Good way to free up ram space?

Question

I think I'm maxing out the ram memory on my pc causing video games and video to run slow. It has 512 mb. Can anyone tell me a good way to free up ram. Note: Games and video used to run fine. This is a recent problem.
Thanks

Answer 1

Right click on your task bar, and choose Task Manager. Click on the Processes tab. You say you got 512M of ram, eh, thats about the lower limit of what you wanna have on yer machine to do what you are doing. I have the same on my laptop, and I have noticed on certain games, specifically newer ones, that it gets a bit bogged down but thats due to my graphics card as well as my ram.

Anyways, when you have yer machine running, with NO other apps running, no IM, no IE, nada... check out yer Processes tab, see whatelse is running. You may actually have CRAP running in the background. If you dont see system Idle Process fluctuating between 99 and 95, and instead its lower, like say around 85 and below, look to see what else is running, and shut it down. Just click on it and hit END PROCESS. Once your Sys Idle is steady at 99 to 95, fire up the game you wanna run, and then check your Processes. If the game is in fact what is slowing your machine down, then you just gotta go out and buy more memory. If its not, then sounds like you got spyware, or someother junk on your machine. In which case, you'll need to remove it. Either way, the key is to have as little as possible running while your game is running.

Ugh.... I just read some of the suggestions from other users, and trust me, DONT go the freeware way of having to install some app you dont need. Trust me on this. Its just more JUNK that your machine has to deal with. Something you totally dont need.

Best of luck...

Answer 2

Your problem may or may not be available RAM... just as likely you have background processes running that are consuming CPU cycles -- your computer's processing power. CTRL-ALT-DEL and click the button "Task Manager", and select the Processes tab. View... Select Columns and check CPU Time. Task Manager will show you how much RAM each process is using, and may give you some clues as to which processes are using a lot of your CPU time. You may need to do some sleuthing to learn just what the processes are, but you may uncover some unnecessary stuff going on that you can uninstall or otherwise disable.

Another approach would be to add RAM.

You may also have a virus or spyware problem, which would require good security software to detect and remove.

If you are using Windows XP you can experiment with turning virtual memory off. (Windows 2000 doesn't let you do this.) Make sure you have at least 512MB RAM -- a gig is better -- before you try this. Virtual memory is when your computer uses hard drive space to increase the computer's memory pool. Hard drives are way slower than real RAM, and under Windows' "worst case scenario" memory management, using virtual memory will slow down your system even when all your running processes would otherwise fit into your real RAM size. To turn off VM My Computer... Properties... Advanced tab... Performance settings button...Advanced tab... Virtual memory change button... select "No paging file" for any and all drives. Click OK and reboot.

Answer 3

well go to the start button click it then click run ...type in msconfig once you hit enter it will take you to a windows page. their are going to be a couple of tabs click the start up tab once you click the tab you will see a list of items. click disable all but look for one item that says recgaurd. and make sure that one has a check mark on it (its for your anti virus to work) it will tell you to restart after you click apply and ok. then your computer will restart and your computer will start normaly and wala more ram lol. i have 512 ram 2 and i was only using 200 and i wanted to free up and i did what i just told you and it freed up 100 mb ram so yea it helped out.....

Answer 4

There are a couple of things you could do. Defrag your computer, empty the recycle bin, and clean out any temporary files you have.
You can download great programs here for free:

http://www.freewarefiles.com/

Read the reviews before you download anything. Also, try slowing down the hardware acceleration. Who knows, it could help. Make sure to not have any windows up and use task manager to end all programs you are not using.

Answer 5

press
Ctrl+Alt+Delete
to open the
Window task Manager
Under the
Processes Tab
you'll see
Mem Usage
if you click Mem Usage twice it will sort the programs by highest usage to lowest
Go over this list and Identify the programs
you may find ones that you don't actually need running or at all

Answer 6

game requirements are full of crap and hardly mean anything. Best way to know if you have enough is to look at task manager and see how much ram is being used/is left over.

Answer 7

Well u can either b\go buy more ram and ur pc will run faster again..should anyways. Or you can delete un needed files that u don't use. Defragment, or go into start, my computer, local disk c:,
RIGHT CLICK properties, and press the CLEAN DISK button..and it will delete unneeded files and u shuol dhave more ram to use.

Answer 8

Close all of your running programs, 512 should be ok for most people. If it is still not working, upgrade to 1GB.

Answer 9

Shutdown unnecessary applications that start with windows; use autoruns - free
http://www.snapfiles.com/reviews/AutoRuns/autoruns.html

you could use Freeram XP - a free utility that gives you some control over memory resources
http://www.snapfiles.com/reviews/FreeRAM_XP/freeramxp.html

Answer 10

FreeRAM XP Pro works (Freeware)