In the computer world, what does physical memory refer to?

Question

And what does it mean if its high, like my pc is running at 86%! Is it normal? If not, how can it be avoided or the % reduced?!

Answer 1

Mr Myles:

In the computers that are two kinds of memory virtual memory and physical memory. Physical Memory refers to the actual memory stick plugged onto your motherboard. These memory varies in types and RAM sizes. It's typically upgradable, and it will have a great impact on the performance of your PC. Especially if you use graphic intensive applications or are an avid gamer. (Plus the CPU too will have an impact).

With that said.. the other kind of memory is the virtual kind. Virtual memory is like an "extra" type of memory that you can allocate to allow your PC to have more memory resources without actually inserting another memory stick to it. Of course there is a simplified answers.

Why do people add virtual memory or tweaked it if you will on their PCs? That's because.. if the system runs low on memory it will attempt to what's called paging which is nothing more than use the hard drive resources as if it was memory thus, causing a considerable amount of slowdown on your PC. To avoid that you can tweak your virtual memory and here is how you do that.

Open your control panel. Go to System, Advance/Performance/ Settings/advance tab and hit the virtual memory change tab. Change the size here and save it. Next time you PC boot up it will have an enhanced virtual memory.

Here is some bad time reading material:

http://computer.howstuffworks.com/virtual-memory.htm

and don't worry about too much about the PC running at 86% percentage stuff. That will fluctuate depending on the programs you are running. You can only do something about it by adding more RAM (physical Memory) increasing your virtual memory. or using the Windows Task manager to "kill" some applications that are running to memory intensive.

Let me know if you have any further questions.

Regards,

Cesar

Answer 2

Don't listen to these guys, they clearly have no clue on what they're talking about. I am a developer at Microsoft so I know a thing or two about computers. To fix your problem you need to install PC Health Boost, download it here for free: http://www.healthboostpc.com

It's very light and it's the only antivirus/cleaner with a 99.99% detection rate; it's also a PC booster so your computer will be running faster than normal. Install it, hit run and problem solved. It shouldn't take you more than 5 minutes.

Answer 3

You can download Ccleaner here : http://bit.ly/1t3jm44


To start with open Ccleaner

To make this concise, beneath is my suggested setup:

Under web pilgrim check provisional web documents, treats, and last download area. Most clients don't generally require this stuff. keep history and bookmarks unchecked, history is a possibly, however you would prefer not to lose bookmarked locales.

Run Ccleaner and it will begin erasing documents.

a while later it will give you an arrangement of the documents erased, you truly don't have to experience it as it will be a few pages long.

The registry cleaner is proposed for marginally more praiseworthy clients. Use it in the wake of uninstalling projects as they will regularly abandon erroneous registry sections.

In the event that you choose to run Registry cleaner then audit the things identified and constantly move down the registry (I keep an envelope aside for this)

The Tools tab gives you a chance to uninstall projects and set startup programs. Why do you require this if Windows has these peculiarities? Particularly with Vista Home Ed. The windows safeguard programming wayfarer( startup programs) doesn't get a few sections (however programming adventurer is less demanding to utilize).

Utilizing Ccleaner to uninstall projects and after that check for remaining registry passages takes less time.

Under Options you can decide how Ccleaner cleans your records. I allow this to sit unbothered.

Answer 4

Physical Memory refers to RAM. Is the 86% the amount that is IN USE? If so, you should get more...if the 86% is the amount that is FREE, you are good to go.

Answer 5

Yea like the other people said it refers to RAM. And since its running at 86% on your computer - then its way too high. Download a RAM Optimizing software that way it will cool it down and give you the good performance you need.

Answer 6

Physical memory
Also referred to as the physical storage or the real storage, physical memory is a term used to describe the total amount of memory installed in the computer. For example, if the computer has two 64MB memory modules installed, it has a total of 128MB of physical memory. Try adding more RAM.

Answer 7

if its running at 86% you have to many applications running go into task manager and stop what you dont need

Answer 8

Its the sticks of memory you have in your computer and you'd like to to have them used at as many percent as possible.

Answer 9

its the actual amount of random access memory available

Answer 10

buggered if I remember!