Everyone knows OS and software, browsers, etc all use way more RAM than they used to, and arguably more than they rightfully should. Bloatware, etc.
I saw something recently that alleged MS puts a lot of shit into PCs that say they are doing one thing but are really doing another.
It would be wild if they are basically using the PCs of the world to do something like crunch numbers, mine bitcoin, etc. Oh, hey, this guy has 12 gigs of ram and is only "using" 4, that's 8 for us to sap.
If you have even an ounce of knowledge of how your PC works, it would be extremely easy to spot this.
For the record, I trust Microsoft exactly 0%. Windows 10 will likely be the last Microsoft OS I'm ever forced to use, and only because Visual Studio is still the best IDE out there.
That said, even process monitor will let you know if your computer is doing something other than idling. Your fans will let you know if your computer is doing something other than idling. If your computer is doing heavy number crunching or bitcoin mining, you will know it because it will sound like a leaf blower and performance will be shit.
So yes, they're absolutely spying on you; probably every damn keystroke. But no, they almost certainly aren't using your PC as a Beowulf cluster node.
I have a laptop I never use because it manages to run at 100% ram and CPU when I'm doing nothing. Windows 10. I've tried uninstalling stuff and ran a half dozen malware detection programs that found nothing. All I can assume is that it's the OS hogging up my resources, but no clue what it's for. Even the task manager doesn't make sense, because it will just say that the usage is some random program, like a single open browser window, on it's home screen.
And yeah, it sounds like a leaf blower at all times. I never considered Microsoft was using my resources for anything external, but I had never really thought about it either. Is there something else you thing it would be?
sounds like a potato that shouldn't be running w10
It was a decent gaming rig that came with w10 from the start
Reinstall Windows. It tends to clog up over time. A friend of mine had serious performance issues in games because she never once reinstalled it in 7 years. Once she did the problems were gone. Also best to install it without all the bloatware crap via an autounattend file.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDEZDD_gEbo
Or better just go for Linux. CachyOS or Bazzite are pretty good. I personally use CachyOS. Runs 10x faster than Windows, haven't encountered a game yet I can't play and I have less shit to deal with than with Windows.