To achieve this performance, developers remove "bloatware," telemetry, and optional features like the Microsoft Store (which is often offline in these versions), Windows Defender, and certain system sounds.
: Initial RAM usage is often reduced to approximately 400–431 MB. Windows 8.1 Pro Super Lite Extreme 32 64-bit
Anecdotal benchmarks suggest these "Extreme" builds can reduce the installation footprint from approximately 15-20 GB to under 4 GB. RAM usage on idle has been observed to drop from ~1 GB to ~400 MB, making the OS viable for systems with only 2 GB of RAM. RAM usage on idle has been observed to
What gets removed to earn the "Extreme" label? Typically, the modifier strips away: and retro gaming.
For older hardware, this is the difference between an unusable computer and a snappy machine capable of basic web browsing, word processing, and retro gaming.