Memory Usage always at around 40% and laptop freezing often

[junkeeroo]

Hi All,

Wondering if you'd be able to recommend a listing of essential services necessary for Windows 7 and Lenovo's tools. I have a T410 with i620 and 4GB of RAM and I'm constantly running around 40-45% memory usage and with no programs running I'm running around 35% memory usage. When I check task manager, I somehow have 105 processes running?! I've probably installed about 15 programs and that's it.

So a link of essentials would be most appreciated.

my 4GB of RAM shows in Task Manager that I have:

Cached 2328
Available 2286
Free 22

So available - free = 2286-22 = 2264 = 2.2GB. Though this seems like I've got a lot of available RAM, I've been having programs like Firefox, Windows Explorer, and media players freeze up on me and it takes up to 1-2 min. for them and my laptop to free up so that I can resume working. This doesn't seem right.

When I look at the processes tab, firefox.exe *32 is at 225 000K (I have about 10-15 add-ons - do these slow down things?). Any ideas how I can free up the memory so I'm not getting this constant freezing?

Cheers.

[k3davis]

Not qualified to answer your ultimate question (I'm still on a T42...) but most definitely add-ons will increase memory consumption in firefox. Try running it in safe mode (add-ons disabled) for a while and compare the memory usage.

That's not to say that I don't still prefer the 'fox but... it does take a hit on RAM.

[junkeeroo]

Thanks K3davis.

So far I've found this article: Windows 7 Services that can be Safely Set to MANUAL

Here is a list of services that can be safely set to MANUAL:

* Application Experience
* Computer Browser (If your computer is not connected to any network)
* Desktop Window Manager Session Manager (If you don't use Aero theme)
* Diagnostic Policy Service
* Distributed Link Tracking Client
* IP Helper
* Offline Files
* Portable Device Enumerator Service
* Print Spooler (If you don't have Printer)
* Protected Storage
* Remote Registry (Always disable it for Security purposes)
* Secondary Logon
* Security Center
* Server (If your computer is not connected to any network)
* Tablet PC Input Service
* TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper
* Themes ( If you use Windows Classic theme)
* Windows Error Reporting Service
* Windows Media Center Service Launcher
* Windows Search (If you don't use Windows Search feature frequently)
* Windows Time (If you don't want to update system tray clock time using Internet)

PS: You can see the details of each service to determine whether you should disable it or not.

Any thoughts?

[Colonel O'Neill]

With Windows 7 (and Vista), SuperFetch caches a lot of stuff in your RAM, making it appear used. However, as programs load, SuperFetch liberates this RAM as necessary. This feature actually speeds up program loading time by precaching chunks of the program into RAM in anticipation. Having 105 processes, though, is a bit disconcerting. Try running in Safe Mode and checking Process count there.

As for the freezing...
Try running the Windows Memory Diagnostic at boot? Run a CHKDSK? Check for hard drive issues?

[sarbin]

you could also look at blackviper's windows services website.
the win7-specific page is here: : http://www.blackviper.com/Windows_7/servicecfg.htm
lots of good service tweaking info.

hth.

[visionviper]

I have a T410 with i620 and 4GB of RAM and I'm constantly running around 40-45% memory usage and with no programs running I'm running around 35% memory usage. When I check task manager, I somehow have 105 processes running?! I've probably installed about 15 programs and that's it.

As already stated, this is normal. Personally I run constantly around 50% until I start up a game or something and then it goes higher.

When I look at the processes tab, firefox.exe *32 is at 225 000K (I have about 10-15 add-ons - do these slow down things?). Any ideas how I can free up the memory so I'm not getting this constant freezing?

Maybe it's just me but 225,000k seems huge. What kind of addons are you running? The only other time I can ever remember seeing Firefox using that much was back when Firefox still had memory leaking problems.

Does your laptop freeze only when you have Firefox open?

[Vempele]

With Windows 7 (and Vista), SuperFetch caches a lot of stuff in your RAM, making it appear used.

It also occasionally hogs the CPU and refuses to let go even if you run other CPU-intensive programs.

[Colonel O'Neill]

I've seen Firefox have memory usage in that area, but only when I've somehow opened about two hundred tabs.

It also occasionally hogs the CPU and refuses to let go even if you run other CPU-intensive programs.

This is why I've sorta switched to third-party caching software, which although does not support dynamic RAM "free-up-ance" , seems to have a lot more control over the caching process itself.

[junkeeroo]

hi all and thanks for the info,

viper, not sure if it's just freezing up with firefox...i'll have to see how things go as i just switched to google chrome. i did, however, open up firefox in safe mode and i noticed that it's down to 108 000 K memory usage...must be the add ons. i think "No Script" might be the hog here.

i'll try your tweaks (and i'm happy to know that 40% is ok) and the dskchk suggestions.

cheers.

[jdhurst]

It is (in my opinion) a mis-conception that a large number of processes cause problems. Never (ever) happened to me. Processes use memory, that's all. I have 110 processes running and half my memory available (entirely normal for Windows 7). It never freezes up on me, even when I load up a couple of virtual machines (memory hogs). Also, I have almost all the Lenovo software running and it is no big problem. My machine is properly set up and CPU runs at <2% more than 95 of the time.

So I would look for something else. Check what processes and services are running and look for stuff you might have loaded. ... JDH