Back in March the web version of the Danish news paper Politiken ran an article on boosting computer performance [danish], where they list several steps for tuning Windows, with the last two steps suggesting that maybe re-installing Windows or installing Linux is the answer.
They list the steps for a Windows performance boost as follows:
- Update drivers
- Update firmware
- Give Windows less to think about (involving messing with the registry, disabling unnecessary graphic effects, removing unused fonts etc.)
- Overwhelmed by icons? (Involving messing around with msconfig.)
- Malware removal
- Defrag the hard drive
Now consider that updating drivers — and especially firmware — requires very specific knowledge of your hardware, while rummaging around in the registry and msconfig requires a good deal of knowledge about how software works and in some cases knowledge about — or ability to guess — how software vendors may choose to name their executables and the paths at which they might put the executables. Malware removal may have become easier over the years, but to a lot of users the terminology and processes involved seem intimidating, which ultimately stops them from doing it properly; or at all. And finally, defragmentation? Are you fucking kidding me?
Now Linux (let’s just take any Debian based distro for these examples.)
- Updating drivers is handled like all other updates, i.e. unless you’ve specifically disabled the automatic check for updates, you’ll be prompted to install fresh drivers pretty much as soon as they’re available. No manual searching required (unless you have some poorly supported hardware that doesn’t have drivers in any of the available repositories).
- Updating firmware can be a bitch, since most firmware updaters are Win only. On the other hand, I’ve never had to update my firmware from Linux on neither my MacBook nor my ThinkPad, so personally I regard this as a non-issue, but your mileage may vary.
- Cleaning up the registry… What registry?
- Managing applications that auto-start? System > Preferences > Startup Applications — easy and not as potentially dangerous as msconfig!
- Disabling unnecessary visual effects? System > Preferences > Appearance > Visual Effects.
- Malware removal. Not really necessary (for the time being), but under all circumstances no harder than on Windows.
- Defragmentation. No!
So to sum up, all you actively need to do to keep a Debian based Linux box speedy is basically to decide which applications and services you want to start up as you log in. That’s it! (If you’re really picky about getting the most out of your battery, you may want to turn off visual effects while running on battery power; or all together.)
Now I’m left wondering why so many people think that running Linux is for geeks only. To me it seems like running a Windows machine (and keeping it running) requires a good deal of knowledge about your computer’s hardware, it is insanely time-consuming and in general a pain in the ass. (I wouldn’t know for sure since I haven’t done it for several years, but I still help plenty of people with their Windows related problems.) No matter what OS people run, they always tend to have a backup geek they can turn to when things get too complicated — that goes for OS X, Windows and Linux, so why not start relying a little more on your personal Linux geek?
