Contributed by Staff January 3, 2006 11:05 AM

So it's been a while since I heard this one, but recently a Windows-using ignoramus actually said he didn't use Mac OS X because it was a toy. I remember that one from the Mac OS 9.x days coming from guys using 98. Otherwise known as the "mother of all stable and fully functional operating systems." Still after using a Mac for as long as I have, I tend to let these things slide. That is, until this morning while I was running Ad-Aware to scan for malware on my system at work. Incidentally, the mere fact that this sort of software even needs to be run at all is a matter for another gripe.

The trouble is, that while there are those who refuse to give Apple its due, I have managed to add another shortcoming to my undocumented list of complaints against Windows, "a real OS." I grant that Windows NT or newer is a multi-tasking operating system. I do not however hold that it is very good at it. Here's an example of why.

Like I said, I had to perform my regular sweep of the file system looking for malware when it fully hit me how cumbersome the Windows process manager is. Normally, I wouldn't even notice--for the most part. Fairly simple operations like checking mail, switching between apps and opening files seem to be a routine process and don't present a real problem. Though, I had noticed that Firefox liked to take its "sweet time" coming to the foreground if it had been in the background for a while. (I recognize the vague-ness of "for a while.") Thunderbird too for that matter. But because of the common thread among these two apps I didn't think much of it until this most recent run of Ad-Aware.

Before I get in too deep here, I would like to state that I realize that a file system intensive operation like what Ad-Aware does is processor and system intensive. The trouble is that I can run similarly intensive operations on non-Windows systems and still retain a less frustrating level of useability. For example, Omni Group has a program OmniDiskSweeper that is also file system intensive. Yet when I change applications while it's running there isn't a lengthy pause that leads to suspicion that the application has hung. The system will certainly be sluggish, but still functional.

And the real "kicker" here is that I'm comparing a 6.5 year old blueberry iBook 300 with 320 megs of RAM to a Dell Dimension 3000 2.8 GHz P4 with 512 megs of RAM. And while obviously not in a labratory the comparison is difficult to forgive. I forgot to update my signatures for Ad-Aware before I ran it. After the update, I actually pondered whether it would be worthwhile running the scan again with the new signatures given the impact the operation has on the system. I thought of the system I was considering, and proceded to run the scan again.


© 2006 Kaomso