Tray-Based Memory Monitor

[trev]

I'm looking for a simple utility for WinXP--one that can display the
amount of *used* memory in the tray. I emphasize "used memory" to
distinguish it from "free memory". The utility RAMpage (
http://www.jfitz.com/software/RAMpage/ ) comes close to what I'm after,
but it displays only free memory.

The difference isn't just a matter of taste: By displaying free memory,
RAMpage makes the tray icon *less* obvious, *more* nondescript, and
*harder* to notice, when memory is in shortest supply. What I want is a
tray icon that turns red under such circumstances, not black. Other
notifications (e.g. balloon tips) would be nice, too.

I don't need "memory defragment" or "memory freeing" features (I don't
believe in that nonsense). Just a simple memory meter! Freeware is
great, but if you know of a shareware utility, please mention it. (I do
know about FreeMeter, so let's skip that one.)

I'm not being lazy...I've spent a couple hours today looking for this
(seemingly simple) kind of utility, tried quite a few, and still don't
have what I'm after.

 

[Rock]

I'm looking for a simple utility for WinXP--one that can display the
amount of *used* memory in the tray. I emphasize "used memory" to
distinguish it from "free memory". The utility RAMpage (
http://www.jfitz.com/software/RAMpage/ ) comes close to what I'm after,
but it displays only free memory.

The difference isn't just a matter of taste: By displaying free memory,
RAMpage makes the tray icon *less* obvious, *more* nondescript, and
*harder* to notice, when memory is in shortest supply. What I want is a
tray icon that turns red under such circumstances, not black. Other
notifications (e.g. balloon tips) would be nice, too.

I don't need "memory defragment" or "memory freeing" features (I don't
believe in that nonsense). Just a simple memory meter! Freeware is
great, but if you know of a shareware utility, please mention it. (I do
know about FreeMeter, so let's skip that one.)

I'm not being lazy...I've spent a couple hours today looking for this
(seemingly simple) kind of utility, tried quite a few, and still don't
have what I'm after.

Can I ask why you want to monitor that? XP works very hard to find a use
for all the memory. Unused memory is wasted. XP dynamically manages memory
and allocates it as needed so what use would that have? For example there
is no advantage to using one of those memory utilities that purport to free
up memory. XP's memory management is much different than Win95/98/ME. If
you already know this and have other reasons, sorry for wasting your time.

 

[trev]

Can I ask why you want to monitor that? XP works very hard to find
a use for all the memory. Unused memory is wasted. XP dynamically
manages memory and allocates it as needed so what use would that
have? For example there is no advantage to using one of those memory
utilities that purport to free up memory. XP's memory management is
much different than Win95/98/ME. If you already know this and have
other reasons, sorry for wasting your time.

Yep, I know that, and have other reasons.

I had the entire reasoning typed out, but on second thought, I'll leave
it out. I know that free memory is wasted memory and all that... I
just need a way to be alerted to when I'm running out of virtual memory.

 

[Rock]

Yep, I know that, and have other reasons.

I had the entire reasoning typed out, but on second thought, I'll leave it
out. I know that free memory is wasted memory and all that... I just
need a way to be alerted to when I'm running out of virtual memory.

So what you want is to show how much page file is used? There is a small
utility by Bill James that shows it. There's a link for i on the late Alex
Nichol MVP's site on virtual memory along with a link to a compiled version
on Doug Knox' site . It doesn't show as a continuous meter in the
notification area, though. Sorry I don't know of any others.

http://aumha.org/win5/a/xpvm.htm

 

[trev]

So what you want is to show how much page file is used?

No--the paging file and virtual memory are actually not the same thing.
(My paging file is totally disabled.) I'm still looking... But thanks
anyway.

 

[trev]

I guess I can use MemInfo ( http://www.carthagosoft.net/ )... Not
exactly the look I was after, but close enough.

 

[Gary]

| Rock wrote:
|
| > "trev" wrote
| >
| >> I'm looking for a simple utility for WinXP--one that can display the
| >> amount of *used* memory in the tray.
| >
| > Can I ask why you want to monitor that? XP works very hard to find
| > a use for all the memory. Unused memory is wasted. XP dynamically
| > manages memory and allocates it as needed so what use would that
| > have? For example there is no advantage to using one of those memory
| > utilities that purport to free up memory. XP's memory management is
| > much different than Win95/98/ME. If you already know this and have
| > other reasons, sorry for wasting your time.
|
| Yep, I know that, and have other reasons.
|
| I had the entire reasoning typed out, but on second thought, I'll leave
| it out. I know that free memory is wasted memory and all that... I
| just need a way to be alerted to when I'm running out of virtual memory.
|
|

I use FreeRAM XP Pro for just that reason-You can configure it to
show,either numerically or as a pie chart in the notification tray ...click
:file/temporarily disable automatic optimization & there you have a monitor
showing free ram in red & the rest in white.
http://www.yourwaresolutions.com/software.html#framxpro

 

[Ayush]

Replied to [trev]s message :

I guess I can use MemInfo ( http://www.carthagosoft.net/ )... Not
exactly the look I was after, but close enough.

Thanks for the link.. the Twistpad software is really good ...



→ Ayush

 

[mikeyhsd]

not surprising you are/might be having problems since you have disabled page file.

turn on your page file and set it to SYSTEM managed and you will not have problems.



(e-mail address removed)

So what you want is to show how much page file is used?

No--the paging file and virtual memory are actually not the same thing.
(My paging file is totally disabled.) I'm still looking... But thanks
anyway.

 

[Ron Martell]

No--the paging file and virtual memory are actually not the same thing.
(My paging file is totally disabled.) I'm still looking... But thanks
anyway.

You are seriously crippling the operation of your computer by forcing
Windows to use RAM for the *unused* portions of Memory Allocation
Requests.

Pretty much everything (Windows components, device drivers,
application programs, etc) asks for larger memory memory allocations
than they usually need under normal circumstances, and sometimes these
requests are very much larger than the needs.

By design, Windows *must* allocate sufficient memory address space to
satisfy all of the allocation requests that are issued, even if these
requests are not all used immediately. What Windows normally does is
to allocate RAM only to those portions of the requests that are
actually used and to map the unused portions to the paging file.

Here are some figures from my own machine, which has 1 gb of RAM at
present:
PF Usage (from Task Manager) = 570 mb
Actual physical size of the paging file (pagefile.sys) = 80 mb
Valid memory content currently in the paging file (Bill James'
utility) = 50 mb.
Available physical memory (Task Manager) = 429 mb.

So without the paging file my computer would have reported "out of
memory" errors some time ago and I would not be able to run all of my
current application load.

One other item - in Windows XP the term "Virtual Memory" is actually
defined as being the sum total of the physical RAM plus the paging
file.

Good luck


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP (1997 - 2006)
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca
Syberfix Remote Computer Repair

"Anyone who thinks that they are too small to make a difference
has never been in bed with a mosquito."

 

[trev]

Nonsense. I am not "having problems". I have 2GB and I've never run
out of memory. But recently, I began using a distributed-computing
client, which can use a lot of memory. Because of this, I would like to
take a little extra precaution to help prevent memory overuse issues.
This will allow me to let the DC client use lots of RAM during normal
use.

By the way, I've been around for a long time, and letting the SYSTEM
manage the page file is a wonderful recipe for crap performance. I know
that many people love to scream to the contrary, but Windows XP DOES use
the paging file when it doesn't need to. I can do without unnecessary
swapping from disk, thanks.

 

[trev]

You are seriously crippling the operation of your computer by forcing
Windows to use RAM for the *unused* portions of Memory Allocation
Requests.

Pretty much everything (Windows components, device drivers,
application programs, etc) asks for larger memory memory allocations
than they usually need under normal circumstances, and sometimes these
requests are very much larger than the needs.

By design, Windows *must* allocate sufficient memory address space to
satisfy all of the allocation requests that are issued, even if these
requests are not all used immediately. What Windows normally does is
to allocate RAM only to those portions of the requests that are
actually used and to map the unused portions to the paging file.

Here are some figures from my own machine, which has 1 gb of RAM at
present:
PF Usage (from Task Manager) = 570 mb
Actual physical size of the paging file (pagefile.sys) = 80 mb
Valid memory content currently in the paging file (Bill James'
utility) = 50 mb.
Available physical memory (Task Manager) = 429 mb.

So without the paging file my computer would have reported "out of
memory" errors some time ago and I would not be able to run all of my
current application load.

Thanks, but you're incorrect. I've tried lots of configurations where
it concerns the paging file, and by far--and I mean there is NO
QUESTION--the best configuration on my system is to have it totally
disabled.

It simply makes no sense to say that it would be better for Windows to
put any memory allocation on disk, rather than in physical memory, when
I have a ton of physical memory free at almost all times. If I didn't
have more than enough physical memory, then yes, of course, I'd need to
use a paging file.

One other item - in Windows XP the term "Virtual Memory" is actually
defined as being the sum total of the physical RAM plus the paging
file.

I wasn't the one confused on that point.

 

[mikeyhsd]

apparently you have not been around LONG enough.
enjoy your problems.



(e-mail address removed)



Nonsense. I am not "having problems". I have 2GB and I've never run
out of memory. But recently, I began using a distributed-computing
client, which can use a lot of memory. Because of this, I would like to
take a little extra precaution to help prevent memory overuse issues.
This will allow me to let the DC client use lots of RAM during normal
use.

By the way, I've been around for a long time, and letting the SYSTEM
manage the page file is a wonderful recipe for crap performance. I know
that many people love to scream to the contrary, but Windows XP DOES use
the paging file when it doesn't need to. I can do without unnecessary
swapping from disk, thanks.

 

[Ron Martell]

Thanks, but you're incorrect. I've tried lots of configurations where
it concerns the paging file, and by far--and I mean there is NO
QUESTION--the best configuration on my system is to have it totally
disabled.

It simply makes no sense to say that it would be better for Windows to
put any memory allocation on disk, rather than in physical memory, when
I have a ton of physical memory free at almost all times. If I didn't
have more than enough physical memory, then yes, of course, I'd need to
use a paging file.

You have missed the point, or perhaps I failed to explain it clearly
enough. There is no disk activity repeat no disk activity involved
when Windows maps the unused portions of memory allocation requests to
available space in the paging file. All that happens is that Windows
makes the appropriate entries in the memory mapping tables that are
maintained in RAM. So you could quite quickly and simply gain the
use of several hundred megabytes of your RAM by having a paging file
in existence, instead of having that RAM died up needlessly because of
the unused memory allocations.

Good luck

Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP (1997 - 2006)
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca
Syberfix Remote Computer Repair

"Anyone who thinks that they are too small to make a difference
has never been in bed with a mosquito."

 

[frodo]

cacheman can do that, among it's other feats.

 

[Ron Martell]

cacheman can do that, among it's other feats.

Cacheman, and all other programs of similar ilk, is totally incapable
of performing any beneficial function for any computer under any
circumstances.

Anyone who advocates the use of such crapware products is merely
providing conclusive evidence of how little they know about computers.

Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP (1997 - 2006)
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca
Syberfix Remote Computer Repair

"Anyone who thinks that they are too small to make a difference
has never been in bed with a mosquito."

 

[R. McCarty]

Well stated - Another "Placebo" effect program, worthless but
gives a "Warm, Fuzzy" feeling that the PC runs better using it.

 

[frodo]

Cacheman, and all other programs of similar ilk, is totally incapable
of performing any beneficial function for any computer under any
circumstances.
Anyone who advocates the use of such crapware products is merely
providing conclusive evidence of how little they know about computers.
Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada

the OP wanted something that displayed used mem, so it may be of value to
him. period. he asked, we answered; you insulted, as usual.