Memory Usage

[Guest]

I have 2Gb of Ram in my Vista Ultimate machine. It also has two very fast,
very big SATA drives both of which have vista managed virtual memory setup..
Total between them 4961 or thereabouts...

My question is when I boot my machine even at standstill memory usage sits
at 40-50% of my 2Gb. I dont believe I have that much in the way of startup
programs - AVG, Messenger etc - I keep minimal startup programs so things
move fast.

I am concerned VIsta is hogging my memory for no apprent reason.

SHould I be concerned or is this a red herring I am feeding myself?

 

[Richard G. Harper]

It's a red herring. Windows Vista has a different algorithm for caching
programs, DLLs and such compared to prior versions of Windows, so it appears
to be using more memory when in fact that memory is still readily available
if needed by system or programs. There's really little sense in keeping
memory "free" since if it's not being used, it's being wasted.

--
Richard G. Harper [MVP Shell/User] (e-mail address removed)
* NEW! Catch my blog ... http://msmvps.com/blogs/rgharper/
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* The Website - http://rgharper.mvps.org/
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[Fat Bastard]

The Microsoft Performance Team blog post explains this in detail:

http://blogs.technet.com/askperf/archive/2007/04/13/memory-management-dude-where-s-my-ram.aspx

 

[Rock]

I have 2Gb of Ram in my Vista Ultimate machine. It also has two very fast,
very big SATA drives both of which have vista managed virtual memory
setup..
Total between them 4961 or thereabouts...

My question is when I boot my machine even at standstill memory usage sits
at 40-50% of my 2Gb. I dont believe I have that much in the way of startup
programs - AVG, Messenger etc - I keep minimal startup programs so things
move fast.

I am concerned VIsta is hogging my memory for no apprent reason.

SHould I be concerned or is this a red herring I am feeding myself?

Red Herring, but tasty. Vista's memory management is much better. It tries
to find use for as much of the RAM a possible,caching programs and data
based on past use. Don't worry about it. Memory will be released for
apps as they need it. See these links:

http://blogs.technet.com/askperf/archive/2007/03/29/windows-vista-superfetch-readyboost.aspx

Inside the Windows Vista Kernel: Part 2 by Mark Russinovich
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/technetmag/issues/2007/03/VistaKernel/