Re: upgrade mistake

Fishface wrote:

I tried Windows 7 64-bit and my task-switching was instant. I could
switch from one big app to another I understand that all applications
don't benefit. I only want the system to be able to address more
memory.

Hmm, as soon as I release the Alt+Tab key combo, the switch has always
been immediate for me, even back to 9x-based versions of Windows. The
switching has never been a problem for me. Having more applications
loaded that physical memory can accomodate does cause a slowdown but in
the application itself. Also, I've seen users *claim* they are
multitasking when, in fact, they are single tasking. A user that leaves
programs dormant when they switch away from them isn't multitasking. If
you were using a word processor to reformat a huge document, along with
having a newsreader download all article bodies for your subscribed
newsgroups, along with your database program committing all the pending
changes, along with conversion and merging of multiple video files, and
so on then you are actually multitasking. Most "multitasking" that
users claim is like them digging a hole with a shovel, putting it down
and then hooking up the sprinkler to water the garden, then hauling the
trashbins to the curb, and returning to the shovel to do some more
digging. That's single tasking as far as the user is concerned. There
are occasions when someone walks into my cubicle and has a verbal
discussion with me while I'm watching a database update on one monitor
but entering input via touch typing on a keyboard to a different host as
I'm updating a document on test procedures. I get some weird looks from
those visitors wondering how I manage to do 3 things at once. That's
multitasking by the user. Even that's not a normal condition for me
and, in fact, is just me switching very fast between the tasks. Humans
don't multitask.

It sounds like you are *switching* between dormant applications. By
going 64-bit you can then have even more applications lying dormant for
even longer periods of time before you switch back to them.

Interesting, but I don't quite understand how I can share the printer
without a 64-bit driver except from another 32-bit VM, if you are
implying that is possible.

That was the idea. Run inside a VM an operating system that supports
your needs for that old software or hardware. For hardware drivers,
they must not *directly* access the hardware but instead use mini-port
or class drivers. These describe how to communicate with the device
rather than provide a direct interface to it. They are part of the
Windows Driver Model (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Driver_Model). For
example, and for a printer that I don't even have, I use the printer
wizard in a VM to add an HP LaserJet 4L printer. To access that
printer, I would have to enable file & printer sharing and go through
the networking wizard to set it up. On my host, I'd add a printer but
browse to the networked printer defined in the VM (which must be running
to find that printer). I haven't completed this setup because I don't
have a situation of a printer where no driver exists for the host OS
that I use. One gotcha is that the workgroup you use for your VM has to
be the same as the workgroup for your host OS to do the sharing, but
there could be other gotchas.

Well, I believe it. I've seen it with mine own eyes, unless my XP
install is totally borked. From the FAQ here:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/32-bit-and-64-bit-Windows-frequently-asked-questions

Yet I can't see how immediately switching focus to another dormant or
active application when I release Alt+Tab could be made any faster.
Apparently I have not encountered a long hang when *I* am single-tasking
between the applications. I have seen active applications (they are
performing some lengthy and CPU intensive processing even when switched
away from) that will lag but that's not due to the context switch.
That's due to the application not getting to its code to refresh its
window (i.e., repaint) or accept user input. The OS did an instant
switch. That the switched-to app isn't ready isn't the OS' fault.

I just know that with about twenty-two Internet Explorer windows open,
very strange things begin to happen. I can no longer copy from IE,
and new windows cease to spawn. Of course, other large apps are
running concurrently.

I've had up to 72 concurrent tabs open and a web page loaded in each
(just don't load pages that continually update themselves which keeps
updating the disk files). I ran out of reasons to have more tabs open
so that's been my max so far. At the same time, I've had Outlook,
Dialog (newsreader), and some other apps loaded, too. On occasion, I
may be doing a video merge but it sucks so much CPU horsepower and
floods the data bus with disk I/O that it will always affect anything
else that runs - but it hasn't limited me to how many tabs I can have
concurrently loaded in IE8. Because I am consuming more than the 2GB
physical memory in my host, slowdown is apparent due to paging to disk.
So I would have a more responsive host if I could add more physical
memory (that was accessible to user processes) but that's a
responsiveness issue, not how many tabs I can have open. Obviously once
all my physical and pagefile space got used up then I'd be hurting to
allocate more memory to any application.

I guess it comes down to how many dormant applications you want to leave
sitting dead in memory before you happen to get back to them. I tend to
be overly neat so I'm always cleaning up, plus it simply gets confusing
when you have umpteen programs loaded concurrently. It's like leaving
all your kitchen drawers pulled out and all the kitchen cabinet doors
left open because you might need to access one of them eventually.
Taken to the extreme, you could add add terabytes of memory to your
computer and then have all applications loaded into memory and the Start
menu doesn't load them but merely switch between them. Interesting
thought, isn't it, except for the startup time before Windows becomes
usable due to all the loading. Alas, the hard disk remains a crippling
factor in speed hence why SSDs are making a comeback.
.

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