If you want an easier way to "zoom" windows/maximize, you can set a universal keyboard shortcut for it. In the keyboard system preferences, under keyboard shortcuts, under all applications, create a new entry for "zoom" and assign it a hotkey (i.e. cmd+shift+z), and zoom will be that in every program (add "zoom window" again, since microsoft programs suck).
Regarding the windows... sometimes it does come back to the size and place i left it at, but i'd say about 75% of the time, it seems to randomly pick a place to open it and the size seems to automatically adjust to the size of the material inside. It's quite frustrating. I think i'll call Mac Help on monday to see if they know what to do, because the book i'm reading says the same thing you're saying... that it should remember it.
Do you close the application's windows before you quit the application? If so, don't.
When you Hide an app, it *does* keep running in the background... so if you have, say, a download happening in Safari, and you Hide it, it'll keep going.
However, most apps only really use the CPU when you're actively using them interactively. You can't do that when they're hidden, obviously.
In such cases, they take up RAM, but the VM takes care of that issue by swapping it out and in as needed. (And actually, they speed up the GUI slightly because the Quartz layer has fewer windows to try and composite into a final image. It's a small difference though.)
It's just hard to believe that it's not chewing up resources in the background like windows does.
It is, but you paid for the RAM, so the Mach kernel's philosophy is to put it to use for you. It tries to keep it almost 100% full - unused expensive RAM serves no purpose. As Kickaha said, the excellent VM will move more and more stuff out to disk if you keep not using it for awhile.
I leave all my apps running all the time too, unless one is poorly written and is using CPU time when it should be quiescent. You can just put Activity Monitor in the Dock and open it to take a quick look at what %CPU all of the processes are using, if you suspect that something is a runaway process somewhere. Ironically, Activity Monitor probably SHOULD be quit when you are done with it, as it is an app that runs every so many seconds whether it is visible or not.
For the past 24 hours, my computer went haywire. Apps were crashing right and left and the computer froze up at least 20 times. I did a hardware check and no errors. I reinstalled the OSX, and the same problem.
So i took it back. Apparently, they had put a bad stick of RAM in it that messed up the logic board. I dunno why that didn't show on a hardware check, but they said that can happen.
They gave me a new computer. Now i don't seem to have any of the problems with windows randomly placing themselves, so i've got my fingers crossed.
If you have a moment, I'd say, look through your dock and see if there are any extraneous programs that aren't being used, and quit them. That way, the other programs can use more RAM for themselves.
Er, but, um... no? Whether you quit an app, or just don't bring it forward again, other apps will be swapped in as necessary and use the RAM.
Unless you're trying to force a bad high-memory block of RAM not to ever be hit... in which case good luck unless you've got a >512MB stick in there, have it in the highest slot, and don't plan on running more than an app or two at a time... \ (Now mind you, I've *done* that, but it was under OS9, back when things were a bit more predictable because you *had* to manually manage your memory...)
The only thing a quit app saves you is VM space on the disk.
The only thing a quit app saves you is VM space on the disk.
And I've noticed that quitting an app requires first loading it back into RAM so the command can be executed. So something useful has to be swapped out to disk, the condemned app loaded, and the useful things swapped back in afterwards to re-fill the RAM. All that disk thrashing can produce a significant (if temporary) performance hit.
I do it sometimes anyway, because VM space can grow to a substantial chunk of my iBook's tiny HD. But if HD space is ample, no reason to not to leave everything open and hidden.
If you have a moment, I'd say, look through your dock and see if there are any extraneous programs that aren't being used, and quit them. That way, the other programs can use more RAM for themselves.
Comments
Originally posted by Tidelwav
Thank you!!
Regarding the windows... sometimes it does come back to the size and place i left it at, but i'd say about 75% of the time, it seems to randomly pick a place to open it and the size seems to automatically adjust to the size of the material inside. It's quite frustrating. I think i'll call Mac Help on monday to see if they know what to do, because the book i'm reading says the same thing you're saying... that it should remember it.
Do you close the application's windows before you quit the application? If so, don't.
However, most apps only really use the CPU when you're actively using them interactively. You can't do that when they're hidden, obviously.
In such cases, they take up RAM, but the VM takes care of that issue by swapping it out and in as needed. (And actually, they speed up the GUI slightly because the Quartz layer has fewer windows to try and composite into a final image. It's a small difference though.)
Originally posted by Tidelwav
It's just hard to believe that it's not chewing up resources in the background like windows does.
It is, but you paid for the RAM, so the Mach kernel's philosophy is to put it to use for you. It tries to keep it almost 100% full - unused expensive RAM serves no purpose. As Kickaha said, the excellent VM will move more and more stuff out to disk if you keep not using it for awhile.
I leave all my apps running all the time too, unless one is poorly written and is using CPU time when it should be quiescent. You can just put Activity Monitor in the Dock and open it to take a quick look at what %CPU all of the processes are using, if you suspect that something is a runaway process somewhere. Ironically, Activity Monitor probably SHOULD be quit when you are done with it, as it is an app that runs every so many seconds whether it is visible or not.
For the past 24 hours, my computer went haywire. Apps were crashing right and left and the computer froze up at least 20 times. I did a hardware check and no errors. I reinstalled the OSX, and the same problem.
So i took it back. Apparently, they had put a bad stick of RAM in it that messed up the logic board. I dunno why that didn't show on a hardware check, but they said that can happen.
They gave me a new computer. Now i don't seem to have any of the problems with windows randomly placing themselves, so i've got my fingers crossed.
Unless you're trying to force a bad high-memory block of RAM not to ever be hit... in which case good luck unless you've got a >512MB stick in there, have it in the highest slot, and don't plan on running more than an app or two at a time...
The only thing a quit app saves you is VM space on the disk.
Originally posted by Kickaha
The only thing a quit app saves you is VM space on the disk.
And I've noticed that quitting an app requires first loading it back into RAM so the command can be executed. So something useful has to be swapped out to disk, the condemned app loaded, and the useful things swapped back in afterwards to re-fill the RAM. All that disk thrashing can produce a significant (if temporary) performance hit.
I do it sometimes anyway, because VM space can grow to a substantial chunk of my iBook's tiny HD. But if HD space is ample, no reason to not to leave everything open and hidden.
Originally posted by Placebo
If you have a moment, I'd say, look through your dock and see if there are any extraneous programs that aren't being used, and quit them. That way, the other programs can use more RAM for themselves.
Not necessary. The OS takes care of that.