I think two of the primary reasons why I let the laptop fall out of memory are that: 1.) the thing is slow, and; 2.) connectivity issues.
Speed really isn’t that huge of a deal; the issue there lies mainly in that it’s an old netbook that was built to run Windows XP at an awesome pace in a Windows Vista and Windows 7 world. It’s old. It just can’t handle the weight of modern browsers accessing the modern web–unless I tried to use lighter, handicapped browsers, which I’m really not opposed to.
Connectivity issues are probably my biggest problem with the thing. I really don’t know what is up with the wireless in this laptop. I’m guessing that the radio might just be suffering from it’s design–maybe it’s low-powered when compared to others, and it’s the low power design that causes it to be weak. More likely, however, is that there is an issue with the antenna, and I just can’t catch a strong enough signal thanks to the wire being routed funny or accidentally grounded out somewhere.
I went ahead and did a fresh install of Debian on it the other night, and it seems to be running a bit better, so some of the issues I had been noticing were related to the previous OS and what I’d done to it. Sad, really, as I remember having fun using the distro I had previously installed–Q4OS. I think what my issue there had ended up becoming was my preferences for vanilla versions of random applications over the ones tweaked for Q4OS, and then the random program or two requiring libraries outside of that distro’s base; so my punching holes and adding on top of the OS just kind of ruined it.
But, now, the laptop seems to be running fine–or as fine as is to be expected, given what I’m trying to do with it.