Jeff said:
Obviously when an app is running it is using RAM. But is that also the case
after the application is minimized? Does it still use up some of the
available RAM?
Yes. It even uses up RAM when you close it, at least until another
application or service needs the memory more than it does.
This is a good thing, not a bad thing. If you have lots of available RAM on
your machine and it isn't getting used either for applications or the system
cache, it is getting wasted. The reason is because code that is loaded or
executed from RAM is loaded or executed much, much faster than it is from
your had drive.
To see how this works, reboot your computer. Then load a program you use
often, such as Outlook Express. While you do so, observe your hard disk
button or indicator on your computer (which should be flashing, indicating
that code is being loaded from the hard drive). When it fully loads, close
Outlook Express (for purposes of this experiment, it is okay to read your
mail first if you want to). Then open Outlook Express again. Note that this
time there is virtually no hard drive activity. Better yet, notice the huge
speed difference in how quickly it loaded? That's the power of RAM. The
program loaded much faster because when you loaded it the first time into RAM
from the hard drive, it stayed there even after you closed the program.
Understanding how the system cache works is the single best performance
improvement I know, and it doesn't even require a registry tweak or expensive
third party software.
Ken
