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RAM Explorer

Started by Robin, August 11, 2005, 11:26 hrs

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Robin

Hey. Is there software available to check out what actually is consuming the RAM? I know You can see processes memory usage in the Task Manager, but when my laptop with 512 RAM boots up there's only 120mbs free RAM left, and all the processes active at that point consumes no more than 40mbs. Windows itself can't use like 380mbs by itself, can it? Any ideas?

Thanks!
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query

Have a look at Process Explorer (www.sysinternals.com).

Robin

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Robin

#3
Hey again. I've been checking around in my process list now and i have to say i can't find anything RAM-consuming which i don't want/need at start up. So this time i wonder if i can force Windows' "core" and.. well, practicly everything which loads with Windows into the pagefile, so that the RAM is free for other stuff. Of course i understand this probably will make Windows take much longer to start, but i don't care so much about that (if i can get more RAM available because of it.)

I've also been wondering if there's some kind of software with which You can force stuff consuming RAM to "move away" to the pagefile when You're about to load a program of Your own choice (which You know could need some extra space in the RAM). That would be really interesting to try out. Again, ive been searching for something likely on Google but don't end up with anything useful. I think i'm not getting the terms right.

Wow, 150 poasts. Feels like i've been pestering You much longer.

Thank You!
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Robin

#4
I'm sorry, i just have to add this. I just downloaded a well-rated RAM-freeing utility and went from 120mbs of free RAM to only 138, and that took almost 30 seconds. Something is really, really "wrong" somewhere, and as usual, i have no clue where that is. This is really not how i'd think about having 512 DDR RAM!
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Carskick

I'd use MSCONFIG to turn off boot up programs that you don't need. Things like the adobe, quicktime, MSoffice, etc updaters and bootup quickiners are uneeded. If you turn these off, the programs will still work, but may take an extra second to execute. You shouldn't need 300-400MB of stuff running in the background on boot up. The very most you should have is about 250MB, unless it's a special usage machine.
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Chandler

Quote from: Robin on August 12, 2005, 11:50 hrs
I'm sorry, i just have to add this. I just downloaded a well-rated RAM-freeing utility and went from 120mbs of free RAM to only 138, and that took almost 30 seconds. Something is really, really "wrong" somewhere, and as usual, i have no clue where that is. This is really not how i'd think about having 512 DDR RAM!
Those RAM-freeing utilities do exactly what you don't want to have happening - put your running applications into the pagefile.

In Task Manager, what number do you have for "System Cache"?

Robin

160 or so. How do i make cache use the pagefile ?
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Carskick

Quote from: ja on August 12, 2005, 22:11 hrs
Have 12 items disabled from starting.
Am using WinPatrol for that.

I will try recovering RAM and defragging it in System Mechanic 5.

I need to look into the ram hogging a little more seriously.
Thanks for the 250 benchmark.
Does that apply to Win 2000 pro?


I was talking about WinXP. 2000Pro should be a little less.
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Robin

Ok, so 500 minus 160 cache minus the, say, 50mb memory used for startup programs = 290mbs, but only 50-100 free left at startup. Where's the RAM? Look at this:

Pagefile Physical Location:    D:\pagefile.sys
Current Pagefile Usage:    282 MB
Session Peak Usage:    431 MB
Current Pagefile Size:    756 MBPagefile Physical Location:    E:\pagefile.sys
Current Pagefile Usage:    19 MB
Session Peak Usage:    120 MB
Current Pagefile Size:    124 MB

Minus 300 in the pagefile!? A peak of totally 550 in this session?! I just started this pc for christ'sakes! Would anyone here accept to read a Hijackthis-log? This is completely unacceptable.
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Robin

OK, no i've checked around everywhere. I've read through several guides about Windows XP and Memory tweaks, disabled services, all that. I also played around with prefetch and all other settings in the session manager key in the registry, i still get less than 100mbs of available RAM at startup (and without prefecth it's darn slow too!). After running HL2 (which is the main reason i'm even bothered by this) which consumes a heck lot of RAM (especially with 256 heapsize) and close it i had around 150mbs avilable RAM. No matter what settings i change, wherever, Windows simply consumes at least 300mbs of the RAM, permanently.

I'm starting to believe Microsoft included something in one of their latest security updates which does this only to force users to buy more RAM. As i've said earlier, i have read about Windows consuming most of the RAM no matter what, BUT i have NEVER EVER before experienced that myself. Windows has always been very kind about memory for me. On this computer, even in this very OS which i didn't install more than 3 months ago, i have easily had more than 300mbs free AT STARTUP every single time.

No wonder people have got so much RAM these days, now i understand it, their OS simply forces them to, and now i'm experiencing this myself for the first time.

This has simply to be my conclusion.
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Carskick

Quote from: Robin on August 15, 2005, 15:32 hrs
I'm starting to believe Microsoft included something in one of their latest security updates which does this only to force users to buy more RAM. As i've said earlier, i have read about Windows consuming most of the RAM no matter what, BUT i have NEVER EVER before experienced that myself. Windows has always been very kind about memory for me. On this computer, even in this very OS which i didn't install more than 3 months ago, i have easily had more than 300mbs free AT STARTUP every single time.

Heh. While it is a good hypothesis, I do not think it's true, as almost all my system are fully updated XP systems, and don't have this problem. It is also possible that you have some sort of virus or maulware that is causing troulbe. If you have not yet, try scanning with AdAware, Spybot S&D, and AVG or another repectable virus scanner. They can often have hidden stuff booting, causing mysterious problems such as this. If worse come to worse, we may have to do a complete reformat, but hopefully the scanners can pinpoint a culprit. Make sure you have a firewall up as well.
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Robin

#12
Ah well, i seriously didn't believe this myself, i just had to blame something! Anyway, i did search "everything" with different softwares but didn't find more than the usual. The problem might have been that i played around with too many tweak programs. Would be quite interesting to know for sure though, too many tweaks to the Pagefile, cache etc. maybe just spoiled it all at last. Guess us OC-freaks can't blame nothing but ourselves in the end! ;D

Thanks for all help, btw, people!
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