[propbeanie]

Is there a Windows guru in the house? I used to be one back in the 16-bit days, but this "new" stuff befuddles me, and continuing trends displayed by Microsoft are ever more worrisome. Have they already implemented their Windows 10 "snoop" technology fully into Windows 7? Anyway, here's the scenario on my dual-core, little E4400, maxed-out with 2 gig of RAM:

1. nearly constant hard drive activity
2. cpu "idle" activity between 6-12%
3. physical "memory" (hard drive) use of 726mb

this is with Windows update set to "Check for updates, but let me choose whether to download and install them". This indicates nearly constant swap file activity... ?? The processes showing in Performance Meter on the swap file are "System" and "SvcHost.exe", with "MsMpEng.exe" trying to keep up on the cpu side of things. The latter suggests MS Security Essentials, but it no longer is acting like a "background" app...

When I was on the Microsoft Circle for Windows 10 RC stuff, they actually had the OS better than Windows 7 for a time. Then, a bit before the actual release, they changed it, and it was then in a constant state of activity, eating up every bit of resource it could, only relinquishing control to the user when it wanted to. I dumped it and have stayed with Windows 7 and XP. Now, it looks like Windows 7 is like Windows 10, after the last few weeks of updates - besides them practically trashing my two machines with the update process (shades of Vista), and me having to practically bend over backwards to get the machines back with some semblance of "efficiency". I also had to change back a bunch of user preferences in the power saving scheme and the file extensions' associations. Unacceptable.

I'm already in the process of implementing a transition to Linux in my house, and I'm still hitting speed bumps with that, but sometimes, speed bumps are smoother if you hit them faster... Who can explain this increased activity on my computer - a doubling of activity? Are all the bad boys of hacking trying to gain access to my data? Has anyone else noticed this change in the last few weeks? Notice also, all the browser updates... Who of you is keeping up with these "trends" and is able to explain who is doing what here?