Physical Memory Free: 0MB (out of 2000)

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Matt Stanzel said:
Screenshot here: http://www.spencercommunity.com/systemperformance.gif

This is how the system looks merely an hour after booting up, with minimal
applications launched (WMCenter, one IE window with single tab).

Here is a list of processes running:
http://www.spencercommunity.com/systemperformance2.gif

Please give me some base starting points to figure out what is going on.

Thanks,
Matt
Click to expand...


I would look at Internet Explorer, which is using about 100mb more ram than
I would expect with only one tab opened. Try running IE with no add ons to
see if that changes the memory use.
 
Matt Stanzel said:
Screenshot here: http://www.spencercommunity.com/systemperformance.gif

This is how the system looks merely an hour after booting up, with minimal
applications launched (WMCenter, one IE window with single tab).

Here is a list of processes running:
http://www.spencercommunity.com/systemperformance2.gif

Please give me some base starting points to figure out what is going on.
Click to expand...

Well I agree with Jim that IE (iexplore.exe) is using a lot of memory
considering, but other than that I don't see a problem. Vista tries to use
all the physical memory it can find because memory that just isn't being
used is memory you wasted money purchasing. Also, I notice you're running
photoshop. That's *always* had some odd practices with memory use in and of
itself.

Contrary to how things used to be and how some people seem to think things
still are, "Free" RAM is not a requirement for a decently working system,
the OS will attempt to use everything it can (because unused is wasted,
remember) and it will use virtual memory swapfiles to ensure that things are
running well. This isn't even just a Windows thing. My Mac laptop also
attempts to find a use for all the memory I've installed.

Unless you're actually experiencing some kind of problem, don't worry about
it. And if you are having some kind of problem, don't fixate on that one
number you've circled because it almost certainly isn't the issue here.
 
There is no problem. Windows speculatively uses memory. You should have all
memory being used. For 5 mins after booting it loads everything it can that
you might need into memory. You can regard this memory as free. See the
cache figure - it will take all free memory. So you can assume Physical
memory + cache memory = physical memory available for use, of course a lot
of memory from all the processes are also available to other programs if
needed.
 
Nothing is going on and it is normal and desirable to see that.

--


Regards,

Richard Urban MVP
Microsoft Windows Shell/User
 
Matt Stanzel said:
Screenshot here: http://www.spencercommunity.com/systemperformance.gif

This is how the system looks merely an hour after booting up, with minimal
applications launched (WMCenter, one IE window with single tab).

Here is a list of processes running:
http://www.spencercommunity.com/systemperformance2.gif

Please give me some base starting points to figure out what is going on.
Click to expand...

What you see is normal and good. Free RAM is wasted. Vista does a much
better job at memory management and tries to find a use for all the memory.
In the image you posted note that the Cached Physical Memory is 1455 MB.
Vista will cache what it thinks you will need based on past usage. This
memory is freed when a process needs it. In short, there is nothing to
worry about or troubleshoot.
 
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