Windows 8 and older computers

When Windows 8 went RTM, I downloaded the ISO that day and because I only seem to have old computers in my house, I tried to install Windows 8 on them.  Right off the bat, I'm at strike 2.

According to reports, Windows 8 is DESIGNED to run on netbooks, see review of Windows 8 Developer Preview and netbooks here.  Windows 8 was meant to be lighter and more efficient.  There are fewer running processes than Windows 7 and has a lower memory footprint than Windows 7.  All of these reports in theory should make Windows 8 faster than Windows 7.  The question then is, why is doesn't Windows 8 work as efficient or better than Windows 7 on my old notebook computers which works well with Windows 7 and can run laps around netbooks any day of the week.  This should be easy!

Thoughts - Return of the Ultraportable Notebook

With the advent of the netbook, marketing and mass public enthusiasm killed the high performance ultraportable notebook computer.  I'm not kidding with the whole "killed" word either.  High performance ultraportable notebooks (smaller than 12 inches) no longer exist.  The Sony VAIO TT (11.1") disappeared from sale in the US in 2009 (http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/19/vaio-tt-disappears-from-sonys-us-site/).  Since then, there have been no products released to fill the gap, at least in the US.  Interestingly enough, Panasonic continues to offer the high performance 12.1" CF-NX and the 10.1" CF-J10 notebook computers.

MsMpEng.exe Hell

MsMpEng.exe is the antispyware component of Microsoft Defender antivirus software suite.  It's also part of the commercial Microsoft ForeFront antivirus software suite.

I run a Intel Core i5 M520 dual core processor running at 2.40 GHz, however, when MsMpEng.exe kicks in, the CPU utilization spikes to 100%.  The system becomes completely unresponsive until MsMpEng.exe completes.