memory

[bob]

I am using Vista Home Basic 32 bit with a gig of memory. After
booting

into Windows, I opened task manager. In the performance tab under

physical memory, it said "Free: 500 MB". Then, over the course of a

minute it dropped to 1 MB. Also, I noticed the "Cached" value went
up.

Any ideas what's going on?

 

[Andre Da Costa[ActiveWin]]

Vista loves memory and its efficiently and powerfully taking advantage of
every drop it to make your system run smoothly.

 

[Bob J]

RAM memory/caches/Readyboost are there to store items and possible anticipate
the users requirements, which can be loaded faster than having to go to the
HD everytime a process/application is called for. If you need someting that
is not in RAM/cache/RB whatever is in RAM/cache/RB will be replaced with your
requirements, RAM/cache/RB is meant to be used not sitting idle.
You have 1gb RAM an upgrade to 2gb but no more than 3gb would help, if not a
Readyboost compatible flash drive may help.
--
Regards
Bob J
If advise given from anyone, solves problem or not, or if solved from
another source,post back & let us know.
Then we all benefit.

 

[the wharf rat]

minute it dropped to 1 MB. Also, I noticed the "Cached" value went
up.

Any ideas what's going on?

There should never be any free phsyical memory. What isn't used
for actual programs should be used for the file cache, which holds recently
accessed disk data to try and prevent slow disc reads.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I am using Vista Home Basic 32 bit with a gig of memory. After
booting

into Windows, I opened task manager. In the performance tab under

physical memory, it said "Free: 500 MB". Then, over the course of a

minute it dropped to 1 MB. Also, I noticed the "Cached" value went
up.

Any ideas what's going on?

What's going on is good. Just as with previous versions of Windows,
you should have little or no free memory. Wanting to minimize the
amount of memory Windows uses is a counterproductive desire. Windows
is designed to use all, or nearly all, of your memory, all the time,
and that's good not bad. Free memory is wasted memory. You paid for it
all and shouldn't want to see any of it wasted.

Windows works hard to find a use for all the memory you have all the
time. For example if your apps don't need some of it, it will use that
part for caching, then give it back when your apps later need it. In
this way Windows keeps all your memory working for you all the time.