PC hardware: Why all the hype for installing lots of RAM?
- 10/30/09 3:38 PM
Chill
by GlassDeviant - 11/13/09 7:02 PM In reply to: Easy Gunpowder! by scottgrossWindows 7 uses a lot less resources than Vista, you can function a lot better with basic apps in just 512MB and run on a slower computer a lot better, but the more you feed it the better it runs - up to a point. Once your computer is using as much as it needs for what you use it for, you don't need any more. If you are writing email and browsing web sites, you don't need more than 1GB, but if you are running statistical analyses on huge datasets, playing the latest and greatest "uber-games", running massively parallelized scientific calculations, rendering your epic film in Maya or what have you, you may just find that you can't physically cram enough RAM into your computer even with a 64-bit OS to ever really keep it from dipping into the virtual memory swap file.
Sad but probably true
by Walter L. Johnson - 11/14/09 1:28 AM In reply to: Chill by GlassDeviantI would never use less than 2 GB because I never know all a PC will be used for over its life, but I believe it would be hard to find a motherboard or motherboard and backboard that would support all the memory high demand graphics applications could efficiently use.
A brother-in-law only uses a dial up modem and AOL, so I keep telling him that if he has that much patience and can find used parts, especially modems as they fail he doesn't need to upgrade anything. In a home or business network with only non-graphic applications and limited internet access, people could still use Pentium based computers, but boy today's games are demanding judging by what my sons demand in a PC.
Knowing what's going on
by GlassDeviant - 11/13/09 6:50 PM In reply to: WHO'S THE REAL GEEK? by bobh2009Yes, some of the stories here are a bit ludicrous, but as for whether a competent computer technician who tells you that he knows exactly what he did to fix the computer is lying, sorry Charlie, but you are full of BS.
I have worked with computers for a lot of years, and if I fix a computer and state that I know what was wrong and how I fixed it, then that is the case. If I don't know what it was, or exactly what I did that fixed it, then I am not going to say I do; I will say instead that I tried a number of things that I know and eventually got to the point where the computer was working (this is rare, there's not much I haven't seen before).
Geek Squad at Best buy
by Sattamander - 10/31/09 1:39 PM In reply to: RE: Please no GEEK by scleungGeek Squad is Best Buys group and the charge is more like $150 an hour. My friend's wife took her laptop in to have them look at it and when they told her how much it was going to cost she yelled out "HOLY S***" so load that the whole store turned around. Needless to say she left with her laptop.
RAM Increase Does it Help?
by pugsley0134 - 10/30/09 5:50 PM In reply to: Misinformation by yourpcmedicmy dell came with 1 gig of ram and I installed two more sticks... so i have 3 gig of ram now and I really notice a huge difference.
I love my machine,,, and the best antivirus in the world,,, has built in smart technology that will use less power when scanning and you're online.
NORTON is great: BUT IT'S OVERKILL!!! THAT SLOWS YOUR PC DOWN SO MUCH!!! THE FREE STUFF IS JUST THAT. I WOULD RATHER PAY. THE ONLY FREE SECURITY PROGRAMS ON MY COMPUTER EITHER CAME INSTALLED LIKE WINDOWS DEFENDER, AND I HAVE AD-AWARE!!! GOOD PROGRAM,,, THEY ADVERTISE A LOT TO TRY TO GET YOU TO BUY THE HIGHER VERSIONS AND THIS AND THAT... JUST CLICK NO THANKS!!!
PEACE OUT FROM PENNSYLVANIA
HAPPY HALLOWEEN
MIKEY
Have to disagree
by genej313 - 10/30/09 6:44 PM In reply to: RAM Increase Does it Help? by pugsley0134Norton isn't great. Peter Norton's utilities for DOS was great. But when he sold out to Symantec it became a nightmare. I've been working with computers since 1981, and at that time and for the next 15 years, upgrading and maintaining 200 of them, through several evolutions. I remember eagerly awaiting the newest version of MSDos just to see what more I could do to automate things. Windows was a major leap forward, though buggy as could be. I used Norton Utilities for all manner of things back then. There were programs that could repair hard disks, at least enough to recover the data on them, Steve Gibson's was the best. I got on a lot of mailing lists back then, most of which have migrated to the net. My favorites, the most useful, were Fred Langa's LangaList, and Scot Finney's newsletter, Fred merged with Windows Secret's a couple, maybe a few years ago. Anyway, these newsletters rank programs and in almost every instance you can get a freeware or very low cost alternative to things like Symantec's conglomeration, that will work better and NOT take over your machine. I do not use a suite any longer. I stopped using Symantec years ago because their support is ridiculous and their site unnavigable. I went to Zone Alarm's free suite, at the recommendation of Fred Langa, then to their pro version, but the latest tests show that stand alone systems do a better job when they are dedicated to just one job. I use Eset Nod antivirus, the highest rated antivirus program anywhere, I use Comodo Dragon as my software firewall for the same reason. I use Jv16Powertools as my registry tool. I use Toniarts EasyCleaner as a backup. I use Autoruns to control what starts when I boot up and I used MyDefrag to keep my machine clean and compact. I use Registry Booster as another check, Spybot to check on Comodo's anti malware function, Ad Aware is a pain in the neck and not user-friendly. And all of these tools are free. And, here's the real kicker, in 25 years of using computers at home and at work, I've NEVER had a virus or piece of malware make it to my hard drive. It doesn't cost a fortune to stay safe, in fact it needn't cost anything. I do highly recommend subscribing to Windows Secrets - you find things out there long before MS admits there is an issue, and their ranking of software tools both for sale and free is priceless. Here's to safe computing, :^) gene
Have to agree . . . up to a point!
by aleximor - 10/30/09 11:34 PM In reply to: Have to disagree by genej313I, like you, remember "The Norton Utilities" in its heyday, and through misguided brand loyalty I wasted precious money and time on the absurd top-heavy bloatware that Symantec turned it into. Remember those endless downloads of virus definitions during which the computer wouldn't do anything else? Then a friend recommended Nod-32 and it was a breath of fresh air! Updated itself in the background three or four times a day, and the first I knew about it was a little flag telling you it had done it.
But, you know, you're right about avoiding suites. I was so impressed that, of course, I upgraded to Eset Smart Security when it came out and, although the anti-virus still seems to work fine, it takes an age to load during boot-up and I'm not sure what the rest of it does, if anything.
Glad to see you use jv-16, too - so do I. (Another friend recommended that years ago, in the days when it was called RegClean or something like that, Jouni Vuorio was still 19 and you could send him an e-mail personally and get a helpful reply).
Do rather agree with you over Ad-Aware, too. It seemed good when it was a simple little program that did one thing and seemed to do it quickly and reasonably well. It's got steadily worse with each update - more complicated, less intuitive, bells and whistles, crap . . .
I suppose it's inevitable, really. Just like Microsoft Office. If you can't think of any useful new functions, you just change the whole way it looks to try and convince people they need to update. . . even if that does entail making a previously competent, user-friendly program into something obscure, dysfunctional and difficult to use - and less customizable, to boot. And, while you're about it, you change the Help file into something completely unhelpful (on the rare occasions it throws up what you actually asked it for, it does so completely by accident as no. 57 in a list of otherwise totally irrelevant topics) - so the only way to find how to do anything you can't figure out for yourself is to do a Google search. And, hey presto!, there you have it: Office 2007!
I tried Comodo a few years ago and dumped it because it kept popping up messages that I didn't understand and they never seemed to signify anything real, either.
But here's the real rub . . .
"And all of these tools are free."
I wish. If you get them free, I'd love to know where. As far as I remember, I had to pay to get Nod-32 in the first place (and I have to pay periodically to maintain the licence, too). And with jv-16 these days you have to pay for major updates at least, if not more regularly.
So do let me into your secret, please!
Alex.
Great stuff
by DerfX - 10/31/09 4:42 AM In reply to: Have to disagree by genej313It's really great to read some stuff I recognize. For years, I used Norton Utilities and like many, out of some misguided loyalty, I tried to stick with it but quickly learned what a mess that could turn into. Fortunately, being one to lag behind the crowd and let others try things first, I learned before I spent the money.
And Steve Gibson was always my hero. I still use a lot of his scripts like Wismo and such. SpinRite ruled and I have the most recent version although it is a little finicky when it comes to elaborate RAID setups.
Jv16Powertools is another great piece of software that seems to be pretty popular although no longer free. If you can find some of the older free versions, they still work well. I have some of those on my older machines. Along with eDexter and EmpTemp2, I have never had a unfriendly visitor make it inside my security.
I agree with the idea on security suites up to a point. I run AVG free antivirus on my laptops but I decided to go with AVG's pay version and their Internet Security Suite on this machine. The difference is, I don't install all the Browser helpers and addons. I like AVG for its fantastic antivirus and I have to say, the AVG firewall is the best I've ever used. I like two-way firewalls. Just in case I want to try out a piece of creepy freeware, I don't want it to have the ability to call home. The AVG firewall provide an easy interface in which to block any traffic in either direction. When you install this suite WITHOUT the browser addons, it doesn't create a heavy footprint and slow this thing down at all. I use to use TinyPersonalFirewall which was another free tool that worked really well. It provides two-way operation with a customizable rule-set. I still keep a copy of it somewhere in my archives just because it is such a fantastic find.
I use Spybot as the only addon to IE7 because IE8 is a bit disappointing in my opinion. I don't use the TeaTimer but I let the remainder of Spybot's IE management run including its immunizations through the HOSTS file.
Along with Executive Software's Diskeeper, that about rounds out my software's security and management. I realize that not everything great is free but there are a lot of things out there that are free and should be taken advantage of. Especially AVG and Spybot.
Steve Gibson
by donaldjj - 11/6/09 11:27 AM In reply to: Great stuff by DerfXNow their is a name that is the antithisis of the Microsoft bloatware. My computer has been saved so many tomes by his ity bity programs. and his hard drive scanner (version 6 now i beleive) is another wonder recovering over 20 hard drives for me. I still must laugh though ay the first time i put a version 1 or versiion 3 spinrite on a fast drive (without cashing or a buffer)and it choked thinking that there was a disk cash and refused to run. I still have it on 360k 5inch floppy. and version 6 20 years newer still fits on a 360 floppy.Don
Gibson Research
by Walter L. Johnson - 11/6/09 11:29 PM In reply to: Steve Gibson by donaldjjI once used SpinRite and now that you remind me about it, I may buy a newer version, which is Version 6 as you suggested. It worked well for me when I needed it many years ago, but you need to consider whether you discs controller circuit is working properly or your hard discs need replacement unless the 20 drives come from multiple computers and didn't represent consecutive problems. Modern hard disc drives are vastly superior to hard drives made when SpinRite version 1 was sold.
The one thing you need to watch out for with all software that interacts directly with the hardware (the easiest route to efficiency in utilities) is that the version of the software you use supports the file format you are using. Back in the early computer days I didn't factor that into account and had a hard disc's low level format destroyed by a program with similar functions to the original SpinRite.
spinrite
by donaldjj - 11/7/09 10:16 AM In reply to: Gibson Research by Walter L. JohnsonDefinatly many diferant computers and also many diferant operating systems. If you have the original box or reciept he will upgrade at less than full price.
Well worth a quick visit
by DerfX - 11/14/09 10:27 AM In reply to: spinrite by donaldjjI think you'll find all the answers you need at "GRC.com" and at the same time, you can have free use of his "Sheilds Up" scanner and other tests that will test for any open or unprotected ports. It's very comforting to get that report saying that your computer is completely invisiable on the Internet.
Wow! That is quite a list ..
by steve_dupuis - 10/31/09 12:28 PM In reply to: Have to disagree by genej313I feel for you, looking at your list of software you need to run windows.
I just upgraded to Ubuntu 9.10 Linux. All of the things on your list are either not needed, or can be selected from the Ubuntu Add Software menu. No cost, no bother, just a couple of clicks and its installed, menus are updated and you're ready to go. You can automate anything on the machine via wizards and shell scripts. Funny to see that Microsoft is offering a scripting tool, and everyone going oooh and aaah. No more difficult to learn the shell than this crap.
By the way, I've been working in the computer industry since 1968 as a systems programmer, a developer, and database administrator. I have a very good grasp of how these things are supposed to work: o/s design, compiler design et al. Windows has always been junk, and always will be junk - really poor design, unsafe, slow, sloppy coding etc etc.
Good luck. You're probably going to need it.
Windows Secrets
by scottgross - 11/2/09 11:18 AM In reply to: Have to disagree by genej313Whats the link for Windows Secrets? It sounds like a good feed. I agree 100%. Just tried NOD 32 and so far I'm really impressed. It even identifies the frame a malicious script is hiding in, in a web page. These people writing these virus's ARE clever little devils. I've had one instance where it wrecked my system. I was actually intrigued with the havoc that it created. My fault though, I slept through a warning and meant to send it for consideration, but clicked on the wrong button. It was totally amazing. Spent two days fixing all the problems
The industry at large is somewhat out of hand, I think. They'll tell you anything to sell you a product. If people don't agree, look at some of the lawsuits here at home and in Europe.
By the way, you have made the most sense so far in the forums. I will admit though, I haven't tracked them until recently. Thanks for your post, I got some really good information.
I too agree up to a point
by Walter L. Johnson - 11/2/09 4:03 PM In reply to: Have to disagree by genej313I too have stopped using Norton Utilities, although what made me switch was how poor the uninstall programs were with it. I have several times had to manually uninstall Norton products until I stopped using them entirely. I can't say whether or not they have improved since as I don't use them anymore.
I really think California Associates makes the best programs, but they are priced not for home users as much as for business users, or at least that was my opinion after my one year free trial years ago.
All utilities that allegedly clean up registries, etc. are potential hazards because they operate at a level so close to the hardware and are willing to make assumptions based on such limited factors as program size and program name to identify programs they think are the ones lost to the registry by a file move or disc problem. My advice is use all with care and whenever possible second guess the programs choices by going into manual correction mode where a utility program makes suggestions for action but you have the final say. At least that way when something goes wrong you have a chance of figuring out why.
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