How do you free up memory on a computer!

[Edwards19179]

Hi,

I hope someone can help! What is the best way to free up memory on a computer? Andy advice/tips?

Are there any free programmes which omptimize your computers memory?

[drhayden1]

http://www.snapfiles.com/reviews/wincleaner-memory-optimizer/wcmemopt.html free and a good one as in the rating....
don't do the memory optimize thing on my computers..why do you need to-unless your are having a problem in that area

[DavidR]

First, we know nothing about your system.
What is your OS, how much RAM do you have, what is your CPU.
Why do you feel you need to free up memory.

Second, for the most part you shouldn't need to free up memory, if you have XP that is relatively good at managing memory.

Third, the best way to optimise memory is don't run non-essential applications on boot, many applications on installation have themselves run on boot when they aren't really essential, media players are a common one and you only need it when you click a media file.

Forth, when you have done with a program shut it down if it isn't one you use regularly throughout the day, browser, email, etc.

Fifth, RAM is relatively cheap and easy to install so if you have memory issues that you feel you need to free it up you may well be better upgrading the existing RAM.

[RejZoR]

The RAM is there to be used, not to idle for itself.

[johnny223]

The RAM is there to be used, not to idle for itself.

I agree

So RejZoR, can u suggest ways that we can fully utilize our ram? 'cause i have 2 gigs on my laptop with xp, and i always have more than 1 gig available with my most used applications opened(ex: firefox, Aim, windows live messenger...).
Maybe like a prefetching program like the one included in Vista?

[RejZoR]

http://www.iobit.com/iobitsmartdefrag.html

This one is supposet to include function similar to SuperFetch. But i'm not sure. I know they were mentioning it on their forums.
Vista already does a very good job at memory management.

[Lisandro]

So RejZoR, can u suggest ways that we can fully utilize our ram? 'cause i have 2 gigs on my laptop with xp, and i always have more than 1 gig available with my most used applications opened(ex: firefox, Aim, windows live messenger...).
Maybe like a prefetching program like the one included in Vista?

Well, 2Gb for XP seems more than enough as you can see by your own experience.
I never saw a RAM prefetch application... if there is one for XP, I'll be glad to test.

[Edwards19179]

First, we know nothing about your system.
What is your OS, how much RAM do you have, what is your CPU.
Why do you feel you need to free up memory.

Second, for the most part you shouldn't need to free up memory, if you have XP that is relatively good at managing memory.

Third, the best way to optimise memory is don't run non-essential applications on boot, many applications on installation have themselves run on boot when they aren't really essential, media players are a common one and you only need it when you click a media file.

Forth, when you have done with a program shut it down if it isn't one you use regularly throughout the day, browser, email, etc.

Fifth, RAM is relatively cheap and easy to install so if you have memory issues that you feel you need to free it up you may well be better upgrading the existing RAM.

I have XP Home. My RAM is about 256MB. CPU is anything between 20-24%

[TedNelly]

With so little memory available I can understand why you are looking for a way "programs" which optimize the memory you have available.

Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition System Requirements
128 megabytes (MB) of RAM or higher recommended  (64 MB minimum supported; may limit performance and some features)

Microsoft are notorious at under-stating Min System requirements.  The formula I have used over the years is (Microsoft Min Req X 6 and then some. )  If you really want a noticeable performance hit as already mentioned purchase some more RAM.

[DavidR]

I have XP Home. My RAM is about 256MB. CPU is anything between 20-24%

You most certainly need to increase your RAM probably not to the extent that tednelly uses as a rule of thumb. Even popping another 256MB of ram taking you to 512MB and you would see a noticeable improvement across the board. Upgrade to 1GB and any memory problems are gone and I doubt you would see any noticeable difference in XP's performance.

I would say 512MB should be your minimum as don't forget the minimum spec for XP was stated as 128MB assuming this were correct as you add and run other programs they too have minimums and collectively these will be well over your existing RAM so there will be a lot of swapfile activity.

If you used some form of RAM optimiser with 256MB it to would likely be working hard, meaning programs would continually have to load something no longer in RAM from the swapfile or wherever it farms it out to. So I doubt you would see much difference your best bet is to upgrade your RAM.

My question about your CPU was one of what type it is and what speed it runs at not how much % is in use, you can check My Computer, View System Information will tell you that.

[szc]

Like many others already suggested, you need to buy some more RAM. No software tool will ever solve your memory problems when you have 256 Mb of RAM only. That is simply not enough to run XP. You can, but you'll feel that in performance field as well...

RAM is pretty cheap these days, so your best option is to upgrade your system to at least 1 Mb Gb or RAM.

[DavidR]

I'm sure Sasha means 1GB of RAM

[szc]

Yes of course. 1Mb certainly wouldn't be of any help... crazy typos 

At least 1 Gb... I have 2 Gb running on my desktop machine and I still feel I could use some more sometimes. Especially when I have to run few colossal applications in the same time (Flash, Photoshop, Fireworks, and few others).

Thanks DavidR, I just corrected it in my previous post.

[bob3160]

Hi Sasha,

Yes of course. 1Mb certainly wouldn't be of any help... crazy typos  Roll Eyes

I called up my local computer shop to buy one of those MB chips but they told me they didn't have any
more left. Some big Gig chip came by and swallowed them all up...

[Abraxas]

As has been said if you have 256 MB RAM and running Win XP it is not sufficient . Then again I have used a machine with Win XP using 256 MB RAM / 666Mhz CPU . The point is what programs you need to use . The machine I spoke of I use mainly for Internet browsing and light Multi-Media programs .
The question you asked though ; "How do you free up memory on a computer!" can also be answered by trimming running and uneeded XP Services . I started firstly by disabling the Indexing service . No problem with SEARCH function at all . If tweaking XP for performance on a slow machine is more appealing than upgrading hardware have a look at Black Viper's Windows Service Pack 2 Service Configurations . Be fore-warned this is only for advanced users , as you could really mess up your system if you get carried away