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Sufficient memory?

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Grafter
Posts: 666
Registered: ‎31-07-2007

Sufficient memory?

Over the past few weeks my W7x64bit O/S has slowed down quite a lot.
This morning I took a look at the memory usage and found it was 98% !!
I have a 2x1MB memory setup installed.
I have also tried to improve the speed by eliminating a few programmes from the setup and also did a complete defrag.
Do you techies believe that perhaps I need some more memory or what about eliminating the background runners...trouble with that is not knowing which to eliminate
and I would not want to eliminate the important ones.
any ideas please?
31 REPLIES 31
dvorak
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Re: Sufficient memory?

I would say 4GB as a minimum would be required.
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Oldjim
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Re: Sufficient memory?

Be careful when checking memory usage as Windows 7 uses all the spare memory as a cache - see mine with virtually nothing running (Firefox, Outlook, KIS plus a few minor programmes)
But I would agree about 4GB being recommended
HPsauce
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Re: Sufficient memory?

My W7x64 system has 4GB and is currently using 1.56GB not doing much (Skype & Outlook).
I might risk 2GB on a lightly-used 32-bit W7 system..... Roll_eyes
What antivirus are you using?
AlaricAdair
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Re: Sufficient memory?

I agree with dvorak. In theory you can run Win7 64 in 2 GB but it runs a lot better with 4 gb or more.  You may for some reason be unable to upgrade your memory and are stuck with your 2 GB (laptop?), an easy way to check what is using your memory is to use taskmgr.exe.  Click the start button and where it shows a text box with the words "Search Programs and Files" in light grey enter the word "taskmgr" then left click on taskmgr.exe which should appear above the text box.
The task manager dialog box should pop up.
Click on the Processes tab
and then click on the view option in the taskmgr menu bar.
Select the Select Columns  and another panel will pop up,
click the check box for  Memory Working set and press ok
You should see a list of the running processes, one column will be headed "Working Set (Memory)"; click on the heading and it should sort the processes in order of memory demands.
Finally click on the "Show processes for all users" checkbox at the foot of the processes panel.
This will give you an idea of what is using your computer's memory. Sometimes programs go wrong and consume excessive memory and you might be able to stop that process. You have to work out which are essential system process (that you shouldn't stop) and those which are optional and you can stop. Stopping the wrong process might freeze your PC requiring a reboot. You may also choose to avoid running other programs to save memory.
Having said all of that, the easiest solution usually is just to upgrade your memory.  I use a company called http://www.crucial.com/uk  but there are others.
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Oldjim
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Registered: ‎15-06-2007

Re: Sufficient memory?

I do it the easy way - Ctrl Alt Del and select Start Task Manager
Strat
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Re: Sufficient memory?

...or Ctrl Shift Esc
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ReedRichards
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Re: Sufficient memory?

I have a Windows 7 computer running some test equipment that runs very happily on 512 Mbytes of RAM although it doesn't have to multi-task much.
I am writing this on a Windows 7 - 64.computer with 4 GB or RAM currently using 1.41 GB.
If you are using 98% of the RAM then adding more RAM should improve performance but that might just serve to mask the fundamental problem of something running on your computer that is hogging the memory.
Gus
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Registered: ‎31-07-2007

Re: Sufficient memory?

To reduce the load, don't have your desktop full of icons only what you need, the more you have then the more memory you need just to display them.  Same for your desktop Theme, if are using Aero for instance it looks nice but it eats up memory, so a less flashy desktop for more free system memory.
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rongtw
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Re: Sufficient memory?

Also its surprizing how much memory some AV progs hog  Shocked especially NORTON !
i have win7 x64  +  8 gig duel channel mem , but 50% is wasted most of the time max required is 4 gig , but i do a lot of gaming online  Cool
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Oldjim
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Re: Sufficient memory?

Symantec is now quite light - your information is rather out of date - they made some big improvements - and about time to I hear you say  Grin
rongtw
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Re: Sufficient memory?

cheers for the info oldjim  Wink but my  neighbour altho he has a very poor old  PC  Cry  norton realy slows his down and he cant wait for his account to run out , but i dont know how old his norton AV is ,maybe a older version
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Grafter
Posts: 666
Registered: ‎31-07-2007

Re: Sufficient memory?

Thanks to all for your great suggestions so far.
I have taken a couple of suggested mods already .....I took away ALL of the desktop shorts and also the Startup ones and have seen some improvement in pickup speed.
Unfortunately, a contact with Crucial's site and their test of my motherboard says that it will only accept up to 2GB memory!
I find this strange, although the Foxconn motherboard I have is about 4 years old.
I also found under processes, that there were many apps for svchost.exe and the one which took quite  lot of MB was the "Network" one, which I disabled.
This together with the scvhost.exe for "Local" and "System" take up to 100MB !
I also removed my AVAST app.
I have emailed back to Crucial (who replied to my initial technical enquiry within a couple of hours.......good service.) I have asked them if I can perhaps take out one of my 1GB cards and replace it with at least another 2GB...........
Information awaited.
AlaricAdair
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Re: Sufficient memory?

svchost.exe is part of the operating system.  Removing those processes on a running machine might have "unpredictable results"  

.... and of course I must say this before the Geeks arrive - you could run Ubuntu (or other) desktop LINUX.... will make your PC fast without upgrading the memory, but your  old applications won't work  Wink
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ReedRichards
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Re: Sufficient memory?

Quote from: community
I have a single 2GB memory card installed.

Quote from: community
I have asked them if I can perhaps take out one of my 1GB cards

Not if your first statement is true, you can't.
Crucial makes their money by selling memory at rather high prices to people who cannot work out what motherboard they have and then read the manual.  I'll do it for you if you like, it really isn't difficult.  What is the model number of your Foxconn motherboard?