Windows 8 Bible

Closing a Program

When you’re finished using a program, you should close it. Every open program and document consumes some resources, mostly in the form of using memory (RAM). When RAM is full, the computer has to start using virtual memory more often, which is basically space on the hard disk configured to look like RAM to the computer.

RAM has no moving parts and, thus, can feed stuff to the processor (where all the work takes place) at amazing speeds. A standard hard disk has moving parts and is much, much slower. Newer solid state drives do not rely on moving parts, but you still have speed differences between RAM and solid state drives. As soon as Windows has to start using virtual memory, everything slows down. So, you really don’t want to have a bunch of stuff you’re not using any more open and consuming resources.

There are many ways to close a program. Use whichever of the following techniques is most convenient for you, because they all produce the same result—the program is removed from memory, and both its program window and taskbar button are removed from the screen:

• Click the Close (X) button in the program window’s upper-right corner.
• Right-click the title bar across the top of the program window and choose Close.
• Choose File Exit from the program’s menu bar, if the program provides a File menu.
• Right-click the program’s taskbar button and choose Close Window.