do you use free ram applications?

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IP-Dope
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do you use free ram applications?

Post by IP-Dope »

Do you have ram optimizers/free ram applications running on your computer(s), or do you rather reboot your computer? Why? Why not?

The reason I'm asking is because you hear lots of people saying completely different things these days. Person X says it's a great solution to free your RAM and thus optimize your computer performance, while person Y is trying to convince me to stay away from those programs and simply reboot my computer if it's slowing down because of high uptimes.

So please, share your thoughts with me. After all these contradictory stories I have no idea which ones to believe and ignore.

Cheers.

Martin Blank
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Re: do you use free ram applications?

Post by Martin Blank »

RAM optimizers are of limited use. They often increase disk access, slowing your system if you overuse them. Generally, the RAM manager in Windows is sufficient. Check the applications you're running for excessive Handles, GDI Objects, and Threads.

Memory isn't the only resource to be concerned with.
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NeoThermic
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Re: do you use free ram applications?

Post by NeoThermic »

I reset about monthly (normally tied into windows update + driver updates). When you've got 1.5GB of RAM, there's little use in these freeram programs or the need to reset.

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Roberdin
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Re: do you use free ram applications?

Post by Roberdin »

IP-Dope wrote: Do you have ram optimizers/free ram applications running on your computer(s), or do you rather reboot your computer?
Correct me if I'm mistaken, but surely Windows is able to monitor quite effectively how much memory a process needs and assign it how much it requires, and free this RAM once it has unloaded? I highly doubt there's any room for major improvement with a third party application.
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Re: do you use free ram applications?

Post by NeoThermic »

Roberdin wrote:
IP-Dope wrote: Do you have ram optimizers/free ram applications running on your computer(s), or do you rather reboot your computer?
Correct me if I'm mistaken, but surely Windows is able to monitor quite effectively how much memory a process needs and assign it how much it requires, and free this RAM once it has unloaded? I highly doubt there's any room for major improvement with a third party application.

Most Free RAM applications work by forcing everything in the RAM over to the swap file.Window won't immedialty totally unload referenced DLL's from a program; this allows you to launch the same program a few mins later and it should load faster, because most of it is still sitting in your RAM.

However, if you pay for lots of RAM, then it being used isn't bad. The only time its bad is if you're trying to fit more in the RAM than free RAM you have, but if you're launching an application that needs that much RAM, you're going to be closing other open programs before hand :)

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Nippoo
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Re: do you use free ram applications?

Post by Nippoo »

Roberdin wrote: Correct me if I'm mistaken, but surely Windows is able to monitor quite effectively how much memory a process needs and assign it how much it requires, and free this RAM once it has unloaded? I highly doubt there's any room for major improvement with a third party application.
That's what it should be able to do in theory. It doesn't. ;) Linux does, though.

Anon
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Re: do you use free ram applications?

Post by Anon »

Nippoo wrote:
Roberdin wrote: Correct me if I'm mistaken, but surely Windows is able to monitor quite effectively how much memory a process needs and assign it how much it requires, and free this RAM once it has unloaded? I highly doubt there's any room for major improvement with a third party application.
That's what it should be able to do in theory. It doesn't. ;) Linux does, though.
Ja. Case in point, there was a massive memory leak in Firefox, and it was using 131mb. I closed it, yet windows insisted on keeping it there, leaving only 180 or so free mb left :evil:

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MHobbit
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Re: do you use free ram applications?

Post by MHobbit »

I wouldn't use a free RAM application; I wouldn't want to increase the swapfile.

I'd get more RAM. :mrgreen:
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the_dan
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Re: do you use free ram applications?

Post by the_dan »

They can't actually 'free up' RAM, as a program attempting to access a memory page which is in use by another program will result in big stylee crashes...
Not worth bothering with.

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