WindowBlind not a memory hogger

[Doomulation]

Yes, it matters. I play World of Warcraft, which will take up as much memory as available. WoW itself never reaches into virtual memory, but it can displace background programs into it. Since I Alt-Tab quite often, I do notice the other programs coming out of virtual memory into RAM, resulting in lots of hard drive thrashing. The less memory it takes up in the first place, the less time this takes, therefore more happyfuntime++.

Afaik, programs have no control over virtual memory. Windows decides what to put in the virtual memory and what not to. Needless to say, I can play games and have a lot of tasks open and when I tab out, none of the programs halt from memory lack.

If you have enough memory, a good HD with good cache, then you will not run into these problems. The problem you describe often happens because a) you do not have enough memory bandwidth for the processor (too little memory, or no dual channel) or b) You have a heck of a slow HD which is utter crap.

 

[zAlbee]

Oh I agree. Managing virtual memory is completely up to the OS. And the way Windows XP manages memory by default is optimize the current program, at the expense of background programs. Heck, here is a control panel that allows you to change that. I'm too lazy to try it, and I admit I DO want my game to be running optimally when I play it, but the option is there.

Want more proof? On an exact same system setup with Win98 vs newly formatted WinXP, Alt-Tabbing out of the same game (not WoW) in 98 is instant, whereas in XP it takes a second or two. I had tried this when I only had 256 MB or RAM and after I upgrade to 768 MB. XP was still slower.

If you have enough memory, a good HD with good cache, then you will not run into these problems. The problem you describe often happens because a) you do not have enough memory bandwidth for the processor (too little memory, or no dual channel) or b) You have a heck of a slow HD which is utter crap.

Please play WoW before you start insulting my system, kthxbye. I don't care what hard drive you have, using virtual memory is always noticeable. A 50% faster hard drive means nothing when RAM is faster on the order of 1000 times (nanoseconds vs milliseconds).

What I'm describing has nothing to do with memory bandwidth. Memory bandwidth is NOT a bottleneck in this case. It is very much the fault of the OS.

 

[t0rek]

Hey guys, I always have use StyleXP with the "Use no resources options". It doesn't make a lag even in this secondary PC I'm using that has only 256 Mb PC133 RAM! Just think about it, that's why I like it best!

Also the Y'Z toolbar thing takes 5 mb of RAM, and the styler thing takes only like 1 mb. But I can't measure style xp with the no resources thing enabled, because I can't even see the process in the task manager!

And BTW, WindowsBlinds is the program that sucks more RAM AFAIK, of this kind of programs.

Anyway, I have the style theme already, got the icons. The StyleXP compatible toolbar is the only thing left. Many sites claim that Y'Z toolbars are StyleXP compatible but I tested one without results.

I hope you guys can help me with this last request...

 

[yegosimo]

did u try the "Bricopack" thing i posted yesterday ??
it looks cool, you should try it. it doesn't need any tweaking-software or w/e
here's a pic:

 

[t0rek]

WTF? Internet Explorer? anyway that Brico pack style doesn't look the latest Vista Style. Here's how looks my desktop so far Only the explorer bar is left...

 

[Doomulation]

Want more proof? On an exact same system setup with Win98 vs newly formatted WinXP, Alt-Tabbing out of the same game (not WoW) in 98 is instant, whereas in XP it takes a second or two. I had tried this when I only had 256 MB or RAM and after I upgrade to 768 MB. XP was still slower.

XP is also slower than Win98, mind you.

Please play WoW before you start insulting my system, kthxbye. I don't care what hard drive you have, using virtual memory is always noticeable. A 50% faster hard drive means nothing when RAM is faster on the order of 1000 times (nanoseconds vs milliseconds).

What I'm describing has nothing to do with memory bandwidth. Memory bandwidth is NOT a bottleneck in this case. It is very much the fault of the OS.

I'm not insulting the system. I'm writing that if the specs are right, then you should have no problem. And then I might add perhaps that it's WoW's fault, all of this. Since it keeps consuming ram, XP needs to page out background applications to the page file.

 

[Blacklord]

Yeah well i looked into the subject and the answer is simple. WindowBlinds does not hog the systems memory. All it really does is extend the uxtheme.dll to support the windowblinds extension(and add a nice little logo in the corner of the screen). The memory hoggers are actually the skins which aren't optimized. Thats also the reason why Microsoft didn't make XP skinable---->If you get a user made skin and it slows down your system... Who do you turn to? Microsoft! Think if 1/3 of the windows users would use skins... Hell not even a bot could take care off all those questions XD.

In conclusion---> Miretank was right.

 

[Miretank]

!

Let me correct you:
Not only uxtheme, wb also modifies msgina and other shells. I think by using temp files. actually that does not hog memory.

WB (specially the 5th) uses low system resources, even with glassy skins. They can slow down your system IF your machine is overloaded at that moment. Opposite that, WB5 fits EXTREMELY WELL in any 512mb RAM ~ 64MB Video card machine.

 

[Blacklord]

Well yeah thats what i said. It's the skins . Google is the shit

 

[Miretank]

give up on vista buddies

 

[yegosimo]

yep... internet explorer
urs look cool too, but i prefer this one i'm using right now
urs look really glassy, so it is more like the Vista thing

 

[t0rek]

There was no reason to open another thread to discuss this...

 

[WhiteX]

I agree, merged!

 

[Miretank]

Yeah, thanks buddy bluex

@asabo: even greater to hear. but the advantage of wb5 is that it doesn't even appear in the task manager. and no memory consuming in explorer.exe

 

[zAlbee]

I agree, merged!

So THAT's why the thread title changed... hehe.

And then I might add perhaps that it's WoW's fault, all of this. Since it keeps consuming ram, XP needs to page out background applications to the page file.

Yep. What I am saying is that if XP kept more of its resources in RAM instead of paging it, then this wouldn't be as noticeable. I'm now tempted to try that option. Hm...

 

[t0rek]

Back to topic, have you guys find the vista stylexp compatible bar? I find one in themexp.org but is kinda buggy.

 

[Miretank]

torek you should give Styler Toolbar a try.

 

[Flash]

I disagree - if you have a good harddisk, it does not matter. It has never mattered to me. I have never had side effects just because I'm using programs with large memory overhead.

Fastest hard disk available now is a few times slower than slowest RAM used in PCs (EDO SDRAM)

 

[t0rek]

torek you should give Styler Toolbar a try.

I already did, I didn't like it, plus it changes all the explorer window... I just want the explorer buttons to look like vista style, and that's what stylexp might do

 

[Miretank]

Hmmm, now I see.
Some Window Blinds skins let you to change the toolbar too.