System Performance

[Aragon]

Ok...I gotta clear some confusion up w/ my parents...

Does ONLY downloading stuff of internet (in other words, storing stuff on hard drive...not actually installing) affect system performance? Other than making sure you have enough space and stuff for virtual memory, etc. I have 6gig hd and using less that half. Please tell me that downloading a 4 meg file makes no freaking difference on system performance until I actually install/run it.

Thanks.

[LJE2]

Generally speaking if you download a 4M file and do not install it, it will make no difference on your systems performance.

[Eli]

It might slightly affect performance WHILE you're downloading it, but if it's just sitting on your hard drive it certainly won't hurt anything.