Android. Remember all

Introduction from Evgeny Vildyaev

I try to communicate with our readers not only on the main site, but also on social networks. In particular, in our VKontakte group. One of the most active commentators with the nickname Graf dollar sometimes crossed the lines, and I had to ban him. But we talked in private messages and dotted the i's. After that, we periodically corresponded several times, and once he advised us a topic for an article, and I suggested that he write it himself. In my opinion, the material turned out to be niche, but interesting. And now the floor for our reader.

'My war. Sisyphean labor. A drama with elements of a survival horror. This is an eternal battle that cannot be won. Only a draw or a temporary truce is possible here '

Android. Its main feature is that it eats in memory everything that is bad. And what lies well, he shifts and eats. And then he also porks in the same place. Only third-party software is more terrible, which does it just at a cosmic speed, leaving heaps of junk files even after uninstalling the program. The standard of the Hindu code from the Chamber of Weights and Measures. In terms of system requirements, it even beat Vista, while in terms of functionality it has never Windows. And in general, against its background, the desktop operating system from Microsoft (especially W7 or XP) is just a standard of consistency, convenience and undemanding resources. In recent versions, it has become a little better, but still infinitely far from normal (just remember the capabilities and system requirements of Symbian or the same WP, which somehow knows how to throw out parasitic processes from memory).

Galaxy in danger

Not so long ago, something happened to my Samsung Galaxy Note 3 {32GB N9005 LTE, factory 4.4.2 + root} that sooner or later happens to everyone: the message 'Out of memory!' Appeared. My set of applications is small and almost does not change, the system nonsense from the manufacturer has long been removed, the rest of the place is occupied by music. It was always free in the 0.6-1.2 GB range, but then suddenly it became less than 400 MB and the standard cleaning through CCleaner did not help anymore. Removing a couple of unnecessary applications solved the issue for a short time, and the memory ran out again. The investigation showed that you have to walk with Nokia all your life, besides the standard garbage in the form of an application cache, duplicates from WhatsApp (another example of 'pogromists' coding'), there are still hidden processes that are gradually eating away memory.

'Big Zhora – Big Terror'

The perpetrators were found quickly:

  1. THUMBDATA (THUMBDATA3 or THUMBDATA5) – archives of thumbnails for each image so that they load faster in the gallery. Disservice not asked for. Adds performance to values ​​that are, probably, perceptible in the laboratory (I did not manage to notice the difference), but quite noticeably it eats n times 200-300 MB or 1 time per n gigabyte. СCleaner sees this garbage, but only the PRO version removes it, although the archivists immediately resurrect again, as soon as you open the gallery. 'Aspen stake' – creates in the DCIM \ Thumbnails folder a file with the .nomedia extension or a text file in the DCIM folder with the name thumbnails without an extension with the read-only attribute. This can be done through an advanced file manager or through a PC. Third party software like WhatsApp or Viber can also create their own Thumbnails. The solution is similar.
  2. Dalvik Cache – the folder of the Java virtual machine, which stores all the garbage for applications running in the background. This is supposedly done to speed up the launch of applications (probably again for some 0.01 seconds), but we all know that in fact it serves to eat off 300-500 MB of free space. You can't get rid of it at all, but you can reduce it in size by removing it with a reboot. The system will shudder, re-create it again, but already thinner. I had 450 MB, it was about 300. Starting from 5.0, Dalvik was replaced with ART (Android Runtime), which slightly reduced battery and RAM consumption, accelerated applications (by another whole 0.01 seconds); on the other hand, their size, installation and boot times when the phone was turned on were inflated. In general, we treat one thing and cripple the other.
  3. Individual applications that garbage and / or eat up memory more than others. Since I have few of them, here are just a few examples:

Play Market is an octopus that, in combination with other services, spreads tentacles all over the phone. You can cut them off by disabling / disabling unnecessary functions, but I preferred to cut the head – from Google I removed everything except Maps. I still download most of the applications on w3bsit3-dns.com. These are versions with cut metrics, ads, extra language packs, sometimes with additional themes, or alternative clients like VKmp3mod, which are also more convenient to use than the official ones. The lack of automatic updates is not a problem, the situation often happens “one bug was fixed, 5 new ones were made”, but the approach “works – don't touch” is closer to me. Therefore, I update myself rarely and as needed. For the same reason, I did not move from 4.4.2 to 5.1 (the last update arriving) – there I would still have to fight with flat Material Design. Only skeuomorphism, only hardcore.

S Note – relevant only for Samsung and those who constantly take notes. When re-saving, it creates a new temporary file each time, so my folder swelled up to 1 GB in six months. Treatment – delete everything except the most recent files.

Sberbank Online. This is a delightfully awesome app from a bank that has always been famous for its oak service, always-idle ATMs and queues. All this was brought into the application in full – heavy, clumsy, always lagging and cursing at root rights (or rather, it does not start at all without installing a modification), with a built-in imitation of violent activity in the form of an antivirus. Each launch contributes to the swelling of the Dalvik Cache folder (sometimes 8 MB or more). Surely, out of all the many applications for Android, it is not the only one that does this. Who constantly uses it, one piece of advice – don't use it. For some reason, the Tinkoff Bank application can do all the same, but it weighs several times less, does not lag from the word at all, and the root does not interfere with his work. It wasn't advertising at all, I said, and counted the plump wad of bills.

UPD: After a recent update of the application, the problem with the root was solved.

CyberlinkPhotoDirector. On the one hand, the application is in my favor (with a stylus, its tools and capabilities are simply divine), and on the other hand, when setting the maximum photo quality in the settings, crashes, lags and freezes become constant companions of work, as well as the message 'not enough memory'. And all this with 3 GB of RAM and Snapdragon 800! Well, somehow …

Instagram – so harmful that even after disabling autorun, it constantly registers there again. He doesn't need much, but still an unpleasant little thing.

A separate problem is the SD card. If it is installed, then for performance this is the worst thing that can happen. And here's why: this memory is not equal to the internal one. If you put applications on a memory card, then all the same, only part of the program is located there, and everything else remains in the system. Google's ingenious decisions have led to the fact that installing the program on an SD card OUT of the blue also increases the consumption of RAM. The more programs, the more zhor and the more it slows down when working and rebooting. In 6.0, a function was added that allows you to format the memory card so that it is not a separate storage, but this does not solve the problem – using it only through MTP does not bode well, except for glitches and slow file transfer speed; It won't work directly through a cable or a card reader, and crutches in the form of ADB or dances with a tambourine on Linux – few people will please the PC. It is better to buy a version of a smartphone with a larger amount of memory and never have problems either fit into what is.

Rescue Private Operative

'it is your fault that I want to eat …'.

Android does not know how to properly close programs, because Google believes that this is not necessary – their wonderful OS knows better when the program needs to be terminated, therefore it simply does not do it. At the same time, their coders did not bother to write a normal scheduler, so each manufacturer fences crutches for everyone. The situation is aggravated by the launch of programs by events: a connection has appeared – it means that you urgently need to read messages / find out the weather / update; the time has come, so I'll wake up … In addition, the manufacturer adds its own programs that cannot be removed without root-rights, which can behave completely arbitrarily in terms of consuming all the resources of the smartphone. Despite the 3 GB of RAM in my phone (or insane 6 GB in modern flagships), this is not at all a reason for it to be cluttered with some unknown reason. The first time after the purchase, I just turned off my mobile data so that this viper would not turn up again. But still, out of the box, consumption was in the region of 1.7-2.2 GB, even if you try to somehow block applications with regular means. After rutting and total cleansing, repression, bans and settings, the figure became 0.8-1.3 GB. After that, the phone on the factory firmware 4.4.2 has been spinning for almost 3 years without a noticeable performance drop. And this is with the adornments hung in the form of a 360launcher with ICO / PNG icons from Windows and a pack of additional fonts with a manager. Well, there was a hitherto unprecedented predictable autonomy – even at 1% of the battery it became really possible to stretch out for several hours, staying in touch.

They fought for memory

СCleaner

+ perfect for daily raids and cleans without wacky interfaces, overly intrusive ads, and constant notifications.

– even in the PRO version, it has access and does not see all folders, although it takes these files into account in memory analysis; the path to some places for cleaning must be specified manually.

SDmaid

+ проведёт в самые отдалённые закоулки системы и поможет найти&уничтожить файловых диверсантов даже в самых тёмных углах (ибо по умолчанию знает и сразу сканирует все эти места); will analyze and show all suspiciously swollen folders, sorted by weight and category.

– will not replace СCleaner, because it cleans in other places. There is a lot to be done by hand, and it's damn dangerous. User rights to Android have 2 extremes: either you are nobody, you cannot call you and you are not the owner of the phone, or you are the black master of everything and everything with a nonzero probability of crippling the system, or even turning the smart into a brick, by accident deleting important files along with garbage. To spy on the implementation and differentiation of rights in Symbian, where the user has enough freedom by default, or on the desktop Windows, where even the admin just can't take out critical files, of course, no one guessed. Invented our own square wheel bicycle.

AppOpps. Through it, you can prohibit everyone and everything – autoloading, requesting a location, accessing all contacts and journals, sending notifications to Google space and other small pranks that lead to a lot of greed. Well, it's true, why does a flashlight need SMS, autoplay or geodata?

Root Explorer / ES Explorer are handy file managers that allow you to do everything and even more with files. How much more depends on the inferiority of the preinstalled manager. On Samsung, the native is generally not bad, but in the war for memory he is not a fighter.

Root uninstaller PRO – helps to distinguish evil from candy, BUT it is better to additionally google it – there are whole lists of superfluous software by phone model.

In the latest versions Android, the principles of stripping, in fact, have not changed. Root rights are required. Beware of firmware versions where it is impossible to get them (locked bootloader), and with this access to some system folders. I continue to eat this cactus called Android, because the market now offers only cacti, but with different thorns – there are also disadvantages in IOS, they are just different and personally unacceptable for me more. Thus, my new smartphone will be on Android again, and this eternal battle for resources and willfulness of the phone (and now also for appearance) will begin from the beginning.

Graf Dollar

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