The Redmond giant continues moving forward with the development of Windows 10, and to learn the latest details we must always look closely at the new builds delivered by the Windows Insider program. The latest announced build, numbered 14942, brings several incorporated changes, among which stands out a separation of processes for the famous "svchost.exe" on computers with 3.5 GB of RAM or more. The aim is to increase the stability, security, and transparency of each service, with the potential cost of higher consumption.
While there are many aspects to criticize in the latest versions of Windows, I dare say that memory consumption is not one of them. The nightmare of Windows Vista (in its original version without Service Packs, at least) is far behind, and Microsoft has managed to maintain a stable line of specifications. In essence, a computer capable of running Windows 7 can accommodate Windows 10… assuming Redmond's periodic updates don't break support for certain hardware (we still remember what happened with the Anniversary Update and literally millions of webcams). Now, Microsoft's vision of RAM is quite clear: Memory that isn't used is wasted, although its critics see this as a "lack of optimization". Solid-state drives have been able to compensate for the natural "performance wells" of conventional hard drives, but RAM is faster, and if used coherently, it increases speed and stability.
Process and service management in Windows
That brings us to process and service management in Windows. Some things improved, but others remain on the table, starting with the dreaded, mysterious, and questioned "svchost.exe" that rules the entire background of the operating system with an iron fist. The so-called grouping of processes under the "wildcard" of svchost.exe dates back to Windows 2000 if I'm not mistaken, and although it provided several benefits at the time, today many users suffer the domino effect: If one service falls, the rest follow. With Windows 10 in the equation, and more specifically, the announcement of the new build 14942 under the Windows Insider program, Microsoft has decided to reduce the grouping of processes on computers with 3.5 GB of RAM or more. This change should help in aspects such as stability (that is, that a single service does not bring down the others), transparency (more information about what each process is doing), and security (if the service is compromised, an attempt will be made to contain it).
Potential impact on memory usage
Even so, the separation of processes could lead to slightly higher memory consumption. That strategy is reflected in applications like Google Chrome, and Firefox seeks to implement something similar through its Electrolysis system. What's interesting is that we can already see a part of that separation in the current stable version of Windows 10 Anniversary Update, and that Microsoft has mentioned the 3.5 GB of RAM. That figure suggests a more "traditional" behavior for 32-bit Windows 10, and on platforms with a limited amount of RAM (there are many tablets and hybrids with new Atom chips that don't exceed the 2 GB mark). We'll see how it advances, but the announcement was made under the presentation of an Insider build, so it may be a while before most users can appreciate this change.
