Computer lovers are always looking to get more speed out of their computers. Unfortunately, a number of incorrect or outdated performance tips have been around long enough to become myths. Here are 10 of these myths — and the truth about them. As always, I am sure you’ll be able to think of plenty more. So be sure to post your own myth-busting in the forums!
1: Vista and Windows 7 require many times more RAM than XPWhen people first move from Windows XP to Windows Vista or Windows 7 and bring up a RAM usage meter, they often panic. What they see is something like Figure A.
Wow, that looks scary, doesn’t it? The system is doing just about nothing (1% CPU usage) but needs 8.84 GB of physical RAM to run. Here’s what is really happening. Starting in Vista, Windows got aggressive about RAM use. The engineers at Microsoft made it pre-allocate RAM and pre-cache commonly used items, even if they were not actually in use. For example, if you use Word a lot, it will keep Word in memory ready to be used. Obviously, this lets it chew up a ton of RAM, and why not? It isn’t like you were using the RAM anyway, and you will eventually be using it, most likely for the purposes Windows is preparing for. Applications start much faster as a result. 2: More RAM is always fasterMore RAM is not a guarantee of a faster machine, although more RAM has never hurt. Actually, that isn’t quite true, either! Many times, the bigger RAM runs as a slower bus speed than the smaller RAM chips. So in theory, more RAM can be mildly harmful to performance. More important is the Dual Channel vs. Triple Channel RAM issue. If you have a choice between 12 GB of RAM using Triple Channel, and 16 GB of RAM on Dual Channel, the 12 GB of RAM will be faster, so long as you rarely need to go to the swap file. Also, since Windows does pre-allocate RAM and cache often-used items, having that extra RAM could conceivably make a difference, assuming that you are a huge RAM user. 3: Anti-malware apps kill performanceYes, anti-malware apps have an effect on performance. And at one time, that effect was massive. Back in the day, many PC slowdown issues could be solved by removing applications like antivirus. In recent years, things have changed. Read more: TechRepublic
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1: Vista and Windows 7 require many times more RAM than XPWhen people first move from Windows XP to Windows Vista or Windows 7 and bring up a RAM usage meter, they often panic. What they see is something like Figure A.
Wow, that looks scary, doesn’t it? The system is doing just about nothing (1% CPU usage) but needs 8.84 GB of physical RAM to run. Here’s what is really happening. Starting in Vista, Windows got aggressive about RAM use. The engineers at Microsoft made it pre-allocate RAM and pre-cache commonly used items, even if they were not actually in use. For example, if you use Word a lot, it will keep Word in memory ready to be used. Obviously, this lets it chew up a ton of RAM, and why not? It isn’t like you were using the RAM anyway, and you will eventually be using it, most likely for the purposes Windows is preparing for. Applications start much faster as a result. 2: More RAM is always fasterMore RAM is not a guarantee of a faster machine, although more RAM has never hurt. Actually, that isn’t quite true, either! Many times, the bigger RAM runs as a slower bus speed than the smaller RAM chips. So in theory, more RAM can be mildly harmful to performance. More important is the Dual Channel vs. Triple Channel RAM issue. If you have a choice between 12 GB of RAM using Triple Channel, and 16 GB of RAM on Dual Channel, the 12 GB of RAM will be faster, so long as you rarely need to go to the swap file. Also, since Windows does pre-allocate RAM and cache often-used items, having that extra RAM could conceivably make a difference, assuming that you are a huge RAM user. 3: Anti-malware apps kill performanceYes, anti-malware apps have an effect on performance. And at one time, that effect was massive. Back in the day, many PC slowdown issues could be solved by removing applications like antivirus. In recent years, things have changed. Read more: TechRepublic
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