Free Ram Utility

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gunston · #1 Post by **gunston** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 6:48 am

hi there.
does anyone out there facing insufficient of ram memory?
please advise some good free ram utility in order to free up the memory resource and boosting my laptop performance.

dr_st · #2 Post by **dr_st** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 8:00 am

Reboot your computer.

gunston · #3 Post by **gunston** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 8:48 am

other ways?

dr_st · #4 Post by **dr_st** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 10:14 am

gunston wrote:other ways?

Other ways as in "I rebooted and it doesn't help" or other ways as in "I don't want to reboot"?

DIGITALgimpus · #5 Post by **DIGITALgimpus** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 10:34 am

Buy more RAM

tom101 · #6 Post by **tom101** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 10:50 am

Run software that doesn't have memory leaks

cmarti · #7 Post by **cmarti** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 12:01 pm

Go to and check your services maybe you have plenty that you cAN DISABLE because you dont need them.

Another question, do you have norton as antivirus?

#8 Post by **Kyocera** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 12:45 pm

gunston:

hi there.
does anyone out there facing insufficient of ram memory?
please advise some good free ram utility in order to free up the memory resource and boosting my laptop performance.

I would not take the responses you have gotten seriously, they are more trollish and will be delt with. That being said you should google for freeware, I have read that most of the ram utilities are useless but you may find something that works for you. I'm going to install ram on a customers computer right now who just has to have five photoshop programs running on her computer and she is complaining about how slow it is. Like Digitalgimpus said get more if you can, 1gig seems like it would be sufficient unless you are running a lot of stuff, scan for spyware adware, check the services running, like cmarti suggests.

christopher_wolf · #9 Post by **christopher_wolf** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 1:41 pm

Adding to what Kyocera said, it might be best just to get freeware on your own for it.

Also, check out sysinternals.com for some excellent processes monitors and various other utilities.

Also, I can't see how one-liner responses such as "Reboot your computer" and "Other ways?" could possibly help the OP.

kam_ · #10 Post by **kam_** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 2:53 pm

From my experience these utilities work in specific situations only. Take this example:

- You've been runing programs on your PC for 3 days - starting/closing various programs throughout that time, and not reboot.

Usually when a program starts it requests a maximum amount of memory it _could_ use. This can't be changed while the program is running. It also requests an amount of memory to be reserved for it to use right now - this amount can increase/decrease as the program runs and needs more or less memory.

Windows uses the two values to figure out what to swap out to a page file and what not to. For example if it knows the program reserved a huge amount it may posibly use, windows will page out other programs to anticipate the increase in ram usage.

Windows has an algorithm based on what memory a program can use, what memory it is using, and when it last requested more memory amoungst other things, to figure out what to page and what not to.

When a program closes it's suposed to release memory its using. Windows will also register the max memory it could use is now 0.

Unfortunately if the program doesnt close properly that 'used' memory may never be released.

These utilities will not reclaim that memory as such. They cannot simply destroy sections of reserved memory. What they do instead is allocate a huge amount of memory to themselves forceing everything to get paged out. They then exit. (This is why your disk spins like crazy when you run trigger these tools to reclaim memory)

What happens then is windows starts moving some paged programs back into real memory as you start using them.

Thus these utilities will help in the case where sections of physical memory are stuck alocated to programs that don't exist anymore.
But having said that, over some time windows will page these memory sections out anyway because they havn't been accessed in some time.
All these programs do is speed up the natural process that windows will do anyway.

Where these programs won't help is where the program itself has hung. It may still continuously be accessing some block of memory in that page and so that memory will never get paged out.
The ram utility may force it to be paged out, but it will page right back in as soon as the utility finishes.

This is why people report mixed results from these memory tools. Ultimately ANY of the various tools out there, freeware or comercial all do the same thing, so pick the cheapest one!

#11 Post by **jdhurst** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 3:01 pm

If, after following the suggestions given, you still want a memory management utility, I suggest FreeMem Pro. It is not free, but it works. I have been using it for years now. ... JD Hurst

#12 Post by **bill bolton** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 6:59 pm

gunston wrote:in order to free up the memory resource and boosting my laptop performance.

Please tell us more about the specfic issues you are facing, and also what applications and utilities that you normally run etc. Its not posibile to give you worthwhile advice, based on the limited information you have provided so far.

Cheers,

Bill

gunston · #13 Post by **gunston** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 7:43 pm

i think most probably my laptop is running lot of unecessary services.
how can i monitor that?

#14 Post by **Kyocera** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 7:53 pm

gunston, check this out, it gives a little explanation of memory usage and a tool to monitor it, not freeware though.

gunston · #15 Post by **gunston** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 8:04 pm

yeah, i was thinking to use it.
what do you think of this cacheman xp software?

Cmdr.Keen · #16 Post by **Cmdr.Keen** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 8:08 pm

I'm not sure if something like this applies, but what about a program like MemMAX? Has anyone heard anything - good or bad - about it?

Process Explorer might also help...there may be a newer version available.

HTH
-Andrew

#17 Post by **Kyocera** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 8:08 pm

never have tried it but probably would if I needed something like that, or try what jdhurst suggested.

#18 Post by **bill bolton** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 8:16 pm

gunston wrote:i think most probably my laptop is running lot of unecessary services.

You can have a lot of processes loaded but not occupying physical RAM... they may well be in the virtual RAM of the pagefile and only swap in when needed. So the number of "services" in itself is not necessarily an issue.

Rather than tell us what your envisaged solution is, you need to tell us specifically what your problem is

Cheers,

Bill

#19 Post by **Kyocera** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 8:21 pm

in one of my posts I accidently referred to services when I meant processes, this may be where the services issue came up.

dr_st · #20 Post by **dr_st** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 6:49 am

christopher_wolf wrote:Also, I can't see how one-liner responses such as "Reboot your computer" and "Other ways?" could possibly help the OP.

Rebooting your computer is a much better way than getting some "memory management" bogus crap. "Other ways?" was written by the OP, who apparently disagrees with me. At least look before you leap, sheesh.

#21 Post by **jdhurst** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 9:59 am

dr_st wrote:<snip>Rebooting your computer is a much better way than getting some "memory management" bogus crap.<snip>

While this is primarily a ThinkPad forum, I use a memory manager on both ThinkPad and NetVista desktop. I rarely reboot the desktop - no need. A memory manager can release memory not required, and generally assist in keeping things running smoothly. By all means, don't use one if you don't wish to, but the good ones are not bogus crap.
... JD Hurst

dr_st · #22 Post by **dr_st** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 5:18 pm

jdhurst wrote:A memory manager can release memory not required, and generally assist in keeping things running smoothly. By all means, don't use one if you don't wish to, but the good ones are not bogus crap.
... JD Hurst

We'll have to agree to disagree on this point.

In general, I can run my desktop for days and weeks without rebooting if I need to (and I have done it on several occasions) and it doesn't get bogged down, without any "managers". But if at some point it does get overloaded or begins to glitch, I'd reboot. Lately people seem to have forgotten that something as simple as a reboot can often fix so many problems, and usually there is no reason not to reboot an idle machine if it may help.

#23 Post by **Kyocera** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 5:45 pm

Most people that find this site and have been posting for a while should not be considered extreme novices when being given responses to questions. Re-boot your computer is something I would say to the people i run into on the job troubleshooting funky problems. I would not consider it a quality response to someone on this forum. At least qualify it with some explanation to give the impression that you really want to help, otherwise it sounds like a condescending response to a legitamate problem. Read the posters profile or some previous posts to help determine the level of help you can give, if you read through gunstons post's you'll see he is no novice by any stretch.

kam_ · #24 Post by **kam_** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 5:59 pm

I agree completely with Kyocera. Back to the whole point about reboot and particulary dr_st's point 'usually there is no reason not to reboot an idle machine if it may help.' - thats completely obvious.

Rebooting an idle machine is obviously better than trying to reclaim hung resources. However by definition is a person has left their computer on for some time they have done so for a reason. Sure some may just hate the time it takes to restart every morning, but for most of us its because we have programs open that are running services, processing long run jobs or at the very least a miriad of open documents that are inconvenient to have to re-open.

The question here is not weather anything else is better than rebooting, the question is if i can't reboot whats the next best thing. Or more in another way how can i increase the time my computer can run before i need to reboot.

'Just reboot' is no more a valid answer to this question as buy more memory!

dr_st · #25 Post by **dr_st** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 6:45 pm

Kyocera wrote:Most people that find this site and have been posting for a while should not be considered extreme novices when being given responses to questions. Re-boot your computer is something I would say to the people i run into on the job troubleshooting funky problems. I would not consider it a quality response to someone on this forum.

Normally I'd agree with you. But lately I've run into a couple of experiences in various forums where a bunch of people tried to find advanced solutions to simple problems, only because the person with the problem was given much more credit than he deserved, and in reality was stupid enough not to try the obvious. Not to say that this is the case here, but I'd rather be safe and offer something simple at first.

kam_ wrote:Rebooting an idle machine is obviously better than trying to reclaim hung resources.

Exactly the point I'm trying to get across. Too many people are so used to not rebooting that they sometimes forget that this is a simple, valid and often helpful step.

kam_ wrote:However by definition is a person has left their computer on for some time they have done so for a reason. Sure some may just hate the time it takes to restart every morning, but for most of us its because we have programs open that are running services, processing long run jobs or at the very least a miriad of open documents that are inconvenient to have to re-open.

I disagree. I think most of the machines are idling. In my friends' houses, in my school/college/uni, in most offices I've visited, most of the machines are idling most of the time.

And even if you're running a long job that takes a few days to complete - usually such jobs suck 100% of CPU power anyway, so you won't be using the computer in the meanwhile, in which case you would not care about other resources.

As for "miriads of open documents", well, what can I say. Some people can never keep a tidy desk, or a tidy desktop.

kam_ wrote:the question is if i can't reboot whats the next best thing

Nothing. Deal with it until you can reboot. Usually you can afford to wait a bit for some tasks to complete or to pause these tasks, reboot and resume.

kam_ wrote:Or more in another way how can i increase the time my computer can run before i need to reboot.

That's the art of running your computer and managing its resources properly. Comes with experiences. And no "memory manager that will reclaim lost resources" is going to help you with that, IMO.

kam_ wrote:'Just reboot' is no more a valid answer to this question as buy more memory!

Oh but it is. Basically it's like saying that "Clean your room" is not a better answer to "My room is dirty" than "Buy a new house". Rebooting is simple, takes 5 minutes in the worst case before you can get back to whatever it is you were doing, and in 99% of the cases does not harm productivity.

If you're hungry, you can distract yourself with various activities for a while, but at some point you will have to eat. That's the way I see it.

Wow, that was a long discussion about rebooting computers. Might add it to Wikipedia.

#26 Post by **jdhurst** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 8:30 pm

I read through all this again and chuckled quite a bit. Of course it matters not a whit to me how anyone uses their own machine.

But me: I have had two computers running (sequentially) 24x7 non-stop for over six years now. Windows 2000 on one for 3 years and Windows XP on the next for 3 years. Of course I have to reboot for updates, and in six years, two or three times because performance was draggin (so read, reboot every other year for performance reasons).

I turn my laptop off each night, so it is dead simple to compare performance between the two machines.
... JD Hurst

kam_ · #27 Post by **kam_** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 9:14 pm

"Nothing. Deal with it until you can reboot. Usually you can afford to wait a bit for some tasks to complete or to pause these tasks, reboot and resume. "

well thats the point isn't it.. you're saying there is no solution other than reboot your computer, and thats just not true.
Reboot is the best solution to reclaim resources but there are various other ranging in lesser inconvenience and therefore lesser effect.
If conveneince is more important to me than resources then a memory utility which reclaims some resources but avoids rebooting may just be a better solution for me overall. Your making the typical forum mistake of pushing your own opinion of how you use your device in your advice.

These memory utilities DO work in some instance because of the reasons i explained. I use one and it serves me well enough. In fact tektronix include one on their $40k DSO scope (i know because i own one). Are you saying they don't know how to manage memory in windows when they store data from a ghz DSO in real time?
I honestly don't care if half the computers you know of ARE idling, thats not the point at all. Its not about your computer or your situation.

The point is IF my computer isn't idling or for whatever reason (be it supersticious even!) i don't see rebooting as an option for me all the time, what else can i do. Your answer is 'nothing'. Thats simply not true and so that advice is misleading.

The mod made the point well, don't assume the guy's an idiot. Ask him why he can't just reboot and then offer the best advice you can. If you're sick of giving people too much credit like you say, then skip over the post and reply to one you deem worthy of your time.

dr_st · #28 Post by **dr_st** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 5:44 am

kam_ wrote:If you're sick of giving people too much credit like you say

I didn't say that.

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