Basics - GIMP 2.6 for Photographers: Image Editing with Open Source Software - page 33

1.5.4 Is GIMP Insecure? Some Comments and Tips
Unfortunately, computer programs sometimes crash unexpectedly or react
strangely. This can happen with any freeware running on Windows. Since
GIMP is GNU software, there are no guarantees.
In earlier versions of GIMP, I've experienced some bugs, but from version
2.0 onward GIMP has become very stable. In the event that something doesn't
work, it is typically due to incompatibility with other installed software or a
specific hardware problem.
GIMP's current version, 2.6.10, runs on Windows Vista and Windows 7,
therefore there shouldn't be any problems with the installation. However, it
may still happen that Window stalls during the loading process. Don't worry.
It takes a few minutes for GIMP to get started, especially if you're running it on
Windows and many fonts are installed.
The stability of GIMP depends on the technical condition of the computer,
the drivers, and other installed software. GIMP is more stable when used by
a computer running newer versions of Windows than older versions such as
Windows 98/98 SE/Me.
Also, your computer's RAM plays a key role in GIMP's performance.
In general, more memory equals more stability. The minimum memory
requirements for GIMP are 256 MB RAM for Windows XP and 1,024 MB RAM
for Windows Vista or Windows 7. For GIMP to work efficiently, you should
double these values. These values can be applied for any kind of digital image
processing.
If you have Adobe Photoshop installed on your computer in addition to
GIMP, GIMP may inform you about a missing file called Plug-ins.dll that the
program will not start without. In this case, look for the file of the same name
( Plug-ins.dll ) in the Adobe Photoshop installation folder. Simply copy it and
paste the Plug-ins.dll into the folder system32 of your Windows installation.
You will find support at http://gimper.net, another community website
for GIMP with a bulletin board of discussions, help topics, tutorials, and
downloads (in English). Mac users can find help in the Wilber-Loves-Apple
forum, also on http://gimper.net and http://sourceforge.net/projects/
gimponosx/forums. Additional mailing lists with information about GIMP are
available at http://www.gimp.org/mail_lists.html.