WEBVTT - Will using multiple applications kill my computer?

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<v Speaker 1>Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray.

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<v Speaker 1>It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology? With

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<v Speaker 1>tech stuff from how stuff works dot com. Hello everybody,

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<v Speaker 1>welcome to the podcast. My name is Chris Polette, IM

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<v Speaker 1>an editor here at how Stuff Works. Sitting next to

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<v Speaker 1>me as usual as senior writer Jonathan Strickland. Hey there,

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<v Speaker 1>today we're we're gonna deviate from the norm. Normally, Jonathan

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<v Speaker 1>and I meet to talk about what we're gonna do

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<v Speaker 1>for our podcasting before we sit down on the microphone.

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<v Speaker 1>But this time someone else threw us. Threw us a suggestion,

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<v Speaker 1>we thought we'd answer the question. Yeah. Listener Jake Suffian

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<v Speaker 1>wrote in and asked a question that we thought was

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<v Speaker 1>a good one, So we decided to tackle it, and

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<v Speaker 1>he wrote, I'm always worry about leaving too many applications

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<v Speaker 1>open at a time. I've heard that it's better to

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<v Speaker 1>close them than to keep and to keep the speed

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<v Speaker 1>of my computer up. But if I do keep them open,

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<v Speaker 1>is this at all bad bad in quotations for the

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<v Speaker 1>computer in the long run. So we thought we'd hit

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<v Speaker 1>this because a lot of people are curious, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>what is it that makes their computer slow. Um, you

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<v Speaker 1>know a lot of people do have a lot of

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<v Speaker 1>applications open at a time at c s. During the

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<v Speaker 1>key note, one of the executives from from Microsoft said

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<v Speaker 1>that while designing Windows seven, um, they did it with

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<v Speaker 1>one with one particular thing in mind, which is that

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<v Speaker 1>the average user has between five and fifteen windows open

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<v Speaker 1>at a time. And is that windows or applications. There'll

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<v Speaker 1>be windows, so you might have two different say Internet

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<v Speaker 1>Explorer windows open at a time, and multiple tabs within

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<v Speaker 1>each windows. So it might be it is five to

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<v Speaker 1>fifteen instances of applications, I guess you could say, but

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<v Speaker 1>you figured that's an average. That means they are outliers.

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<v Speaker 1>So there are people who have a lot more applications

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<v Speaker 1>open than that, and there are people who may only

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<v Speaker 1>do one at a time. Um, so is this bad

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<v Speaker 1>for your computer? Do you want to give the short answer? No,

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<v Speaker 1>there you go, So for of you want to listen

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<v Speaker 1>and on the rest of it, let's let's take a

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<v Speaker 1>little journey here. Um. So, yeah, the short answer is

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<v Speaker 1>that having lots of applications open is not really bad

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<v Speaker 1>for your computer, not not on its own. Now, there

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<v Speaker 1>are complications that can arise and things that can make

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<v Speaker 1>your computer run more slowly, but it's not going to

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<v Speaker 1>hurt your computer, not permanently anyway. So part of the

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<v Speaker 1>reason of that is that you know, you you may

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<v Speaker 1>run a lot of applications, you notice that your memory

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<v Speaker 1>usage is starting to suffer because of it. It's it's

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<v Speaker 1>using a lot of your computer's memory. Each application you

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<v Speaker 1>open requires computer memory to run, and you may not

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<v Speaker 1>necessarily sorry to interrupt, No, no, necessarily uh look to

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<v Speaker 1>see I mean you may not be needing to to

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<v Speaker 1>hit control to lead and check exactly how much uh

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<v Speaker 1>you know, the processes tab and see how much memory

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<v Speaker 1>each application is using. You could tell us sort of intuitively,

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<v Speaker 1>because you'll be able to notice that the other applications

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<v Speaker 1>are running much more slowly, and you're gonna go, okay,

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<v Speaker 1>something's up. And some applications are more guilty of hugging

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<v Speaker 1>memory than others. For example, anti virus software is uh,

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<v Speaker 1>that's a huge drain on memory. Now, it's also something

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<v Speaker 1>that we recommend you use because viruses will cause way

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<v Speaker 1>more harm to your computer than running a lot of

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<v Speaker 1>applications at once. But while you run anti virus software,

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<v Speaker 1>keep in mind that's gonna require a lot of your

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<v Speaker 1>computer's resources. Uh, and don't don't use more than one

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<v Speaker 1>because if you do, that's going to double that demand

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<v Speaker 1>on your computer's resources. And multiple versions of or different

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<v Speaker 1>versions of the same kind of software, like anti virus

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<v Speaker 1>software or even anti spyware software. Uh, they don't always

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<v Speaker 1>play well with each other. Yeah, they can cause your

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<v Speaker 1>computer to crash. They can. They can just cause everything

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<v Speaker 1>to to freeze over and over. Um. It's good to

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<v Speaker 1>pick a you know, a good anti virus, a good

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<v Speaker 1>anti spyware software package and stick with it. Don't sit

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<v Speaker 1>there and think, hey, more is better, because it's not there.

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<v Speaker 1>There are a lot of things that affect your computer's memory.

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<v Speaker 1>Obviously the physical amount of RAM you have uh in there,

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<v Speaker 1>and there are other things too. I mean, you can

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<v Speaker 1>max out the RAM that goes inside your computer, but um,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, you have other things going on. You have

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<v Speaker 1>your processors, clock speed. Uh, your your computer maybe trying

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<v Speaker 1>to handle things that that simply weren't designed for it.

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<v Speaker 1>For example, I have an older um PC that I

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<v Speaker 1>use at home simply for server purposes and to run

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<v Speaker 1>the occasional application that only runs on Windows. Well, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>if I have a five mega hurts uh penni UM

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<v Speaker 1>four processor and I'm trying to run the latest gaming

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<v Speaker 1>software on it. That's gonna you know, it may barely run,

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<v Speaker 1>but it's gonna take a lot more performance out of

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<v Speaker 1>the machine because it's gonna it's gonna max out everything

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<v Speaker 1>that's running on there. So I may have the RAM

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<v Speaker 1>maxed out, and I mean at the processor, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>using as many cycles as it can handle. But right

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<v Speaker 1>it's it's gonna run slowly and it's gonna appear you

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<v Speaker 1>know to uh to really have problems with it. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>kind of chugs and little fits and starts if you

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<v Speaker 1>if you don't have the the right kind of processor,

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<v Speaker 1>if it's not powerful enough. Um. That's a good point

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<v Speaker 1>that to bring up to. With processors. You might think, Hey,

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<v Speaker 1>if I've got a lot of applications opening my processors

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<v Speaker 1>running a lot more frequently, is that going to burn

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<v Speaker 1>my processor out? Well? The nice thing about microprocessors is

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<v Speaker 1>that when the manufacturers make these, they they put in

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<v Speaker 1>a limit on how fast that processor can go. So

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<v Speaker 1>when you hear about your processors speed, that's kind of

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<v Speaker 1>an artificial speed. It's one that they've instituted they being

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<v Speaker 1>the the manufacturers, so that when you run these programs,

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<v Speaker 1>it runs at a speed that it's capable of running

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<v Speaker 1>out for prolonged periods of time without overheating and just

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<v Speaker 1>breaking down. So as long as you're can computers ventilation

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<v Speaker 1>system or cooling system is working properly, you should be

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<v Speaker 1>all right. Now. If you're one of those hardcore gamers

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<v Speaker 1>who likes to over clock a CPU, and by overclock

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<v Speaker 1>we mean you break through those limits, you allow the

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<v Speaker 1>CPU to process at its actual maximum processing speed as

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<v Speaker 1>opposed to the one that was the limit that was

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<v Speaker 1>placed on it. Uh, then you run into the chance

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<v Speaker 1>of overheating your computer, or at least overheating your microprocessor,

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<v Speaker 1>and that can cause hardware failures or crashes, instability, that

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<v Speaker 1>kind of thing. Um. But if you're if you're if

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<v Speaker 1>you haven't overclocked your CPU, it should be pretty much

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<v Speaker 1>taking care of making sure that it's not gonna melt

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<v Speaker 1>down or anything on its own. If you're something else

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<v Speaker 1>that I just thought about. If you are, um, if

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<v Speaker 1>you're running a PC or actually any kind of computer

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<v Speaker 1>and you are concerned about the amount of processing power

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<v Speaker 1>you're using, or whether or not you're maxing out your

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<v Speaker 1>memory and slowing your peter down. UM. Consider other things

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<v Speaker 1>that might be affecting it, like do you have a

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<v Speaker 1>large desktop picture or desktop? Um? Are you using any

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<v Speaker 1>kind of customization software for your icons or your cursor

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<v Speaker 1>or anything like that. I mean, those things are just

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<v Speaker 1>little things that you might have installed and you think, oh, well,

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<v Speaker 1>you know it's just my cursor. Well, and your computer

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<v Speaker 1>is trying to render that you know, fancy uh customization

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<v Speaker 1>software and that that kind of thing. Those are little

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<v Speaker 1>things that you can cut back on if you are

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<v Speaker 1>worried about whether or not your computer is being overtaxed um,

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<v Speaker 1>and that might help you, you know, cut back on

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<v Speaker 1>some of the process or excess processor cycles too. Yeah.

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<v Speaker 1>And there's this little stuff. Yeah. And in the same vein,

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<v Speaker 1>if you put a lot of um of programs on

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<v Speaker 1>your on your desktop or or files or whatever so

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<v Speaker 1>that you can access them from your desktop. Each time

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<v Speaker 1>you do that, that's another file that your computer has

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<v Speaker 1>to be able to process and and handle every time

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<v Speaker 1>you boot up your computer. So if you're one of

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<v Speaker 1>those people, as a desktop that just is covered with

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<v Speaker 1>with files and you're wondering why your computer is taking

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<v Speaker 1>so long to boot up. That may be a contributing factor.

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<v Speaker 1>So for those of us who like to keep an

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<v Speaker 1>uncluttered desktop, um, we actually have faster boot times in general,

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<v Speaker 1>assuming nothing else is wrong with our computers of course,

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<v Speaker 1>And um, you know anything else that you might have

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<v Speaker 1>instell in the background anything. If you're a Windows usually

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<v Speaker 1>might see this stuff in the system tray. Um, you

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<v Speaker 1>know some of this stuff you you open and it loads,

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<v Speaker 1>and you think, well, I don't have a running because

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<v Speaker 1>you don't see it in the in the task bar. Well,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, some of that stuff is still running in

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<v Speaker 1>the background. And as I said before, if you hit

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<v Speaker 1>control the leade, you can look and see what those

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<v Speaker 1>other processes are and you might be surprised how much

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<v Speaker 1>stuff is actually technically running on your computer even though

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<v Speaker 1>it doesn't appear you know, in that in that bar, right, yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>And that that can definitely affect your computer's performance as well.

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<v Speaker 1>And we should also mention that there are certain programs,

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<v Speaker 1>particularly web browsers, that have had problems traditionally with memory leaks.

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<v Speaker 1>And by that what we mean is, let's say you

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<v Speaker 1>have an older version of Firefox, so Firefox too are older,

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<v Speaker 1>and you open up several tabs, and Firefox, each tab

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<v Speaker 1>your opening is putting another um kind of a drain

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<v Speaker 1>on your computer's memory, and if you have a lot

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<v Speaker 1>of those tabs open, it puts more of a drain. Well.

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<v Speaker 1>With Firefox, one of the problems was that even when

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<v Speaker 1>you closed out individual tabs. So let's say you've got

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<v Speaker 1>twenty tabs open in your browser and you start to

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<v Speaker 1>close them out, the leak would still be there. The

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<v Speaker 1>drain on your computer's memory would still be there. So

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<v Speaker 1>even though you'd be quite quitting out of all these

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<v Speaker 1>individual tabs as a whole, the browser is still putting

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<v Speaker 1>a big demand on your computer. So, uh, the later

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<v Speaker 1>browsers have pretty much kind of worked this out, so

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<v Speaker 1>it doesn't do that quite so dramatically as it used to.

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<v Speaker 1>But that's another thing to keep in mind. Like, the

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<v Speaker 1>only way you could really take care of that Firefox

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<v Speaker 1>problem was to quit out of your browser completely and

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<v Speaker 1>then open it again, and then that would pretty much

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<v Speaker 1>reset the memory usage. But yeah, be odd because you're like,

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<v Speaker 1>I only have one tab open and it's not even

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<v Speaker 1>on a flash based site. There's nothing that it should be.

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<v Speaker 1>You know, it shouldn't be pulling this much memory and

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<v Speaker 1>then yet you would look in your and your test

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<v Speaker 1>manager and there it was so um. Fortunately, like I said,

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<v Speaker 1>a lot of the later ones have addressed this problem.

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<v Speaker 1>But that's another possible issue if your computer is going

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<v Speaker 1>very slowly. Yeah, but to uh, to go back to

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<v Speaker 1>the question in hand, it um, it doesn't really hurt

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<v Speaker 1>your computer to have all this stuff running. It's just

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<v Speaker 1>slowing you down. And of course, you know, if you

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<v Speaker 1>overtax your computer and you've got a big project open

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<v Speaker 1>and you haven't saved it in a while and something crashes, well,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, you may regret having all that extra stuff open. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>So there are reasons to kind of limit the number

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<v Speaker 1>of applications who have opened. Mainly, the more you have,

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<v Speaker 1>the more Windows has to assuming you're using a PC,

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<v Speaker 1>the you know, any operating system has to do this,

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<v Speaker 1>but most people tend to use Windows. So the more

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<v Speaker 1>applications you have opened, the more Windows has to make

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<v Speaker 1>sure that everything's playing nicely with each other. And not

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<v Speaker 1>all programs do that because you know, it's it's hard

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<v Speaker 1>to plan for every contingency, so sometimes programs just don't

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<v Speaker 1>work very well when other programs are running at the

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<v Speaker 1>same time. So every time you're opening up an application,

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<v Speaker 1>you need to remember, Okay, well there's the chance that

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<v Speaker 1>this could cause my system to crash. Uh. You know,

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<v Speaker 1>it's not a big chance, it's not huge, but it

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<v Speaker 1>does it is a possibility. And before we finish, I

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<v Speaker 1>guess we should also quickly talk about the registry file registry.

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<v Speaker 1>So you may have seen errors that were registry errors.

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<v Speaker 1>Might wonder what that is. Well, the registry file is

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<v Speaker 1>like a database. It is Windows way of keeping track

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<v Speaker 1>of what applications and settings there are on your computer

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<v Speaker 1>at any particular time. So every time you add a

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<v Speaker 1>program or application to your computer, uh, it creates an

0:12:01.440 --> 0:12:05.360
<v Speaker 1>entry in your registry file. Every time you uninstall, if

0:12:05.400 --> 0:12:09.480
<v Speaker 1>you uninstalled properly, then it removes the entry. But their

0:12:09.520 --> 0:12:11.520
<v Speaker 1>problems arise when you do things like let's say you

0:12:11.559 --> 0:12:13.880
<v Speaker 1>just delete a file. You don't uninstall the program, but

0:12:13.920 --> 0:12:15.520
<v Speaker 1>you just you know, go to the folder and you

0:12:15.559 --> 0:12:19.000
<v Speaker 1>delete it manually. It may not be reflected in your

0:12:19.040 --> 0:12:21.920
<v Speaker 1>registry file. And then when Windows starts loading things up

0:12:21.920 --> 0:12:24.640
<v Speaker 1>and it starts looking for this program that no longer

0:12:24.760 --> 0:12:27.320
<v Speaker 1>is there, but it according to the registry, it should

0:12:27.360 --> 0:12:30.840
<v Speaker 1>be there. That's where you start having registry errors. So

0:12:31.800 --> 0:12:33.960
<v Speaker 1>a lot of this is preventable. I mean, you just

0:12:34.160 --> 0:12:36.640
<v Speaker 1>you just have to make sure that you are installing

0:12:36.679 --> 0:12:40.960
<v Speaker 1>and removing applications in ways that Windows is aware of

0:12:41.000 --> 0:12:43.439
<v Speaker 1>what you're doing. So you're either uninstalling or you're going

0:12:43.480 --> 0:12:46.800
<v Speaker 1>to the ad removed programs in your in your Windows Manager.

0:12:47.480 --> 0:12:49.880
<v Speaker 1>And uh, that's the best way to take care of

0:12:49.920 --> 0:12:53.560
<v Speaker 1>these issues. And uh, of course, the other big point

0:12:53.559 --> 0:12:55.600
<v Speaker 1>I guess I should make is be smart when you're

0:12:55.600 --> 0:13:01.040
<v Speaker 1>on the web because malware like viruses, trojan, spyware, that

0:13:01.120 --> 0:13:04.520
<v Speaker 1>kind of stuff that can slow your computer down as well. Um,

0:13:04.520 --> 0:13:07.680
<v Speaker 1>and you're certainly not going to see that in your taskbar. No, no,

0:13:07.760 --> 0:13:12.000
<v Speaker 1>not if they know what they're doing. Virus that little

0:13:12.000 --> 0:13:16.280
<v Speaker 1>skull crosses on the eyes, I wonder if that's bad. Um,

0:13:16.320 --> 0:13:19.240
<v Speaker 1>So yeah, just be careful where you go on the

0:13:19.280 --> 0:13:23.640
<v Speaker 1>web because that you know that you could easily download

0:13:23.679 --> 0:13:26.640
<v Speaker 1>some malware and that could seriously slow down your computer.

0:13:26.800 --> 0:13:30.640
<v Speaker 1>But as for the applications, uh, you know, go to town,

0:13:30.800 --> 0:13:34.439
<v Speaker 1>have fun. Just remember it can make your computer unstable,

0:13:34.480 --> 0:13:38.320
<v Speaker 1>but it does not actually hurt your machine run. No,

0:13:38.440 --> 0:13:41.280
<v Speaker 1>not in the long run. You can pretty much anything

0:13:41.320 --> 0:13:44.080
<v Speaker 1>you do as long as it's not like malware. Uh,

0:13:44.120 --> 0:13:47.880
<v Speaker 1>it's not gonna cause your computer irreparable harm. You may

0:13:48.200 --> 0:13:50.160
<v Speaker 1>get to a point where everything is so frozen that

0:13:50.200 --> 0:13:52.840
<v Speaker 1>you have to go to an earlier backup, So this

0:13:52.920 --> 0:13:54.400
<v Speaker 1>is a good time to remind you to back up

0:13:54.400 --> 0:13:56.840
<v Speaker 1>your system. But you're never going to get to a

0:13:56.920 --> 0:13:59.720
<v Speaker 1>point where that is what's going to cause your computer

0:13:59.760 --> 0:14:02.160
<v Speaker 1>to me down, at least not as far as I know.

0:14:02.360 --> 0:14:05.000
<v Speaker 1>There may be something out there where some wow, I

0:14:05.040 --> 0:14:07.520
<v Speaker 1>had the perfect storm and now the inside of my

0:14:07.520 --> 0:14:11.080
<v Speaker 1>computer is goog, but it would be news to me

0:14:11.600 --> 0:14:15.679
<v Speaker 1>your allege may very some restrictions apply exactly. Well, that's uh.

0:14:15.760 --> 0:14:18.079
<v Speaker 1>I think that's pretty much wraps our discussion up. Thank

0:14:18.080 --> 0:14:21.240
<v Speaker 1>you very much Jake for writing in, and uh, everyone

0:14:21.280 --> 0:14:23.520
<v Speaker 1>out there, I mean, if you have questions, please feel

0:14:23.560 --> 0:14:26.960
<v Speaker 1>free podcasts at how stuff works dot com. We're happy

0:14:27.040 --> 0:14:30.200
<v Speaker 1>to answer your questions. We love getting that mail, um,

0:14:30.360 --> 0:14:34.360
<v Speaker 1>especially when it's complimentary. And and for those of you

0:14:34.400 --> 0:14:38.440
<v Speaker 1>who are wondering, I do blush. So thank you very much,

0:14:38.600 --> 0:14:41.160
<v Speaker 1>And if you want to learn more about all things

0:14:41.200 --> 0:14:44.800
<v Speaker 1>computer and tech related, visit how stuff works dot com

0:14:45.040 --> 0:14:48.800
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0:14:48.840 --> 0:14:51.480
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