Windows Rot

Windows Rot is a term used to describe the belief that over time, Windows Operating systems slow in operational performance. Despite this belief, it must be noted that no one has ever quantified Windows Rot and so there is no proof that it actually exists. Some common arguments against Windows Rot include the fact that people may just become accustomed to their computer's performance or that the decline in performance is not caused by Windows itself.
In the case that Windows Rot actually exists, there are two plausible explanations for such a slowing to occur. The first is the fact that Windows operating systems ever since Windows 3.1 make use of the Windows Registry. The Registry is a data system used to store the default values for all kinds of programs that may be installed on the computer For every n programs installed, this would cause an O(n) increase in time to locate the registry values associated with the program. And this is especially true for computers where programs are installed and uninstalled constantly because most uninstall programs don't clean the registry properly. This explanation would explain why Windows Rot would not occur on Unix systems because in Unix systems programs use .conf files instead of a registry system to store default values. Each program has its own .conf file so time is not wasted searching for the correct default values.
The second explanation could lie in the fact that Windows uses an NTFS file system. An oversimplified example of an NTFS file system would consist of a MFT section, the files, and the pagefile. The MFT is a contiguous section in the beginning of the partition. It indexes all of the files in the file system and the time takes to find a particular files index is O(n) for n files on a system, so as the amount of files increase, file access time increases linearly. Especially since the files can represent a fragmented section of the partition. The pagefile however is contiguous and inconsequential.
Still some believers of Windows Rot attribute it to conspiracy theories that windows purposely slows its operating system with time so that users are forced to buy a newer version of windows when it is released.

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