Does installing a bunch of unnecessary fonts slow computers down?











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Several sites and blogs advise users to remove the excess fonts from their OS. Does this help in performance or is this just a myth? If it is true, why is that so?










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  • Why is it these blogs suggest moving the fonts? That'd be a helpful point.
    – cutrightjm
    Dec 18 '12 at 13:10















up vote
7
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Several sites and blogs advise users to remove the excess fonts from their OS. Does this help in performance or is this just a myth? If it is true, why is that so?










share|improve this question
























  • Why is it these blogs suggest moving the fonts? That'd be a helpful point.
    – cutrightjm
    Dec 18 '12 at 13:10













up vote
7
down vote

favorite









up vote
7
down vote

favorite











Several sites and blogs advise users to remove the excess fonts from their OS. Does this help in performance or is this just a myth? If it is true, why is that so?










share|improve this question















Several sites and blogs advise users to remove the excess fonts from their OS. Does this help in performance or is this just a myth? If it is true, why is that so?







windows macos performance fonts






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edited Dec 18 '12 at 22:12









Linger

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2,764102739










asked Dec 18 '12 at 13:08









Fábio Perez

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9441822












  • Why is it these blogs suggest moving the fonts? That'd be a helpful point.
    – cutrightjm
    Dec 18 '12 at 13:10


















  • Why is it these blogs suggest moving the fonts? That'd be a helpful point.
    – cutrightjm
    Dec 18 '12 at 13:10
















Why is it these blogs suggest moving the fonts? That'd be a helpful point.
– cutrightjm
Dec 18 '12 at 13:10




Why is it these blogs suggest moving the fonts? That'd be a helpful point.
– cutrightjm
Dec 18 '12 at 13:10










5 Answers
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active

oldest

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up vote
3
down vote



accepted










The reason that it is recommended is that Windows (at least, not sure about Mac and Linux) has to load font information on boot. Not only can this slow the boot process (though I don't think you would actually notice this on a modern computer) but, more importantly, each font requires an amount of in-memory storage. This is then no longer available to other OS processes and so can slow down the OS due to paging.



So on a modern computer with plenty of memory and a fast drive, you won't notice any difference under normal circumstances.






share|improve this answer




























    up vote
    0
    down vote













    The main performance hit is not the fonts on their own, but the extended load times for applications using them (Word, Excel, Corel etc.).



    Graphics-Unleashed
    SourceDaddy






    share|improve this answer























    • If you're not actively using the fonts, then why load them and consume system resources?
      – da4
      Dec 18 '12 at 14:41










    • @da4 I'm not OT, I on my own have to develop and test software with different fonts, an since I've to use chinese for testing too, a few others won't harm me.
      – bummi
      Dec 18 '12 at 14:55


















    up vote
    0
    down vote













    From my own experience, I have to say yes, installing many fonts will slow down a system. My own anecdotal evidence is as follows:



    In early 2011, I wanted to see if there was any truth as to whether a lot of fonts slowed down a system. To test it out, I used FontFrenzy on a Windows 7 machine to unload all but the fonts installed with Windows 7 by default. In all, I disabled about 250 fonts I had accumulated. That being the only change I made, my boot time (from BIOS screen to useable Desktop screen) lowered by 6 seconds (from 50 seconds to 44 seconds). Programs like Word, Photoshop, etc. felt like they loaded faster (however, I didn't actually time them).



    I don't recall the exact system specs, but it was an i5 machine running Win 7 Home Premium with 6GB RAM and a 750GB Caviar Green 5400RPM drive.



    The problem with anecdotal evidence like this is that I'm sure that no one is going to have the exact software/hardware setup I had. However, for the one test I ran, it cut the boot time slightly by having less fonts.






    share|improve this answer




























      up vote
      0
      down vote













      Yes it does, as windows reads all fonts on start up and must validate all fonts in:




      C:windowsfonts




      before resuming start up.



      If you install new fonts in windows, you will experience slower boot by windows.



      That is why it is recommended that you only keep the main fonts in windows listed in this link and keep also fonts you are using in special editing software like Photoshop or CorelDraw, or installed software or games on your system that require special fonts.






      share|improve this answer




























        up vote
        0
        down vote













        Just an idea:



        If you need many fonts sometimes, then you'd better to have those fonts in external folder (like C:my_fonts1) and make a symlink of those files in c:windowsfonts, and when you close Photoshop/etc, then you can just rename to C:my_fonts2 and then all files in windowsfonts directory will become unusable.






        share|improve this answer





















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          5 Answers
          5






          active

          oldest

          votes








          5 Answers
          5






          active

          oldest

          votes









          active

          oldest

          votes






          active

          oldest

          votes








          up vote
          3
          down vote



          accepted










          The reason that it is recommended is that Windows (at least, not sure about Mac and Linux) has to load font information on boot. Not only can this slow the boot process (though I don't think you would actually notice this on a modern computer) but, more importantly, each font requires an amount of in-memory storage. This is then no longer available to other OS processes and so can slow down the OS due to paging.



          So on a modern computer with plenty of memory and a fast drive, you won't notice any difference under normal circumstances.






          share|improve this answer

























            up vote
            3
            down vote



            accepted










            The reason that it is recommended is that Windows (at least, not sure about Mac and Linux) has to load font information on boot. Not only can this slow the boot process (though I don't think you would actually notice this on a modern computer) but, more importantly, each font requires an amount of in-memory storage. This is then no longer available to other OS processes and so can slow down the OS due to paging.



            So on a modern computer with plenty of memory and a fast drive, you won't notice any difference under normal circumstances.






            share|improve this answer























              up vote
              3
              down vote



              accepted







              up vote
              3
              down vote



              accepted






              The reason that it is recommended is that Windows (at least, not sure about Mac and Linux) has to load font information on boot. Not only can this slow the boot process (though I don't think you would actually notice this on a modern computer) but, more importantly, each font requires an amount of in-memory storage. This is then no longer available to other OS processes and so can slow down the OS due to paging.



              So on a modern computer with plenty of memory and a fast drive, you won't notice any difference under normal circumstances.






              share|improve this answer












              The reason that it is recommended is that Windows (at least, not sure about Mac and Linux) has to load font information on boot. Not only can this slow the boot process (though I don't think you would actually notice this on a modern computer) but, more importantly, each font requires an amount of in-memory storage. This is then no longer available to other OS processes and so can slow down the OS due to paging.



              So on a modern computer with plenty of memory and a fast drive, you won't notice any difference under normal circumstances.







              share|improve this answer












              share|improve this answer



              share|improve this answer










              answered Dec 18 '12 at 15:54









              Julian Knight

              12.9k11535




              12.9k11535
























                  up vote
                  0
                  down vote













                  The main performance hit is not the fonts on their own, but the extended load times for applications using them (Word, Excel, Corel etc.).



                  Graphics-Unleashed
                  SourceDaddy






                  share|improve this answer























                  • If you're not actively using the fonts, then why load them and consume system resources?
                    – da4
                    Dec 18 '12 at 14:41










                  • @da4 I'm not OT, I on my own have to develop and test software with different fonts, an since I've to use chinese for testing too, a few others won't harm me.
                    – bummi
                    Dec 18 '12 at 14:55















                  up vote
                  0
                  down vote













                  The main performance hit is not the fonts on their own, but the extended load times for applications using them (Word, Excel, Corel etc.).



                  Graphics-Unleashed
                  SourceDaddy






                  share|improve this answer























                  • If you're not actively using the fonts, then why load them and consume system resources?
                    – da4
                    Dec 18 '12 at 14:41










                  • @da4 I'm not OT, I on my own have to develop and test software with different fonts, an since I've to use chinese for testing too, a few others won't harm me.
                    – bummi
                    Dec 18 '12 at 14:55













                  up vote
                  0
                  down vote










                  up vote
                  0
                  down vote









                  The main performance hit is not the fonts on their own, but the extended load times for applications using them (Word, Excel, Corel etc.).



                  Graphics-Unleashed
                  SourceDaddy






                  share|improve this answer














                  The main performance hit is not the fonts on their own, but the extended load times for applications using them (Word, Excel, Corel etc.).



                  Graphics-Unleashed
                  SourceDaddy







                  share|improve this answer














                  share|improve this answer



                  share|improve this answer








                  edited Dec 18 '12 at 14:52









                  Dave M

                  12.7k92838




                  12.7k92838










                  answered Dec 18 '12 at 13:23









                  bummi

                  1,50531421




                  1,50531421












                  • If you're not actively using the fonts, then why load them and consume system resources?
                    – da4
                    Dec 18 '12 at 14:41










                  • @da4 I'm not OT, I on my own have to develop and test software with different fonts, an since I've to use chinese for testing too, a few others won't harm me.
                    – bummi
                    Dec 18 '12 at 14:55


















                  • If you're not actively using the fonts, then why load them and consume system resources?
                    – da4
                    Dec 18 '12 at 14:41










                  • @da4 I'm not OT, I on my own have to develop and test software with different fonts, an since I've to use chinese for testing too, a few others won't harm me.
                    – bummi
                    Dec 18 '12 at 14:55
















                  If you're not actively using the fonts, then why load them and consume system resources?
                  – da4
                  Dec 18 '12 at 14:41




                  If you're not actively using the fonts, then why load them and consume system resources?
                  – da4
                  Dec 18 '12 at 14:41












                  @da4 I'm not OT, I on my own have to develop and test software with different fonts, an since I've to use chinese for testing too, a few others won't harm me.
                  – bummi
                  Dec 18 '12 at 14:55




                  @da4 I'm not OT, I on my own have to develop and test software with different fonts, an since I've to use chinese for testing too, a few others won't harm me.
                  – bummi
                  Dec 18 '12 at 14:55










                  up vote
                  0
                  down vote













                  From my own experience, I have to say yes, installing many fonts will slow down a system. My own anecdotal evidence is as follows:



                  In early 2011, I wanted to see if there was any truth as to whether a lot of fonts slowed down a system. To test it out, I used FontFrenzy on a Windows 7 machine to unload all but the fonts installed with Windows 7 by default. In all, I disabled about 250 fonts I had accumulated. That being the only change I made, my boot time (from BIOS screen to useable Desktop screen) lowered by 6 seconds (from 50 seconds to 44 seconds). Programs like Word, Photoshop, etc. felt like they loaded faster (however, I didn't actually time them).



                  I don't recall the exact system specs, but it was an i5 machine running Win 7 Home Premium with 6GB RAM and a 750GB Caviar Green 5400RPM drive.



                  The problem with anecdotal evidence like this is that I'm sure that no one is going to have the exact software/hardware setup I had. However, for the one test I ran, it cut the boot time slightly by having less fonts.






                  share|improve this answer

























                    up vote
                    0
                    down vote













                    From my own experience, I have to say yes, installing many fonts will slow down a system. My own anecdotal evidence is as follows:



                    In early 2011, I wanted to see if there was any truth as to whether a lot of fonts slowed down a system. To test it out, I used FontFrenzy on a Windows 7 machine to unload all but the fonts installed with Windows 7 by default. In all, I disabled about 250 fonts I had accumulated. That being the only change I made, my boot time (from BIOS screen to useable Desktop screen) lowered by 6 seconds (from 50 seconds to 44 seconds). Programs like Word, Photoshop, etc. felt like they loaded faster (however, I didn't actually time them).



                    I don't recall the exact system specs, but it was an i5 machine running Win 7 Home Premium with 6GB RAM and a 750GB Caviar Green 5400RPM drive.



                    The problem with anecdotal evidence like this is that I'm sure that no one is going to have the exact software/hardware setup I had. However, for the one test I ran, it cut the boot time slightly by having less fonts.






                    share|improve this answer























                      up vote
                      0
                      down vote










                      up vote
                      0
                      down vote









                      From my own experience, I have to say yes, installing many fonts will slow down a system. My own anecdotal evidence is as follows:



                      In early 2011, I wanted to see if there was any truth as to whether a lot of fonts slowed down a system. To test it out, I used FontFrenzy on a Windows 7 machine to unload all but the fonts installed with Windows 7 by default. In all, I disabled about 250 fonts I had accumulated. That being the only change I made, my boot time (from BIOS screen to useable Desktop screen) lowered by 6 seconds (from 50 seconds to 44 seconds). Programs like Word, Photoshop, etc. felt like they loaded faster (however, I didn't actually time them).



                      I don't recall the exact system specs, but it was an i5 machine running Win 7 Home Premium with 6GB RAM and a 750GB Caviar Green 5400RPM drive.



                      The problem with anecdotal evidence like this is that I'm sure that no one is going to have the exact software/hardware setup I had. However, for the one test I ran, it cut the boot time slightly by having less fonts.






                      share|improve this answer












                      From my own experience, I have to say yes, installing many fonts will slow down a system. My own anecdotal evidence is as follows:



                      In early 2011, I wanted to see if there was any truth as to whether a lot of fonts slowed down a system. To test it out, I used FontFrenzy on a Windows 7 machine to unload all but the fonts installed with Windows 7 by default. In all, I disabled about 250 fonts I had accumulated. That being the only change I made, my boot time (from BIOS screen to useable Desktop screen) lowered by 6 seconds (from 50 seconds to 44 seconds). Programs like Word, Photoshop, etc. felt like they loaded faster (however, I didn't actually time them).



                      I don't recall the exact system specs, but it was an i5 machine running Win 7 Home Premium with 6GB RAM and a 750GB Caviar Green 5400RPM drive.



                      The problem with anecdotal evidence like this is that I'm sure that no one is going to have the exact software/hardware setup I had. However, for the one test I ran, it cut the boot time slightly by having less fonts.







                      share|improve this answer












                      share|improve this answer



                      share|improve this answer










                      answered Dec 18 '12 at 14:56









                      Trav

                      788520




                      788520






















                          up vote
                          0
                          down vote













                          Yes it does, as windows reads all fonts on start up and must validate all fonts in:




                          C:windowsfonts




                          before resuming start up.



                          If you install new fonts in windows, you will experience slower boot by windows.



                          That is why it is recommended that you only keep the main fonts in windows listed in this link and keep also fonts you are using in special editing software like Photoshop or CorelDraw, or installed software or games on your system that require special fonts.






                          share|improve this answer

























                            up vote
                            0
                            down vote













                            Yes it does, as windows reads all fonts on start up and must validate all fonts in:




                            C:windowsfonts




                            before resuming start up.



                            If you install new fonts in windows, you will experience slower boot by windows.



                            That is why it is recommended that you only keep the main fonts in windows listed in this link and keep also fonts you are using in special editing software like Photoshop or CorelDraw, or installed software or games on your system that require special fonts.






                            share|improve this answer























                              up vote
                              0
                              down vote










                              up vote
                              0
                              down vote









                              Yes it does, as windows reads all fonts on start up and must validate all fonts in:




                              C:windowsfonts




                              before resuming start up.



                              If you install new fonts in windows, you will experience slower boot by windows.



                              That is why it is recommended that you only keep the main fonts in windows listed in this link and keep also fonts you are using in special editing software like Photoshop or CorelDraw, or installed software or games on your system that require special fonts.






                              share|improve this answer












                              Yes it does, as windows reads all fonts on start up and must validate all fonts in:




                              C:windowsfonts




                              before resuming start up.



                              If you install new fonts in windows, you will experience slower boot by windows.



                              That is why it is recommended that you only keep the main fonts in windows listed in this link and keep also fonts you are using in special editing software like Photoshop or CorelDraw, or installed software or games on your system that require special fonts.







                              share|improve this answer












                              share|improve this answer



                              share|improve this answer










                              answered Feb 28 '15 at 9:45









                              Ashraf Abusada

                              18916




                              18916






















                                  up vote
                                  0
                                  down vote













                                  Just an idea:



                                  If you need many fonts sometimes, then you'd better to have those fonts in external folder (like C:my_fonts1) and make a symlink of those files in c:windowsfonts, and when you close Photoshop/etc, then you can just rename to C:my_fonts2 and then all files in windowsfonts directory will become unusable.






                                  share|improve this answer

























                                    up vote
                                    0
                                    down vote













                                    Just an idea:



                                    If you need many fonts sometimes, then you'd better to have those fonts in external folder (like C:my_fonts1) and make a symlink of those files in c:windowsfonts, and when you close Photoshop/etc, then you can just rename to C:my_fonts2 and then all files in windowsfonts directory will become unusable.






                                    share|improve this answer























                                      up vote
                                      0
                                      down vote










                                      up vote
                                      0
                                      down vote









                                      Just an idea:



                                      If you need many fonts sometimes, then you'd better to have those fonts in external folder (like C:my_fonts1) and make a symlink of those files in c:windowsfonts, and when you close Photoshop/etc, then you can just rename to C:my_fonts2 and then all files in windowsfonts directory will become unusable.






                                      share|improve this answer












                                      Just an idea:



                                      If you need many fonts sometimes, then you'd better to have those fonts in external folder (like C:my_fonts1) and make a symlink of those files in c:windowsfonts, and when you close Photoshop/etc, then you can just rename to C:my_fonts2 and then all files in windowsfonts directory will become unusable.







                                      share|improve this answer












                                      share|improve this answer



                                      share|improve this answer










                                      answered Dec 7 at 22:31









                                      T.Todua

                                      1,40731628




                                      1,40731628






























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