Does closing a program completely remove all it's memory load?

Question

I've heard of, and personally experience, 'memory inflation'. That is, closing programs and windows doesn't seem to make it completely give up it's memory load. A little of it here and there and after like 30 hours of computer use you have double the slowness while running the exact same things. Eventually **** will break and something will crash. Too bad, now you must restart you computer.

Now if this is true then getting a memory upgrade will only postpone the inevitable right?, that is the computer will run out of memory even if you keep the number of programs down to a reasonable level.

This is not just my imagination, I've restarted it at 430 MB, done stuff with it, used it, gone on the Internet, run programs etc and then two weeks later it's 900 MB with absolutely nothing on. Completely blank taskbar.

I have a Gateway 5012 Media Center PC with 2.8 GHz and 1 GB of RAM.

Yah, I've noticed a dll file on the hard drive and it's like 45 Mb

Answer 1

well-written programs release all memory on exit. Most are not well written, so most programs do not release all memory. So the more programs you run, the more memory leaks. This *does* include Microsoft programs, not just amateur's.

Even in a perfect scenario--if all programs effectively released memory, memory still becomes fragmented....just like a hard drive. And fragmented memory is inaccessible memory. You're right, it's not your imagination.

Bottom line: The only really easy/fast/cheap solution is to re-boot your PC regularly for optimal performance. And BTW...I think it's remarkable that you attained a 2 week session without a reboot! I do a cold start at least once a day.

Answer 2

i have heard good issues about AVG, yet have by no skill used it. I had my pc doing wierd issues a 365 days or so in the past, and that i did some internet safe practices study and keen to grant Kaspersky a try. i have had it ever on the grounds that and could renew it even as the time comes. I had Nortons on the time and that i ought to do scans and Norton ought to tell me each and everything replaced into nice. I downloaded the loose 30 day trial of Kaspersky, this is 30 days of the finished version of it, and it got here upon some trojans, worms and keyloggers. I have had 0 themes on the grounds that I downloaded it. the in elementary words element that ought to correctly be an difficulty with it, depending what you do including your pc, is that by way of the undeniable fact that is continually operating and checking your gadget, it takes up a lot of pc factors. So once you're a gamer perhaps it ought to conflict or "lag" you. i'm not one hundred% confident. it may do nothng. i wager it epends on the style of pc you've. wish this enables and powerful luck!

Answer 3

Supposedly Windows will avoid the inflation for you but not so, it depends on every piece of software is written by a computer science graduate and that isn't the case. A running time of 30 hours for a Windows PC is too long, that kind of record is best left for a Linux or UNIX machine.

I feel you, but restart is only recourse.

Answer 4

Rebooting your computer clears RAM. Shutting down programs leaves parts of RAM used but you can get a RAM Memory Maximizing software tool to help while your machine is running to restore maximum Memory available.
What the Max Memory software does is free up space by clearing and resetting the used memory, but no longer being used. to free memory.

It basically works like Disk Defrag only it defrags your RAM so you can get more efficient use of your RAM.

Check the Web or Yahoo search for free RAM Maxmem or something like that and you should be able to find some free application of software or a cheap one. I set mine up so it starts at boot and when I it get 20% congestion of RAM build up it does a minor restore, which doesn't interrupt my computer activity and it gives me back enough RAM to keep running all the day through.

Answer 5

It's the program that doesn't release the memory! Just reboot and take a break once in a while when your computer slows down.

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Answer 6

Start/Run/Regedit
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer. Create a new sub-key named 'AlwaysUnloadDLL' and set the default value to equal '1' to disable Windows caching the DLL in memory. Restart Windows for the change to take effect.

Answer 7

Just reboot regularly and get anti-spyware / malware software since you're on the internet. This will save you some headaches...

Answer 8

I can give you a link that deals with hard drive problems.
Some drive problems can be easily fixed by yourself using easily available tools. I found the info at http://fixit.in useful. Try this site, if you can get what is required.