AccuTron Posted February 10, 2016 Posted February 10, 2016 Long ago, far away, possibly here, I read a comment in passing that those of us with the habit of closing bigger applications we're done with, such as Safari, should leave them open for a time, even if unused, because the application will do internal housekeeping. Anyone know about that?
shirgall Posted February 10, 2016 Posted February 10, 2016 This is kinda like thinking that the state knows better what to do with your resources than you do, honestly. The operating system and applications will focus on what you have in view at the moment, and will deemphasize what is not in the foreground. The less in the background the lower the latency and the more resources available to what is in the foreground. I wouldn't be running something that I did not plan to switch to in the near future or that didn't need to poll for or process new information continuously. Like the state, limit what applications have control of your resources and isolate them from one another. Do not give into supposed software bureaucracy like the example you have given above. There are better ways to clean your cache. 1
A4E Posted February 11, 2016 Posted February 11, 2016 The biggest problem I can think of is that apps in the background already use, and also possibly reserve, portions of your computer's memory. When available memory gets low, it means everything will start going slower from shuffling the used memory to and from your virtual memory, which is likely your hard drive. A well designed computer friendly program will typically not do anything when idle, such as using the processing unit (CPU), unless really necessary. Though apps can do a lot of different things if programmed to do so, an app can not just wish away the resources it is hogging. You simply have to close the app to make that happen. If a developer says that their app does housekeeping, That is likely a big exaggeration, to make you think it is more advanced than it is, or a plea for your trust or something. Basically the same answer as Shirgall, but explained differently.
AccuTron Posted February 12, 2016 Author Posted February 12, 2016 Okay, clears that up pretty much. I usually close apps for resource reasons, but was tracking down a rumor.
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