New Way To Grade Decay of Computer Installations

skojt writes: "I saw this link in Dr Dobb's Journal (the paper edition) about the behaviour of a slowly decaying computer installation. It refers to a Windows installation, but as the author writes, 'But there will shortly be ports to Linux, Mac OS X, and other Unices; we are confident these OSes are just as prone.'"

Decayed Windows Installation?

[sllort]

Just graph the Kb size of the registry...

Re:Decayed Windows Installation?

[acceleriter]

I was thinking it was more like the Heaviside step function--zero until you install Windows, one thereafter.

Slashdot Effect

[Amazing Quantum Man]

Post a link to your server on Slashdot. That'll decay you really quick.

radioactive windows

[slickwillie]

I've always said that Windows 9x has a half-life of about 12 months.

From the article, a question answered...

[Idarubicin]

"A service has failed to start - BLT300." What is BLT300? Nobody knows.

Obviously, BLT300 is part of a new strategic alliance between Microsoft and Subway. In addition to having that wretched "Connect to the Internet" shortcut, Microsoft is now trying to influence the user's choice of submarine sandwich.

Fight back. Install new open source RedHot Club Sandwich Service instead.

More levels. . .

[Aerog]

Cruft Force 8.5 Larry Flynt. OS has now filled its system drive partition, thereby reaching more than 3 times its original install. Web browsers will not download files more than 640k, swap file now resides permanently on F: yet C: still has less than 1MB space, all non-essential portions have been removed to a "Temp C: Files" directory on F:, essential system files are beginning to be moved to the temp files, windows/inf is the first target to be moved when an install is needed. Writes random data to HD for fun, windows/sysbackup deleted at regular intervals in order to keep registry errors at bay, more porn than most porn sites.

Now I have a 10gb system drive and win2k. Only disk errors can slow me down now!

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:radioactive windows

[MrResistor]

I think he's talking about the portion that actually works...

Re:Next month, in Doctor Dobbs' Journal:

[Anonymous Coward]

Step 1. "Don't use Linux" [netcraft.com]?

This is no surprise.

[Dthoma]

Cruft is a fact of life. It exists within everything, even real life. The only reason people notice it with computers is because computers demand 100% accuracy and require perfect install/uninstall techniques. Cruft/bit rot/software rot/deprecation is guaranteed to occur eventually despite the best efforts of coders and users because the physical conditions under which computers work are imperfect. Remember the last time you spilled a sugary drink on your keyboard? Or accidentally ripped the power cord out of the back of the machine whilst it was busy defragging?

The only way to eliminate cruft (or whatever you want to call it) is to make computers into machines which can function just as well under imperfect physical conditions. A book is still functional, even if you partially break the spine and remove the cover. Fitting lots of failsafes and/or restricting the freedom of installation programs should help reduce cruft. When was the last time satellite control modules suffered from cruft? Or the machines which work our nuclear power stations?

Uninstallers tend to not bother removing everything because some of the old program components may be being used by some other program. The obvious solution would be to stop all programs using each other, but there are two problems with this:

1. You can't force all programmers to not rely upon other components which may or may not exist
2. All programs will have to come bundled with EVERYTHING they need.

So this policy would be unenforceable, and would require much, much bigger hard disk drives. The only obvious solution to his problem would be to stop making the programs integrate themselves into the system so well, so they can be removed with a simple 'rmdir'.

Someone has already mentioned entropy and decay as a cause of cruft, but if it plays such a big part in it, why will a computer still function fine if you leave it in a cupboard for a decade, blow the dust off it, and plug it back in? The reason is that entropy is caused by crappy coding, crappy operating systems, crappy users, crappy physics and crappy integration. Until these three things cease to exist (not likely), then cruft will continue to occur. I don't think anyone could be expected to keep track of the things a 6-year-old PC has to keep track of:

Uninstaller: Duh! I think I'll randomly leave behind 7 files, due to the 0.02% chance they might be used by some other shite program!

OS: Duh! I think I'll randomly fragment the hard disk drive, and fuck up the file system!

User: Duh! I think I'll randomly install the first software I happen to catch my eye on, and install it wherever it's most convenient!

Physical environment: Duh! I think I'll randomly deposit dust on the surface of the motherboard and the hard disks!

Integration: Duh! I think I'll randomly use DLLs from other programs, but not say which!

At the end of the day, it comes down to a balance between convenience and simplicity. Convenience occurs when everything promises to install itself, and to latch onto everything else. This goes wrong because a program simply can't know where and how to install itself to avoid cruft. Simplicity occurs when everything on a PC is in its own self-contained bundle, interacting as little as possible with everything else. This goes wrong because a program has no way of efficiently obtaining data from other hardware or software.

And in case you were wondering, my computer's at cruft force 3 - Lived-in. Surprising, considering it's a 2 year old Windows machine.

I now have proof!

[twoslice]

Finally! Sientific pruf that me sucky windows computer is the fiend behind me bad grammmer, atrocoius speling, and my woeful lack of productivity in my office - Cruft Force 5.

It is a good thing that my is boss is an el' cheapo. His computer is on Cruft force 10 and refuses to repalce it. So with mine at Cruft Force 5 I look like an absolute genius to him!

Poll

[MattCohn.com]

New Slashdot Poll Idea:

My Computer's CRUFT [ddj.com] level is...

• 1, and it's super bitchen kewl l337! :)
• 2, and it will never change
• 3, just the way I like it
• 4, but only because I let my family use it
• 5, have started finding excuses to use others computers
• 6, pleading to the gods
• 7, would research new computers, if I could get on the $#^$in internet!
• 8, making excuses not to go in computer room, thinking it will all be OK...
• 9, trying to use the power of suggestion on children to make them ask for a 'new' computer
• 10, feeling sorry for yourself, like a peice of you is missing. End up donaiting computer to CowboyNeal

Cruft Level 11!

[Valgar]

I dub my SunPCI Win2k install as running at cruft force 11 "Undead"

It shouldn't run, it shouldn't even boot into safe mode, but some odd digital alchemy has occured that has resulted in some necromantic miracle, resulting in a cantankerous, yet unkillable install of Windows.

They left out my favorite

[DaveWood]

On a Windows 98 machine I administered, one aspect of its decay was that several keys on the keyboard stopped working ("e" being the biggest loss, if I recall correctly).

No, not a hardware problem. I tested different keyboards and they all exhibited the same behavior. And when the OS was wiped and Win2k was installed, no more problem.

There was nothing strange installed that I could find, AV software was up to date and apparently functioning... Very funny one.

Who would want to *install* cruft?

[Bitmanhome]

So is Debian the only OS where you can actually install cruft?

Re:Plug, plug

[millette]

I installed Cruft with the os, maybe 9 months ago. I never figured what it does, so it's simply been occupying space on my hd. Now if only there was a simple program to get rid of this old junk I'm not using anymore!

Dont know what you're all doing wrong

[digitalsushi]

Dont know what you're all doing wrong, cause the OS on my Win95 CD has been fine for 7 years. Jeez.

Re:Decayed Windows Installation?

[purpledinoz]

The problem is you guys don't know how to use Windows properly. Here's a list of things you should do: (My Windows runs perfectly after I followed these rules)
1. Take out any peripherals you don't need (ie - Sound Card, NIC, Modem, CD-ROM, Floppy Drive). Less drivers to install means windows doesn't have to think too much.
2. Use WordPad instead of Word. Or better yet, use a pen and paper, it'll lessen the likelyhood of Windows crashing.
3. Use a pen and paper instead of Excel.
4. Use transparencies instead of Powerpoint.
5. You shouldn't need FrontPage since you shouldn't even connect to the Internet. See Rule 7.
6. Don't install anything after a fresh install of Windows.
7. Never connect to the Internet. Don't let Windows phone home so it can download more bugs.
8. Reboot every 30 min.
9. Reformat and re-install often. Don't bother paying Microsoft support to tell you to re-install. I'm telling you for free.
10. Leave your computer off, unplug it, and put it back into the box it came in. This will reduce the frequency of unexpected errors generated by Windows.

Re:Cruft can be keep in check with some work.

[Seekerofknowledge]

I completely agree. I will admit that I like win2k (gasp!), as for me it has always been extremely stable. Just like any other windows version it can succumb to the cruft mentioned in the article, but it does not have to be that way. Everything you talked about (manually cleaning the registry, deleting files/dirs left behind by lazy uninstall progs) goes a long way in keeping your system running. I participate in this kind of housecleaning and it definitely pays off. Every icon in the systray and task that is running is one that I ask for. My box is virtually never off and has gone many months without a reboot, and I don't think I have ever had a bsod with it in the year and half I've had it. All of the problems that other people talk about with windows versions rarely ever occur to me.

And it's all thanks to this gestapo-like control over your own computer. It is just like owning a car. Sure you could driver around on flat tires with worn belts and 6000 mile-old oil, with puke stains in the interior and an inch of bird crap on the windshield, but you shouldn't expect it to fix and clean itself or run and be anywhere near as (seemingly) perfect as the day you bought it.

It takes effort as the parent poster said, and that's all there it to it.