Best and Worst of the Interwebs: Tech Style

[zourtney]

Post articles to awesome, interesting, ludicrous, or stupid tech-related things. This is like our "Best and Worst of the Internet" thread, but more focused on computer stuff.

[zourtney]

I'll start. Last weekend Jascveus and I were musing about computers, AI, and the like. He mentioned that Windows did some sort of "guess what you'll do next" prediction. Honestly, this seemed far-fetched when first mentioned...I hadn't ever heard of such a thing. But it does indeed exist; it's called Superfetch. (I came across it the very next day while trying to diagnose some nasty Win7 slowdown issues on a family member's computer).

It was introduced in Vista and is essentially a RAM-preloading scheduler based on historical data (what programs you tend to launch when). Sure, that takes the magic and mystery out of how I perceived it in our original conversation, but a good thing to know about nonetheless.

Quick overview: http://www.osnews.com/story/21471/SuperFetch_How_it_Works_Myths

[Cody]

So it is indeed true? Intriguing. It is also somewhat creepy to think the computer is predicting what my next action will be based on previous use of applications. Though I suppose in reality that isn't all that surprising. People are creatures of habit so the saying goes and I don't find it any sort of stretch that a computer notices we do the exact same thing day after day...oh we are so boring and not random aren't we?

[zourtney]

It is intriguing indeed. And a good idea. I'm highly predictable and only ever routinely maybe a dozen applications. Services are another story, whose schedule could be even more predictable.

Not too creepy though. It's basically just an activity log...but reversed!