15th May 2004, 4:05 PM
I've left my computer up and running for MONTHS on end, just because I don't like resetting until I absolutely need to, and that's rare.
The key isn't having a LOT of RAM, because good programs don't have memory leaks eating up memory all the time, and I tend to make sure those are the only kinds of programs I run, oh and Windows :D. (Seriously, XP is a pretty stable OS, though not perfect, what with all it's proprietary useless cosmetic features.)
The key is not loading up a bunch of useless stuff all AT ONCE. People seem to think that multitasking means a computer can run a bunch of programs without slowing down at all. Not true. It just means you can run a bunch of programs, but it WILL slow down if the workload exceeds the processor's abilities. I keep my anti-virus program up and running, but nothing else at all most of the time. I may surf the web, or have my CD player running in the background, and maybe also Trillian, maybe even have Paint, Word, or Visual Studio open if I happen to be working on some little thing, or big thing, but that's only about 4 programs at a time right there, and I'll actually SHUT DOWN a program when I'm not using it instead of just MINIMIZING it like EVERYONE IN MY FAMILY DOES. Yeesh, the number of times they ran for help and I come to find they have about 4 instances of the game Toon World running at once minimized in the tool bar... But I digress... Anyway, if I'm playing a game, I'm playing it with nothing but the antivirus running in the background, so that's just one. (Exceptions are really old games during times when I feel like listening to some music to really spruce up that Tank Wars match.)
Anyway, my point is that if you run your machine using that golden rule your parents taught you, it'll be stable almost indefinitly. That rule? Put your toys away when you are done playing with them! Yeesh it's like a PIG PEN in here! Can't you kids at LEAST make a path I can walk through? (Can't you at least keep enough memory open that I can operate the machine?) Don't just shove everything under the bed! (Don't just minimize everything!) I swear I'll just give these toys to kids who'll take care of them! (I swear I'll just uninstall this!)
Of course, often times as of late, it's not just user error that's to blame, it's the spyware. Ohhhh the spyware. Part of me REALLY wants to see Lynux succeed, but part of me fears that when it does, spyware shall slowly but surely be designed for it, until it spreads in waves to those systems. While I am of the understanding that it has far less security holes in it than a Windows system, it's those OTHER bits of software I'm concerned of, the stuff someone downloads on their own, like Weatherbug, because they simply MUST know what the weather is like outside but hey, I can't be bothered to look out the frickin' window here or watch the news, and I can't be bothered to just surf the web, I gotta have it ALWAYS running back there, and I don't care if it's secretly eating resources doing it's job of redirects, spying, and generally being a very naughty program.
The key isn't having a LOT of RAM, because good programs don't have memory leaks eating up memory all the time, and I tend to make sure those are the only kinds of programs I run, oh and Windows :D. (Seriously, XP is a pretty stable OS, though not perfect, what with all it's proprietary useless cosmetic features.)
The key is not loading up a bunch of useless stuff all AT ONCE. People seem to think that multitasking means a computer can run a bunch of programs without slowing down at all. Not true. It just means you can run a bunch of programs, but it WILL slow down if the workload exceeds the processor's abilities. I keep my anti-virus program up and running, but nothing else at all most of the time. I may surf the web, or have my CD player running in the background, and maybe also Trillian, maybe even have Paint, Word, or Visual Studio open if I happen to be working on some little thing, or big thing, but that's only about 4 programs at a time right there, and I'll actually SHUT DOWN a program when I'm not using it instead of just MINIMIZING it like EVERYONE IN MY FAMILY DOES. Yeesh, the number of times they ran for help and I come to find they have about 4 instances of the game Toon World running at once minimized in the tool bar... But I digress... Anyway, if I'm playing a game, I'm playing it with nothing but the antivirus running in the background, so that's just one. (Exceptions are really old games during times when I feel like listening to some music to really spruce up that Tank Wars match.)
Anyway, my point is that if you run your machine using that golden rule your parents taught you, it'll be stable almost indefinitly. That rule? Put your toys away when you are done playing with them! Yeesh it's like a PIG PEN in here! Can't you kids at LEAST make a path I can walk through? (Can't you at least keep enough memory open that I can operate the machine?) Don't just shove everything under the bed! (Don't just minimize everything!) I swear I'll just give these toys to kids who'll take care of them! (I swear I'll just uninstall this!)
Of course, often times as of late, it's not just user error that's to blame, it's the spyware. Ohhhh the spyware. Part of me REALLY wants to see Lynux succeed, but part of me fears that when it does, spyware shall slowly but surely be designed for it, until it spreads in waves to those systems. While I am of the understanding that it has far less security holes in it than a Windows system, it's those OTHER bits of software I'm concerned of, the stuff someone downloads on their own, like Weatherbug, because they simply MUST know what the weather is like outside but hey, I can't be bothered to look out the frickin' window here or watch the news, and I can't be bothered to just surf the web, I gotta have it ALWAYS running back there, and I don't care if it's secretly eating resources doing it's job of redirects, spying, and generally being a very naughty program.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)