My computer is moving slowly. So, I open the Task Manager and look at Processes. There is something called 'plugin-container.exe' and it is using over 700,000 KB. I have no idea what that is and how to get rid of it or even if I should. Help!
Now it's less than 50,000 KB. Did a quick scan with Advanced Care free. Seems to have settled things down.
According to the Goog, it's a Firefox process for plugins. Firefox is notorious for memory leakage, particularly for anything plugin related. I usually have to kill FF through Task Manager/Activity monitor after several hours of continuous use. Memory use steadily climbs until it's using 750MB or more. The memory problems for FF seem to be worse on Mac than Windows in my experience, but it's a hog on either OS.
Thank you, sir. I am such a noob at this stuff. I am dreading moving from XP to something from the new century ;)
Quote from: MetalDog on December 12, 2013, 09:06:04 PM
Thank you, sir. I am such a noob at this stuff. I am dreading moving from XP to something from the new century ;)
Win7 is a very good OS. We use it at work and I started using it for home use recently. It's similar enough to XP in feel that you shouldn't have difficulty transitioning. Win 7 is what Vista should have been. I have zero experience with Win 8, so I'm of no use to you there.
I loved XP, especially from Service Pack 2 on. Microsoft did a helluva a job supporting it for this long.
Thanks for the feedback on 7. Quick question, being all noobish like I am, would it be easier, do you think, for me to just install 7 on my current machine or go get a new computer with 7 installed? I hear people in the know talking about partitioning their HD for different OS's. Is it difficult? Shoot, is it useful?!
Quote from: MetalDog on December 12, 2013, 09:45:40 PM
Thanks for the feedback on 7. Quick question, being all noobish like I am, would it be easier, do you think, for me to just install 7 on my current machine or go get a new computer with 7 installed? I hear people in the know talking about partitioning their HD for different OS's. Is it difficult? Shoot, is it useful?!
Depends on your current machine, but if it's an XP machine I'm guessing you're due for new hardware too. Creating a new partition isn't difficult, again I think it would be more of a concern about your current hardware specs and the size of the HD.
Thanks, mirth! Another quick question, buy one built or build your own?
if you take the time to research then always build your own and by the parts locally so you can take them back that day if they go tits up.
Relatively easy or hard? I am not stupid, just inexperienced. Putting it together myself appeals to me.
it pretty easy in my opinion. the biggest hang up might be connecting all the case wires to the motherboard but the MB will have the needed diagrams.
Sweet.
and getting a good layer of thermal grease between the cpu and cooling tower. but lets be honest here.
at this point all Grogs should know how to apply grease.
Liberally? Straight from the tube? By hand?
for the cpu/cooler just watch some google vids. its pretty easy.
Quote from: MetalDog on December 12, 2013, 08:26:31 PM
My computer is moving slowly. So, I open the Task Manager and look at Processes. There is something called 'plugin-container.exe' and it is using over 700,000 KB. I have no idea what that is and how to get rid of it or even if I should. Help!
I have the same problem with that plugin for FF; it is indeed a resource hog (as is FF itself, as
mirth noted). I still like Firefox, but its memory usage is definitely a problem.
Quote from: MetalDog on December 12, 2013, 09:45:40 PM
I hear people in the know talking about partitioning their HD for different OS's. Is it difficult? Shoot, is it useful?!
I can't testify as to how difficult it is per se. However, my friend who partitioned my PC for me double-checked with a colleague first to make sure he did so correctly (as he'd never done it before himself), but that it went smoothly enough once he actually carried it out. He said the key was to make sure you install XP first, and *then* Win7 (or Win8, whichever one you end up going with).
As to whether or not it's useful/worthwhile, that's really more of a judgment call. I'd say that would largely depend on how many older games you still play on a regular basis, how well they're known to operate on newer OS's (or not, as the case may be), and/or how attached you are to still wanting to play them.
In my particular case, I had my machine partitioned largely due to a number of my older games being known for not always playing nice with post-XP OS's -- most notably,
Lords of the Realm II,
Birth of the Federation,
Shogun Total War, and
Medieval Total War (four games that, collectively, I've probably spent close to five thousand hours playing...and wish to *continue* playing). I own several other older games that don't seem to like newer OS's as well, although I don't play them nearly as much as those four I just mentioned.
However, I'm betting that at this point, I'm the exception to the rule. Odds are good you'd have no real need to partition your your hard drive the way I did. (It's probably worth noting that both BOTF and LOTR2 seem to run fine on the Win7 half of my computer -- not just the XP half.)
I don't think there is mch, if anything, that I would play requiring XP. I could be wrong, but, we'll find out. Besides, it looks like I will probably keep this machine, just offline, in case there is anything I need to go back and play :)
Chrome also seems like a hog. In task manager 1 chrome session shows up as 4 instances. I assume they are threads?
Firefox for me is 127.5mb memory and from 0-3% CPU usage.
Chrome is 60mb @ 0CPU (idle page) and 3 background processes 20-23MB 0CPU
I thinks that's pretty much the case with all primetime browsers as they become mini operating systems in their own right.
MetalDog,
If you haven't built a computer before, I don't know that I'd recommend it. I've only done little modifications- adding a PSU and graphics card- and I didn't find it intuitive or even easy. And those are easy things to install. Building a computer from scratch? No thank you.
I know a lot of folks swear by it, but for me, someone who isn't necessarily the most technically inclined, this is a case where it's better to pay someone to do the labor for me. You're almost certainly better with tools and such than I am, but still. I bought my computer (and my son's) from ibuypower.com. You can customize the hell out of it, their prices are reasonable, and you get a warranty.
Considering how many hours I use my computer, this is one area where I feel it pays to spend a little extra to have it done right. Just my opinion of course. I'm sure there's great satisfaction from building your own computer!
IIRC there are some online shops that let you pick all the parts and then put them together for you. Probably not the most cost-effective way to go though.
I've built two computers myself and almost completely rebuild a third. It wasn't that hard (and I'm not particularly computer savvy) but you want to have some time and patience if you try it. You can also buy 'barebones' computers that have the PSU and motherboard already installed for you. All you need to do is insert the CPU, memory, vid card, and drives (Hard drive, CDrom/DVD etc). The other thing you will need is a copy of your preferred OS. Win8 is pretty cheap and Linux is free. Installing the OS is usually not too hard, just tedious.
You exercise your brain by doing new things. Doing same old all the time rots it. I say build it. If you do have difficulty you can always take it to a shop at that point. Al least you come out having expanded your horizons.
Thanks for the opinions, fellas. I'm with Biggs on this one for the experience, if nothing else. However, I'm willing to take you bet on tools, Toonces. My dad taught me all I needed to know when I was a kid. The right end of the screwdriver is the one you drink from ;)