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Microsoft once tried to cut Windows 11 RAM usage, install size by 20%, now it’s trying again in 2026

⁨332⁩ ⁨likes⁩

Submitted ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨throws_lemy@lemmy.nz⁩ to ⁨technology@lemmy.world⁩

https://www.windowslatest.com/2026/03/23/microsoft-once-tried-to-cut-windows-11-ram-usage-install-disk-size-by-20-now-its-trying-again-in-2026/

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Comments

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  • texture@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨minutes⁩ ago

    (laughs in linux)

    good luck with that

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  • ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    Just tell your AI agents to reduce the RAM usage and install size by 20% and let them rip. How hard can it be?

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    • sylver_dragon@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      Simple, NoPilot can just erase all your files. Binaries can’t take up memory of they can’t be loaded.

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    • panda_abyss@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      More like tell your users to only run services in the cloud and not to run anything on their own computers.

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      • ICastFist@programming.dev ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

        Instructions unclear, now Chrome Edge webview is running every cloud application as a separate electron process

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      • MadMadBunny@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

        Oh they’re getting there alright….

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    • ChicoSuave@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      Tell AI to download more RAM

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    • criss_cross@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      I figure that was the prompt that caused this “bug”

      nsaneforums.com/…/microsoft-kb5079473-breaks-inte…

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  • andallthat@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    Amateurs. On my personal pc, windows RAM usage is exactly 0.

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    • BladeFederation@piefed.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      altr

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  • BlackLaZoR@lemmy.world ⁨19⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    If it worked out, the idle Windows 11 RAM usage would’ve been around 4.8GB

    Me on beefy Linux distro with a metric ton of garbage installed: 3.2GB

    Good luck vibe coding memory efficiency…

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    • 01189998819991197253@infosec.pub ⁨18⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Copilot. Make no mistakes and be efficient with memory usage.

      Hahahahahah

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      • BlackLaZoR@lemmy.world ⁨18⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        You no want 6GB LLM running as a system service???

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    • BilSabab@lemmy.world ⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      is it even possible to vibe code efficient memory use properly?

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      • Buddahriffic@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        Possible? Yes. Likely? No.

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    • HexaBack@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨16⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      16GB RAM. ~3500 packages building up a nightmarish franken-debian of like ~250ish apps. 1.5GB RAM usage on boot. optimisation really does wonders

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  • chahn.chris@piefed.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    All at a time where I think I’m actually going to switch to Linux.

    I just tried out an install on my laptop and boy does it work well even for gaming.

    Windows has, nothing I actually need any more?

    It feels really big to really leave Windows for good, but, I think it’s going to happen after a bit more testing of my Linux setup.

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    • Haquer@lemmy.today ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      I told myself I’d give Win11 (using tools to uninstall all the bullshit/tracking) for 3-4 months before seriously considering linux. I made it 3 months, got tired of having to re-uninstall shit I don’t want every update and just flat out wiped the install and installed CachyOS. It’s been perfect, even new game releases like Death Stranding 2 worked out of the box, fuck windows.

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      • chahn.chris@piefed.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

        Aww yeah love to hear these stories!

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    • lemmyng@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      Oohh, Bazzite?

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      • QuandaleDingle@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

        Bazzite 🥰

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    • tankplanker@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      This is why its been announced now. With all the tracking Microsoft has in W11, including being able to track usage to an email account for most, they will have a good idea who has binned windows and who hasn’t.

      Its this volume of switching that has them worried enough to actually pretend to fix things. I say pretend as its fairly obvious what they need to remove to reduce the bloat on RAM but their business it tied to it now, like concrete over boots on a mafia snitch.

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    • thedeadwalking4242@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      I have a back up SSD with windows on I swap out to play the very few games that still require it that I just can’t give up. But I don’t have the need to duel boot anymore. I just keep the SSD to scratch my itch

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      • chahn.chris@piefed.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

        I’m curious what games do you use that still need windows?

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    • Rooster326@programming.dev ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      You say this as if you have been waiting for it?

      You, and I both, know they are going to ask Copilot “What can we eliminate in the code base”.

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    • luthis@lemmy.nz ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      Don’t use bazzite. Use Mint. Go for the easiest solution. You can get another drive and dual boot later.

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    • BlackLaZoR@lemmy.world ⁨19⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Linux has some retarded behaviors, but it got so much better in the last 5 years, that decent distros like Fedora KDE are getting good enough as replacement

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  • SpikesOtherDog@ani.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    Windows 11 is not based on a single unified UI framework. Instead, it uses a mix of legacy Win32 components, UWP elements, modern WinUI layers, and web-based technologies like WebView2 and React.

    I am reading this as MMC snap-ins and control panel. There is no other alternative to manage these settings outside of PowerShell.

    Also, what idiot decided that only one settings window is allowed open at one time? Sometimes I would like to be in Windows update, power settings, Ethernet settings, and printer settings all at once.

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    • sturmblast@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      In an OS literally named "Windows " lol

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      • fartsparkles@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

        Macrohard Window

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    • Passerby6497@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      I hate how the settings app is taking over control panel entries to make them worse and show me the original control panel window after going down 3 levels because the stupid fucks can’t design UI for shit

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      • Haquer@lemmy.today ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

        Fighting with their shitty “new” UI trying to find the old Sound UI to fix an issue that their new UI doesn’t even have a toggle for really chapped my ass.

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      • Assassassin@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨21⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        Want to see the advanced settings for a network adapter?

        Good luck finding it, fucko

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      • fallaciousBasis@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

        Like windows 2000 to XP or Vista to 7… 10 to 11

        The eternal enshitification…

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      • BlackLaZoR@lemmy.world ⁨19⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        IKR? I spent multiple hours looking for GPU switching whitelist because some moron in MS put it under “Display” instead of GPU settings or Power Management

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    • sylver_dragon@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      Also, what idiot decided that only one settings window is allowed open at one time?

      Microsoft engineers were worried that people missed the joys of MS-DOS and having only one application running at once. Next up, will be the return of base memory versus expanded memory versus extended memory. This ends when they devolve Windows to prove Bill Gates right that 640kB should be enough memory for anyone.

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      • AbidanYre@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

        I’ve got my autoexec.bat and config.sys ready to go.

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    • Rooster326@programming.dev ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      They decided it because there are so many duplicate Settings pages controlling the same thing

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      • fallaciousBasis@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

        Easily propagated with windows messaging apis.

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      • SpikesOtherDog@ani.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

        Insert XKCD one more standard.

        I’m all for revamping controls, but don’t make crappier less effective ones.

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    • balian@lemmy.libertarianfellowship.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      what idiot decided that only one settings window is allowed open at one time?

      Microsoft’s army of macbook-using UI “designers” who have to justify their salary so they make up shit nobody wants

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  • cenzorrll@piefed.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    If it worked out, the idle Windows 11 RAM usage would’ve been around 4.8GB

    That’s still a lot

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    • Ludicrous0251@piefed.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      Considering 8GB systems are back in vogue, that’s a fuckload. More than half your ram just going to the computer existing.

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      • maplesaga@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

        Well no, its doing more than just existing, its sending screen shots of your screen to Microsoft, displaying ads, updating advertising ID to allow them to track you across the web. It all helps shareholders of microslop.

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    • flameleaf@lemmy.world ⁨22⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Last time I booted up Windows 10 it was using around 2.4GB at idle

      So Windows 12’s RAM requirement is on track to being almost 10GB unless they cut it back by 20%?

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  • dylanmorgan@slrpnk.net ⁨21⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Maybe they should try not writing OS code in react. Perhaps they should consider dedicating as many resources to cleaning up code as they do to adding “features.”

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  • alakey@piefed.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    Ironically the install ISO actually went up in size from roughly 5.5GB to 7.5GB in the recent months.

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    • org@lemmy.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      All that tracking software is bloated.

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      • adminofoz@lemmy.cafe ⁨22⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        Agreed but also have you tried to write a feature with LLMs? It will occasionally just add extra files that do the same thing as one library you already have.

        You can even catch it and it will be like oh your right then continue without deleting, so next prompt it decides to use its own library again.

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    • MIDItheKID@lemmy.world ⁨18⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      I was about to bring this up. If they just removed all of the slop they implemented in the past 6 months, they could hit that 20% real easy.

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  • nuko147@lemmy.world ⁨20⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Maybe they should make a really new windows version and not a mix from 7,8,10 patched together… with all the problems carried + AI coding making things worse.

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    • Goferking0@ttrpg.network ⁨18⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      They still haven’t been able to replicate functionality in settings compared to control panel. Going from scratch is just gonna get us the rumored win 12 that’s only ai

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      • nuko147@lemmy.world ⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        Well, when i said new OS, I was not meaning AI slop from scratch.

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    • westo232@lemmy.world ⁨19⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Since NT 4.0 it’s just bloat. They never rewrote the whole codebase. It makes sense for backwards compatibility but falls apart when you’re installing a driver via 30 years old GUI.

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  • Baguette@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    I wish windows went down a different path. Instead they decided to double down on ads and ai, because shareholders are more important than the actual customers

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    • maplesaga@lemmy.world ⁨20⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Suckers keep using it. I’d personally rather use a Chromebook than Windows.

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      • Baguette@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨19⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        The thing is that there are real measurements of the market share of windows dropping. The only reason why adoption of w11 overtook w10 user size is because they made w10 end of life (although there are still ways around)

        Unfortunately, some business idiot mathed up that losing users is fine as long as the others get forced onto w11

        Windows could have done so much differently. More seamless integration with xbox and cross platform for gaming. Different, easily swappable profiles (windows) for different tasks (basically overhauling desktops, like for art, dev work, etc). Optimizing microsofts enterprise software suite without all the bloat. Not deprecating the idea of android support.

        But like all big tech companies, they only see money now

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    • hamid@crazypeople.online ⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Their real customers don’t see the ads with Windows 11 Enterprise and AI is controllable with Intune and GPO. You’re not the primary customer.

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  • Bronzebeard@lemmy.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    There’s some very aggressive autocorrect programs that seem to be bloating all their current software. They should start with taking those out.

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  • green_goglin@thelemmy.club ⁨18⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Microslop?

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  • balian@lemmy.libertarianfellowship.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    Obvious course of events considering how the commodity PC market is essentially cut off from RAM supply for an indeterminate number of years with no respite in sight. Memory isn’t cheap anymore, and if they kept making Windows 11 as they used to it won’t be long before PCs in the market are simply left unable to run the OS at all.

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  • bacon_pdp@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    They already know that the solution exists in their Windows for Legacy PCs but they don’t care about it and will waste their time and money going in a loop.

    That is why they needed outside help to get Windows for Legacy PCs to hit their memory target

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    • balian@lemmy.libertarianfellowship.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      Windows for Legacy PCs

      Low-margin product with no feasible return over the costs it takes to build and maintain. Windows 11 meanwhile is the main advertising and cross-selling platform for Microsoft’s high-margin cloud and AI products. Little wonder they prefer one over the other.

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    • Saitama@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      They have no choice but to do so in order to increase the user number of Windows 11. Since RAM prices are high, users will only be able to afford low-spec RAM once support for Windows 10 ends. Otherwise, they would not upgrade to Windows 11, but would instead switch to Linux or Mac, or stick with Windows 10.

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      • MadMadBunny@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

        they would not upgrade to Windows 11, but would instead switch to Linux or Mac

        Absolute win.

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      • bacon_pdp@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

        It worked well with just 64MB of RAM

        en.wikipedia.org/…/Windows_Fundamentals_for_Legac…

        So they easily can get the memory footprint down to the floor

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  • Pika@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    I forsee in the future Microsoft implementing a core electron service, one electron instance that is persistant and just runs, but sandboxes every app that calls it. so instead of an electron instance per app, its just an electron instance that has sandboxed pages that are only managable by the parent process.

    it would still be pretty bloaty but, since core structure should only be present in the parent process, hopefully it would be less bloaty

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    • BlackLaZoR@lemmy.world ⁨18⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      So your calculator window would eat only 400MB like chrome tab?

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