Re: Win10 low RAM

On 11/6/21 7:33 AM, [email protected] wrote:
> On Sat, 6 Nov 2021 06:08:15 -0500, philo <[email protected]> wrote:
> 
>> On 11/5/21 6:22 PM, Paul wrote:
>>> On 11/5/2021 4:13 PM, philo wrote:
>>>> I have a friend with an almost unusable laptop running Win10 64 bit.
>>>> The machine cannot accept more than 4 gigs of RAM.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>   From my experimenting  with other low end machines, I've found that 3
>>>> megs of RAM and Win10 32 bit gives much better performance than
>>>> Win10_64 and 4 gigs of RAM>
>>>>
>>>> I've been thinking of reloading the OS, but wonder if I'd be better
>>>> off just cloning to a SSD?
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Yes, they will get a new machine one of these days bit for now, their
>>>> smartphone is sufficient.
>>>>
>>>
>>> Reload the OS.
>>>
>>> That's not normal.
>>>
>>> It is Windows 11 that needs the RAM. And a ton of other things.
>>>
>>> Windows 10, the kernel needs 256-350MB of RAM, as rough numbers.
>>> When operated with 1GB of RAM, the "hard faults" should stop
>>> happening in the performance monitor. There's no need to
>>> do memory compression, when 1GB is installed.
>>>
>>> There must be something else loaded, to upset it like that.
>>>
>>> The next thing to check, is Windows Update. Like most modern Windows
>>> OSes, the two Windows Update services are a pig, and can drive
>>> RAM usage into the stratosphere. If the Windows Update is broken
>>> and behind, the machine can be working up a big sweat for nothing.
>>>
>>> That's why I suggest a reload, with whatever you want, 32 or 64.
>>> Just be careful that you match the user apps properly. For example,
>>> a renter of Adobe software needs 64-bit, because Adobe only
>>> supports 64-bit. Someone running 16-bit games, might need the
>>> 32-bit OS version for that.
>>>
>>> And check the Crucial.com page for max RAM, and see what they
>>> recommend.
>>>
>>> Any time an OS and programs have a problem, if the thing is
>>> running out of RAM, ordering more RAM won't fix it. Like,
>>> for a "leak". If you put 256GB of RAM in it, that just
>>> increases the time before it crashes on low memory.
>>>
>>> If a machine is properly behaved, adding RAM allows more
>>> programs to be open. And the amount of RAM you have,
>>> should support quite a number of programs. Right now,
>>> Firefox and Seamonkey are not well behaved, but an update
>>> to Firefox may change that (the tab-unloader is back as
>>> a concept, something they've been working on for two years).
>>>
>>>      Paul
>>
>>
>>
>> The machine is used for Facebook, Gmail and backing up/viewing photos
>> taken on her phone.
>> Nothing else really. For the most part it's simply that I need a project.
> 
> 
> People have different ideas about software   "upgrades"  "updates"
>    < the reason you're running Win 10 >
> I'm happily milking the final years from a  T500  <P8400> that
> does all the usual stuff  with nary a hiccup.
>    :  Win 8.1 Pro
>    :  I added SSD and upped ram to  6mb
>    :  good internet connection & good older router
>   I set  NO  to all auto-updates on all software ;  I decline all
> update requests  pop-ups ;  I clear the browser cache  ~  daily
>   and if I've done some serious  shopping ; and before & after banking.
>    In contrast - my wife's   Win 7  Dell Vostro  <2328M> became
> ~ unusable   from  software bloat  and we replaced it last year.
> 
>    I've learned to leave-well-enough-alone  for updating software  -
>    ie  if it ain't broke  ..   My last update of Firefox seemed to get
> me a poor version and I lost bookmarks = PITA !  but my last update of
> Open Office   was a treat  !!   the newer version was faster and bug
> free.  < both of these were a couple years ago >
>     John T.
> 



For quite a while I did not update Thunderbird when they increased 
security as I'd have to pretty much re-do everything. Eventually  I did 
it. Though a PITA, I agree with the need for security updates.