I have a Windows 7 laptop. For whatever reason, Fujitsu's drivers for the laptop produce "unsigned" errors. I already contacted them. And I know the responsible thing to do is wait for them to correct the problem on their end. Sadly, I don't the luxury of time...and need this laptop up & running for work. So I read about Windows "Test Mode", and I intend to use it (don't talk me down bro, I'm doing it lol!). But I am curious about one thing...does it degrade performance/speed? The reason I ask is because this laptop is kind of slow when under pressure, and I'm wondering if "Test Mode" adds extra weight. What I'm hoping is that it's just Windows without the driver security setting (I know, strange place to express this thought lol!).
I've never noticed any difference with this setting even within VMs that tend to be a bit more sluggish than the real OS to start with. Take note however that 'test mode' doesn't remove all the signing requirements, it just relaxes them a bit. It's good for devs in particular so that they can quickly self-sign a new build and take it for a spin. There is an option to disable code integrity all together though I wouldn't really recommend using either on a live system.