Im sure I could squeeze a little more but......

Everyone is complaining about the ram usage and processes at startup from the acer 5672. This is partly due to all the darn bloatware, but after tweaking and modding startups and what not I have come very close to a clean install ram usage (granted a clean install is always better). I have 43 running processes and 299-300 ram usage from a fresh restart. Comparing to the 67-71 running processes and 650+ ram usage after a fresh startup with the factory settings. I would say its a decent improvement, no errors or crashes and performance is much improved over the stock config.

Basically I did a msconfig selective startup, and disabled everything except windows defender and symantec corporate edition AV. Modified my theme for performance with shadows enabled, and xp theme olive. Modified page file to 2048mb/2048mb. Modified startup selection to 5 seconds. Also I shutdown tons of servies that arent needed for my setup (this is more advanced then the others, and is also custom per user and use of the pc so I cant tell you which to turn off and on and to leave manual).

After all this I have a much faster restart and fresh startup (even though I use hibernate 99% of the time as it is much faster then a fresh start-up). As well as in OS operations seem snappier, and crisper. Granted Im not claiming huge improvements across the board, yet very noticable in every aspect. This was all done on a factory system, with factory hardware settings (minus the newest ATI catalyst drivers). Well worth the toying in windows I did to make this work; and when I get xp pro and the saem tweaks It will be slightly better too. For some this may be pointing out the obvious, but for most this may prove helpful in making your acer loaded with bloatware work alot more smooth.

 

While 43 processes and that much ram are quite manageable, you cant really call it equal to a nicely tweaked formatted OS.

After formatting and installing all my programs, I run 25 processes and just under 200mb of ram usage. So theres still some improvement left for you to do to reach the potential of a formatted machine, but even so, gettin down to a managable 40 processes from the stock setup is a great thing.

Also, acers are quite light on the bloatware. Mine only came with 45 or so processes, unlike 70+ of some dells and HPs I seen.

 

whoops I forgot to upload the printscreen.

 

I keep seeing all these posts about reducing processes and how much things are speeded up but nobody posts any numbers (other than how many processes they're down to). So what are the actual benefits? faster start times, faster program executions, more RAM?

 

What #s do u want, lowering processes doesnt give out a certain # that we can brag about. And benchmark #s mean very little.

And the benefits are a more responsive and snappier machine. The less things there are to take away memory and cpu time, the more power is left for when u actually need it. If there are a gazzillion things eating up ur ram and cpu, then when u want to do something like open firefox its gonna take forever because u only have a limited amount of ram and cpu clocks.

 

This is what I mean. I keep hearing about how the computer is now "faster", "more responsive". The computer uses "less memory" and "less cpu". But "benchmarks mean very little". So what are were talking here, that programs run faster; 1 sec faster, a millisec faster. I will give you that starting from a Cold Boot or Off position is considerably faster probably several minutes but using Suspend or Hibernate is even faster still.

My computer is an Acer Aspire 5672WLMi with 2GB of RAM. It currently uses around 66 processes and 476 MB of RAM. Idle CPU usage is usually from 0 to 2% that being swapped between about a half dozen processes.





All I'm asking is some proof, whatever anybody is willing to give; benchmark programs, your own hand timed benchmarks. I'm willing to try and duplicate them on my "Bloated System" and we'll see how much faster is faster and how much less memory is less memory. And if it is faster, I'll dump a few processes on my machine.

 

There arent any benchmarks for this type of stuff other then pcmark. But that tests the hardware, and wouldnt be affected by my "tweaks". Its more of the "butt dyno" then a precise benchmark, which is kind of an oxymoron (precise benchmark that is). They may give you a number but just because you score a high number doesnt mean that the actual real world performance reflects that 100%.

Things open and work a bit faster then when I initially turned the laptop on. Because Im using less ram, I can utilize 1gb of ram more effectively then before. Because I cut 300mb off the ram usage, I can effectivly use that ram without thrashing. That and less running processes means less cpu cyles used and slightly more reponsive cpu when I need it. Does this help?

 

I understand your logic to a certain extent but if a program needs to run a process and it has to load it from the hard drive because it wasn't loaded in memory in the first place then the computer will run slower. It seems a trade off, load the process first (slow boot time) or later when needed (slower machine).

One of the option I mentioned is to create your own benchmark. For example, run PhotoShop with a large image file and apply some filters and time the results or use another program and time it doing something. The thing is not to rely solely on preception. I can just as easily say that my computer is running faster and is more responsive because I've loaded all these processes in memory and programs don't need to load them from the hard drive.

 

Why are u so obssesed with numbers, and benchmarks are the only way to prove that a computer runs better than another?

If u cant take the idea of "faster" and "smoother" computing, then dont bother doing some of the things we mentioned. Like he said, we cant give u exact #s, and noones gonna sit there and do ur own benchmark just for ur enjoyment of #s. Plus, a lot of other factors come in to play if u do such a photoshop test, so those #s could mean anything.

But if u really want #s:

You have 2 gigs of ram, 70 processes uses lets say 600mbs. If u got only 30 processes, u know use up only 300mbs. So u have 300 more mbs of ram to use for a game or something else. Try playing a game like bf2 when ur system uses up 1gig of ram out of 2 and then play the same game when ur system only uses 200mbs of 2 gigs/

 

The reason MOST people say it's more responsive is because it doesn't have extra unneeded junk in the memory. You are right in that IF you need those programs then yes, it would run slower if they don't load at boot time, but instead load later when you run the programs, however for a lot of the more technical people they don't need those programs running at all, and that is the reason for cleanup.

Realistically, unless you enjoy messing around with computer workings and trying to get the best performance you possibly can, then don't worry about it.

 

well usually when you first get a notebook, everything seems pretty fast but as you use it more and more, you might find everything feels slower, some people cannot tell the difference but i can and it really bugs me.

when i did a clean install on my sister's machine, everything was so responsive and fast, then i installed all her software and games and i could feel the system getting slower. bloatware also has the same effect and is useless to me so that's why i usually do clean installs