RAM Optimizers

Latest Langalist has a discussion about physical and virtual memory:


Here's the problem: With most computer things that can be "used up" (hard
drive space, bandwidth, etc.) you want as much to be *un*used as
possible. But it's just the opposite with RAM, because unused RAM is
wasted RAM.

That's worth repeating, because it's the central point: Unused RAM is
wasted RAM.

Thus, any tool that "frees up" RAM or "creates holes in RAM" or any
similar thing is really creating a pool of unused--- wasted!--- RAM.

You see, your RAM is the fastest memory your PC has. Memory operations in
RAM operate at nanosecond speeds (billionths of a second), six orders of
magnitude faster than the millisecond speeds (thousandths of a second) of
memory operations written to a hard drive, as "virtual memory" in the
PC's swapfile.

"Freeing RAM" means you're taking data and code out of the fastest memory
your system has and transferring it to the swapfile on disk, which is the
*slowest* memory your system normally has. That doesn't help you. In
fact, it slows you down!

Windows does a pretty good job of keeping your RAM more or less optimally
full, *which is the way you want it* because you WANT as much stuff as
possible kept in the fastest-available storage. When RAM gets too full,
Windows correctly dribbles out the least-used and least-important code
and data to the slower hard-drive storage of virtual memory; and that too
is just what you want.

"Memory optimizers" can actually reverse this process so that you end up
with unused areas in your best and fastest memory; and tons of code and
data shifted to your worst and slowest memory (on the hard drive). In
other words, they can do the exact opposite of what they claim; slowing
you down, not speeding you up!

There's still more to the topic, but to save space, let me point you to a
fuller explanation, including the possible rare exceptions to the above:
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=17200583
But for the overwhelming majority of users, for the overwhelming majority
of the time, memory optimizers are junk.

Just remember: Empty RAM is wasted RAM. Any tool that promises to keep
areas of your RAM empty is working *against* you!


The most effective method of freeing RAMs is to SHUTDOWN unused applications and windows services. AUTO launch only critical applications needed to protect your PC. Let windows manage the pagefile. You don't need to add more RAM if your Peak Commit Charge (under Task Manager) is less than your Total Physical Memory.

 

my peak memory is above total memory and i have AnalogX MaxMem which is one of the better "physical memory management programs" i ran it, off and on, for afew days and found my PC seemed to perform better without it. so i suppose,for me, i have to agree.

 

RAM (Optimisers, Boosters etc.,) Don't work.....You've either got enough RAM or you haven't.....much much cheaper to buy more RAM than a pie-in-the-Sky 'seudo speedo'.......



Cochise,