Windows is driving me insane

1.5 is about right these days on a modern system, you could probably slim it down but right now im sittin here with a linux machine running BlackOpal64 which is based on Ubuntu 12.04, got firefox open with about 4 tabs and its hitting 1.4gb ram usage.

personally i dont like using apply hardware (or software) but thats just me.

most likely the fan(s) is just set to something like "cool n quiet" which is why it works harder under load. i always disable any features like this on my systems if possible.

 

Microsoft store = more developer = more money
M$ Tablet will invade the market.

 

CCleaner worked and I have 1 gig used on start up and boot up is almost instantaneous now. So for now I think I'll be ok it should hold me for a few months or weeks at least.

 

Build a PC, load that bitch up with 16gbs of ram (less than £100, ram is cheap as hell right now) rice it out with your Mugen, Daemon tools, xfire w/e and never care about RAM usage again.

Don't mean to be an arsehole but the programs you listed are hardly the lightest going. 3DS Max and PS aren't exactly notable for not being greedy with ram and Chrome iTunes and Skype are some of the most bloated programs in their class. No doubt you have Chrome with tonnes of addons too.

 

ccleaner, spybot s&destroy, o&odefrag once a week + a good antivirus (I use microsoft security essentials) and you won't have to reinstall windows for a while (didn't have to for the last 5 years on my PC)

 

My lappy has 4 GB RAM with Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit. Chrome has like 20 addons in addition to AVG free 2012 at Utorrent running right now. RAM usage is right around 25 to 30 percent capacity ATM. Got 2 tabs to this site open too. Loaded a 10 minute 720p YouTube video and usage jumped to 31%. My RAM usage seems to be fine. Most ever used was when I streamed a 720p movie that's 120 minutes long. Usage was only 65%. Methinks I have no RAM issues. Windows wins again for me. BTW, the RAM is a single chip too. No issues with it being slow having a single channel. Startup is fast enough for me.

 

constantly jumping from 15-30% ram usage here I'm running VLC playing a 720p movie. GFX driver (since according to GoH that's massive ram hog?) Firefox with addons, MSN, X-Chat WDK, Skype, uT, and Xfire and other stuff like firewall and mse

 

Maybe I just have Ram usage OCD. Maybe my last install was the bad one and this is the good one? I don't know.

and how does one install VLC without it installing the Funmoods Malware?

 

VLC have nothing to do with any malware.

 

Install it from the official website? -fyi that wasnt a link for the download, here's the official download.

Also, werent you whinging about Metro being a total mess? Unity in Ubuntu is just as counter productive and I presume you're using that.

 

If it's a laptop with a dual graphics card (like my Dell) I found out something really frustrating. Firefox tells the computer that the more powerful nVidia graphics card & all cores are required to run it, so every time I have Firefox loaded the fan spins up and stays at a higher level (especially if I'm on AC), the computer temporarily freezes whilst the drivers switch and the whole thing eats up processor time. It's a real buttache, but I can't really leave Firefox as its web tools are second to none.

Blue screens are notoriously not made by Windows, but by badly written drivers - a famous case study showed that Windows on it's own is tremendously stable, but the moment you start installing 3rd-party tools & drivers you increase the likelihood for bluescreens. I always recommend keeping your drivers and firmware up to date, and avoid deviating from Toshiba's drivers if you can. Now I understand the simple fact that most crashes are driver issues or hardware failure, I hardly ever blame Microsoft, except in the cases where it blatantly is their fault (e.g.: Excel 2007 and 2010 throwing up calculation issues - stupid Microsoft ).

To say MacOS is more stable is actually complete nonsense - you can easily screw up a Mac through using non Apple-approved hardware or drivers, something Windows has to deal with from day one. The only reason why Macs have claimed to have very good stability is that most people up until the last few years never tinkered with their machine, and seeing as MacOS is only built for a select number of machines (culling off any deadwood regularly) they hardly ever have issues. However, when you start going off-piste with non-Mac approved hardware, things do get hairy. My family used to have a BT Router which was very well supported on Windows. However, on Mac the driver would regularly cause MacOS to crash (with the dreaded multi-lingual black screen of death). Equally, the drivers for a multi-button mouse I used to own still cause my computer to not accept keypresses for about a minute after awaking from sleep.

Also, Apple's software for Windows is equally terrible. iTunes for Windows is still a bit of a mess functionally, and the Mac OS Lion drivers for their HFS+ file system only support read-only, tells Windows that some folders should be read as a hard drive of their own and occasionally claim a folder can't be read, even though it'll still happily tell you access the files and folders within it when quizzed directly. So very stupid.

Apple do build good hardware though - the price does justify how well they are built and how sturdy they are. I tried to undercut on a similarly specced PC and found that whilst they look good, they are nowhere near as durable. Also, because it's UI is well thought out and a lot of the 'power tools' are hidden away, it's far easier to understand and much more difficult to muck up than on Windows.

A few years ago I was a big stalwart to the Linux movement, and whilst it's great there are two major faults that meant that a couple of years ago I moved back to Windows. One: the politics of Linux means that half the time I was fighting just to make sure the drivers for the hardware in my computer worked properly, especially as even in Ubuntu it can be difficult to install non-free drivers without a ton of fiddling; and two: I found that whenever I wanted to use my computer I would spend an hour fiddling because its customisations meant it never worked perfectly, and I'd constantly fight with it to do simple tasks - especially with a lack of popular software packages which meant that co-ordinating with other people meant having to 'hack something together' and use sub-standard free tools which never worked the way they should. The last computer I built, I didn't bother installing Ubuntu - leaving it to the people with more time than sense.

I still think Apple is the best system out there, but it's expense in hardware terms means Windows is the best for the budget user. That said, I expect Windows 8 to cause a sea-change, where Apple will get a lot of new users from the disenfranchised 'Metro' crowd.

 

GPU hardware accelerated graphics enabled ?
You can disable it.

 

x

 

unity has had a while to mature its not as bad as it originally was, and definatly not as bad as metro, besides linux has many other options. xfce, kde, gnome classic etc.

unity can be good for multi monitor displays etc aswell.

i originally hated it but can get by using it now.

 

Nope, still causes it. I think it's to do with Flash more than Firefox, but it's still a nuisance that other browsers don't seem to have that issue.

 

Quoted for truth. Linux FTW. With package management, mountains of free software, freedom of choice for desktop environments, there isn't anything else quite like it. Plus, it's easy to use and free.

 

Are you using flash 11? Don't, I got similar issues where it would cause total freezes and then go back to playing just fine.

Roll back to 10 and everything is kosher

I used it for a while and it still just seems counter productive when opposed to XFCE or gnome. It's also really bloated. I used that DE for a while and was so relieved when I installed XFCE, performance increased dramatically.

 

BAM that's how I like it! I think I can install Daemount tools now and be right where I was before the reinstall and Not 1 BSOD this time. But then again I only installed an audio driver so my computer beeps when I turn the volume up or down (just used to it that way)

On Boot up it was about 1049 MB running that there is after waking it up from sleep mode.

NOW...i just need a leaner browser than firefox.

 

i think they jumped into it before it was ready for release, with a bit of tweaking its useable, different but usable. im still not a fan, but it has improved massively. i mainly use gnome classic or KDE these days xfce sometimes or just chop n change whatever floats my boat at the time, one of the beautys of linux

 

i hope valve plans to support mint too, i hate ubuntu now only because of unity.......
today i installed latest mint mate, it feels MUCH better then the unity crap of ubuntu.
but i also feel sad, because i used to love ubuntu so much, when they were still using gnome.
i recently orderd new pc parts, for steam, hope it'll pay out...but well, i didnt spend too much.

maybe i could get used to unity, but only if steam will make problems under mint :x