heathicus
03-12-2010, 11:36 AM
I sorta doubt you got this exactly right there Ed (in Tampa).
Add-ons occupy space whether they are running or not but do they consume time even when you have not invoked them.
Example: I have HP Image Zone loaded on my machine but I don't invoke it unless I want photo images. Do you believe that slows my machine?
I look at Task Manager and see no evidence of that....0 cpu time unless I am doing pictures.
It still has an impact, Dusty.
A lot of programs, especially big ones like Microsoft Office, and media viewers like Quicktime, Flash, etc, will, at minimum, run a "quick launch" type program in the background at all times. This pre-loads some of the core elements of the program so that, when you open that program, it loads faster (because it's already half loaded). I'm not familiar with HP Image Zone, but it wouldn't surprise me if it runs something in the background that is constantly checking for your camera to be connected. If you look at the Task Manager, even if an application is using 0 CPU time, it is still taking memory. The more memory being consumed, the more the swap file has to be used. (Simply put, the swap file is hard drive spaced used as if it were RAM, but the hard drive is a lot slower than RAM).
But even ignoring that, simply using your computer will slow it down over time. When you first set up a computer, format the hard drive, do a fresh install of Windows and your applications, all of the files are physically located on the hard drive in an orderly and efficient fashion. As you use the computer, create files, delete files, move files, rename files, etc., that orderly and efficient layout of files on the hard drive goes kaput and your hard drive becomes "fragmented." The head on the hard drive has to travel to multiple places, far apart on the hard drive just to load one file. Defragging the hard drive helps, but the defragger built into Windows, while much better than nothing, is not that great.
Then there's the Windows Registry. The Registry is a big database that stores configuration settings for Windows, your hardware, and applications. As you install programs, they all add a bunch of stuff to the registry which makes it bloated and take longer to load on startup. And when you uninstall a program, seldom does the uninstall also clean all its crap out of the registry.
Add-ons occupy space whether they are running or not but do they consume time even when you have not invoked them.
Example: I have HP Image Zone loaded on my machine but I don't invoke it unless I want photo images. Do you believe that slows my machine?
I look at Task Manager and see no evidence of that....0 cpu time unless I am doing pictures.
It still has an impact, Dusty.
A lot of programs, especially big ones like Microsoft Office, and media viewers like Quicktime, Flash, etc, will, at minimum, run a "quick launch" type program in the background at all times. This pre-loads some of the core elements of the program so that, when you open that program, it loads faster (because it's already half loaded). I'm not familiar with HP Image Zone, but it wouldn't surprise me if it runs something in the background that is constantly checking for your camera to be connected. If you look at the Task Manager, even if an application is using 0 CPU time, it is still taking memory. The more memory being consumed, the more the swap file has to be used. (Simply put, the swap file is hard drive spaced used as if it were RAM, but the hard drive is a lot slower than RAM).
But even ignoring that, simply using your computer will slow it down over time. When you first set up a computer, format the hard drive, do a fresh install of Windows and your applications, all of the files are physically located on the hard drive in an orderly and efficient fashion. As you use the computer, create files, delete files, move files, rename files, etc., that orderly and efficient layout of files on the hard drive goes kaput and your hard drive becomes "fragmented." The head on the hard drive has to travel to multiple places, far apart on the hard drive just to load one file. Defragging the hard drive helps, but the defragger built into Windows, while much better than nothing, is not that great.
Then there's the Windows Registry. The Registry is a big database that stores configuration settings for Windows, your hardware, and applications. As you install programs, they all add a bunch of stuff to the registry which makes it bloated and take longer to load on startup. And when you uninstall a program, seldom does the uninstall also clean all its crap out of the registry.