my question is, does instalalling programs or applications actually slow down your computer at all?

And there are some more more conditions. There arent any shortcuts to the program, and the program doesnt make anything boot at startup. It is just a program that opens when you want it to.

Does it use memory? Or only hard drive space?

Edit: O and compare with mac and pc. I didnt take into consideration the fact that a pc has a registry but a mac doesnt. So installing a program on a pc makes the registry larger which may in turn, slow down your computer.

pd: you can turn off that notification if it really annoys you.

Assuming you don't launch it, no -- or at least not noticeably. Once you open it, yes (as long as it's opened, and then for a period thereafter).



As long as you don't open it, only hard drive space (given your assumptions that it doesn't install any daemons, etc.).



The registry won't increase noticeably in size; an application generally only stores a few bytes of data. And it's the same on Windows or a Mac: on a Mac an application creates preference files (.plist files), whereas on Windows, registry keys are usually created. But same concept, and same effect on memory/CPU usage (that is, essentially none).

ok cool. I just still always get the feeling that when I install tons of programs I am turning my hard drive into a wasteland. But I have enough hard drive space to go around.

but you should really do a disk cleanup once in a while..