Why does explorer.exe increase memory usage?

[Guest]

I'm running Windows XP Home. I found that if I don't use my PC much each day
"explorer.exe" in the task manager builds up memory usage. Right now it's
over 109,000k. Thing is I even shut down all programs running in the
background and it still builds up the memory usage. Is there a way to stop it
from using up my RAM?

 

[Stubbo_of_Oz]

I'm running Windows XP Home. I found that if I don't use my PC much each day
"explorer.exe" in the task manager builds up memory usage. Right now it's
over 109,000k. Thing is I even shut down all programs running in the
background and it still builds up the memory usage. Is there a way to stop it
from using up my RAM?

It's made by Micro$oft - that's why

 

[Malke]

I'm running Windows XP Home. I found that if I don't use my PC much
each day "explorer.exe" in the task manager builds up memory usage.
Right now it's over 109,000k. Thing is I even shut down all programs
running in the background and it still builds up the memory usage. Is
there a way to stop it from using up my RAM?

The First Question Of Troubleshooting: what changed between the time
things worked and the time they didn't?

The Second Question of Windows Troubleshooting: what is the
malware/virus status of the machine? If you think it is clean, what
programs (and versions) did you use to determine this? Be sure the
machine is clean:
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware

Malke