on unlock to populate the listview? Are you not using a virtual listview, so that you only have to decrypt what's currently visible?
@ccutrer We're using the Microsoft List View.
We do not calculate password strength for every item in the list view. We only calculate password strength for those items that are currently "in view".
As for the rich icon, I'm afraid the Microsoft List View is not that "virtual". It requires us to supply the (small) image for every item. This is inconvenient, and that is why we're planning on populating the list view in a worker thread.
0 -
As for the rich icon, I'm afraid the Microsoft List View is not that "virtual". It requires us to supply the (small) image for every item. This is inconvenient, and that is why we're planning on populating the list view in a worker thread.
You can change the icons after creation though. It wouldn't be too hard to create the control with every item pointing to a blank dummy icon and then load in the correct icons later using the same thread that loads the password strength meter as the view changes.
0 -
Thanks, Richard. We'll see if that's doable when we change the view code in the future.
0
