Is 512MB enough memory on a Intel based Mac running OSX? The machine will be used to test browser compatibility of a javascript-heavy site and (possibly) run automated testing software.

Depends on how much the automated software sucks up memory, of course. A good rule of thumb is buy what you can afford, but non-Apple vendors will give you a better price for extra ram.

I'm told OSX starts using excess memory to cache hard drive data to improve performance, so the more you have...

I've noted a lot of people recommending 1gb, mainly because you never know when you're going to need the extra, so grab what you can in advance.

Mine ran 512 MB for about a week or so. It was speedy.

Windows tips I ran across, #00000002

Tired to having random errors ask you to report back to Microsoft?

[link]

Here's the steps to turn that off.

that's useful!

Here's the steps to turn that off.

Marked. Daniel, you rock like a thing made out of a big hunk of stone.

You do rock. But what is the "but notifiy me when critical errors occur"? Does that mean notify microsoft when critical errors occur ? Or does it mean if I uncheck it windows will stop giving me error messages during crashes? I'm trying to figure out whether it is a trap to punish you for disabling microsoft notification by sticking in an option to turn off error reporting entirely? Or is it a trick to try and get you to at least copy in Microsoft when really bad errors occur?

. But what is the "but notifiy me when critical errors occur"? Does that mean notify microsoft when critical errors occur ?

I take it to mean, if something is bad enough, you will be given the dialog box, otherwise? not so much.

It soes not say "but notifiy Microsoft when critical errors occur".

If it notified Microsoft without your permissinn, there would be a large quantity of complaints about spyware.

"Me" is the user. You'll get a pop-up box that a critical error occured, but you won't get the dialog box to notify Microsoft about it.

Also, if you haven't already done it, when you're at the same section of the System Properties dialog, click on the "Settings" button under "Startup and Recovery" and uncheck the box next to "Automatically Restart" which is found under the sub-heading of System Failure. It's one of the numerous stupid default settings that MS have enabled after installing XP. If the computer has suddenly rebooted on you, chances are very high that this is the cause of it. The crying baby Jesus is the only one who knows why it's done this way, since XP can--and most often does--recover from a program crash without the need to reboot. By unchecking that box the system will simply alert you that a program has crashed, without you losing data etc in programs not affected by the failed program.