When you're hard-pressed for RAM, you've got to choose your applications wisely.
(Credit: Acer)At the end of December, my colleague Seth Rosenblatt put together a thoughtful and in-depth Windows Starter Kit that collects the best-of-breed freeware applications for all categories. But what if your new Windows computer can be balanced on the palm of your hand and contains only a whiff of RAM?
Take, for instance, the tiny Acer AspireOne laptop that my mother purchased on little more than a whim and a phenomenal deal. Not for kitchen lookups of recipes or way to win dinnertime debates, as I had imagined when we first slipped the preemie out of its box, but as a way to look up Wikipedia articles, send late night e-mails, and perhaps play a Hulu or YouTube video before nodding off.
With a piddly 512MB of RAM, my mother's new little gem can ill afford to suffer extras, especially when meeting specific, domestic demands. No, it's time to get ruthless.
Despite its diminutive capacity, Little Gem came with plenty crapware on it, and more auto-installed after registration. I fired up the thorough Revo Uninstaller (to uninstall after all is said and done) and fed it an appetizer of Google Desktop and Google Toolbar. (There will be few files to find.) Adobe Reader likewise went out, the free, lighter FoxIt Reader taking its place.
Internet Explorer gets to stay for the time being, only to facilitate Microsoft's automatic updates. While the lighter Chrome would be the natural browser choice, Firefox won over for the time being, so that the folks can use the Foxmarks Bookmark Synchronizer extension to share bookmarks with the main computer. McAfee's Site Advisor security add-on for Firefox (and IE) is another perk, and one that also offers peace of mind.
Googlepedia is another useful, time-saving add-on that will bring my mom's Wikipedia articles to her if she begins a search within Google. I might also consider installing CustomizeGoogle to blast away ads.
My mother is thus far unshakeable in her use of Outlook for e-mail, but if she can content herself to simply send messages by starlight and forgo reorganizing her in-box, we can rip out the entire Microsoft Office suite. Web applications such as Google Docs will work fine should the occasion arise, and if spreadsheet making and memoir writing go full-scale, Go-OO would likely serve her purpose.
Keeping my mom's new Internet nugget light and lean takes top priority, but the applications she needs for a streamlined experience won't fit everyone's profile. Which small, resource-saving applications do you use to keep from gobbling up all your RAM?
If you need to free up system memory or if you think you do but aren't sure, this little tool will provide the help you need.
Instant Memory Cleaner provides an easy-to-use front-end interface for Microsoft's command-line ClearMem and FreeMem commands (for XP and Vista, respectively). It installs an icon to your system tray, and its color provides a handy clue about your system's memory use. When the icon is green, the system's free memory is more than 30 percent of the total physical memory; yellow means less is available; and red means its time for action.
The informative small pane that opens when clicking the tray icon is useful, displaying the megabytes of free physical memory and a check box that verified whether the application launches at boot. Also included are buttons for launching a memory-cleaning session, opening Help, minimizing the pane, or exiting the utility. A final button opens a fresh pane (again, nicely designed) with details on current memory use, including megabytes of Total Physical Memory, megabytes of Memory in Use, and percentage of Memory in Use.
The all-singing, all-dancing embodiment of frustration is when my computer acts sluggish for no good reason. I know I've got plenty of RAM and a decent processor, so why won't the blasted contraption do as it's told? RAM boosting programs just never seem to work as well as they should, and so a few weeks ago I began digging into other possible sources of those embarrassing and annoying computus interruptus moments.
One possible solution is to manually adjust your virtual memory, stored in a paging file.
Make sure that your paging file Initial Size and Maximum Size are set to the same number to avoid serious defragmentation.
(Credit: CNET Networks)Why do this? Isn't your onboard RAM enough? Well, don't take this the wrong way, but no. When your computer starts using large chunks of RAM, it looks to the paging file--also known as the swap file--for a vigorous back rub and comforting words of encouragement: in other words, the paging file offers relief. However, if the paging file isn't large enough, you'll start to see even basic processes take much longer than they should.
Getting your paging file into shape is a simple operation, if you're confident delving into submenus and manually making adjustments. In Windows XP, open your My Computer Properties, then under the Advanced tab click on Performance Settings, hit the Advanced tab in the new window, and click on Virtual Memory Change. The paging file should be set to at least 1.5 times the amount of RAM onboard. Many experts caution against any smaller than that. Set both the Initial Size and Maximum Size to the same level. By doing this, you prevent the paging file from growing incrementally and adding to disk fragmentation.
Vista users face a similar procedure. From the Start menu, hit the Computer button on the right, and then right-click on your C drive and choose System. From there, click on Advanced System Settings and under the Advanced tab, choose Performance Settings. Choose the Advanced tab in the window that opens and Change Virtual Memory. Vista users should follow the same guidelines as those with XP machines: keep the Initial Size and Maximum Size the same, but no less than one and a half times the amount of RAM you've got.
Aside from making sure that you fragment early and often, you should see a drastic reduction in your computer's sluggishness. Of course, if your computer hasn't been sluggish in the first place, you're not likely to notice much of anything.
Even in these days of cheap RAM, where you can get an extra gigabyte of the stuff for around $40 or so, there's not much you can do about must-have programs that leak memory short of seeking out an alternative. That doesn't mean you're tied to incessant program restarts and operating system reboots, though: a few useful programs such as RAM Idle LE, RAMBooster, and Instant Memory Cleaner make it their business to reclaim wasted bits.
Instant Memory Cleaner sports a main interface several times smaller than its options window.
(Credit: CNET Networks)RAMBooster is well-known to longtime Daily Download readers. We've featured it in our Windows Starter Kit and in a First Look video. For a freeware program not updated since 2005, it functions amazingly well. Using program defaults or modifying the setting through the Preferences screen of the Edit menu, determine how much RAM you'd like it to free up and at which point of resource consumption. RAMBooster will keep track of RAM usage and scrub your RAM free of flotsam left behind by closed windows and background programs.
As free memory falls, the system tray icon will change color from red and black to yellow. Mousing over will reveal your current available RAM, and right-clicking will access the user-initiated cleaning menu.
This is all well and good, but I've noticed that when running multiple programs that leak memory or otherwise consume a lot, RAMBooster seems to hamper performance more than enhance it. Everything from typing to Web site downloading will be sluggish, and when I kill RAMBooster it goes away. It's an imperfect standard, to be sure, but sometimes you've got to go with what works, and what doesn't.
RAM Idle LE sports a more contemporary interface, and doesn't seem to suffer from the same endurance problem that plagues RAMBooster. The left nav offers the RAM Optimizer and a System Information tab. The information is culled from your computer's version of Windows, the amount of RAM you have, paging memory, version of Internet Explorer installed, and more. Most of it is nice to know but not really essential for a RAM rescuing program.
RAM Idle doesn't look unique, but it does a great job of cleaning your RAM while in use.
(Credit: CNET Networks)Just as in RAMBooster, RAM Idle lets users set the amount of RAM they need to have available, and it also has automatic settings to keep things running smoothly without constant attention. It's nearly double the size of RAMBooster, at just under 900 KB, but it offers many more settings for you to play with.
The main RAM Optimizer pane is kind of useless, with an unlabeled graph that I think is supposed to represent CPU usage taking up most of the space. From below it, though, or from the context menu for the system tray icon, users can enable or disable the program, manually set the free RAM target and minimum free RAM, as well as enable further RAM-optimizing functions.
Users can set a certain amount of RAM to be freed within 60 seconds after start-up, and they can also set a smaller amount of RAM to be freed regularly thereafter if the amount of free RAM falls below a certain percentage. So, for example, 64 MB can be freed every 4 minutes if there's more than 25 percent of your system's RAM in use. Enacting any of the changes made requires hitting the Save button that lives over the left nav. Clearly, the layout could use an overhaul.
Still a fan-fave, RAMBooster hasn't been updated in three years.
(Credit: CNET Networks)The RAM Idle system tray icon shows the amount of free RAM as part of its icon, but it drops a digit in numbers larger than 999. The program also has context menu tools for restarting, shutting down, and hibernating Windows, and predetermined amounts of RAM that you can force it to free. Overall, it benefits from the added features, compared with RAMBooster's minimalist approach.
Instant Memory Cleaner is another tiny program for freeing bogged-down RAM. The freeware sports an equally tiny interface, a small box that loads in the bottom right of your screen. The boxy user interface shows available RAM in real time, and if you want more information you can click the pen icon to get a detailed breakdown of what's eating up your memory. A Windows-logo knockoff icon instigates the memory clean, and other buttons lets users minimize or exit the program, and access the help menu. A bar in the center of the program provides mouse-over information.
Some users may be bothered by Instant Memory Cleaner's atypical and hard-to-see interface, but since these programs should be used for their effect and not their aesthetic standards, simple is better here. Although it lacks the useful advanced settings of RAM Idle, it does what it's supposed to at least as well enough as RAMBooster, and without all the extra hang-ups.
RAM Idle does the job for me--I especially like how I can set a specific level of RAM to keep open. If you have a favorite RAM cleaner that you use, tell us about it in the comments below.
When Power Downloader is hard at work in the Powerlair he often has several programs running simultaneously. Though he has plenty of RAM in his super system, Power likes to keep track of memory usage to see what's taking up the most space. It also helps to have memory tracking apps when he needs to diagnose system slow downs.
Use the preferences to choose which trackers you would like displayed
(Credit: CNET Networks)To keep track of how much memory is being used by his mission-critical apps, Power Downloader uses FreeMeter. With this free program on his computer, Power can track disk space usage, memory usage, disk transfer rates, and more all from a constantly updating interface. He can customize FreeMeter to show him only the usage statistics he wants to see and can designate which drives to track. To see how his computer is performing at a glance, Power also can display icons in his system tray showing memory and CPU usage. In the event of a system slow down, Power can check FreeMeter to see if an unexpected amount of memory is being used making it possible for him to zero in on potential problems and hidden resource hogs.
In Power Downloader's line of work tracking down Internet criminals, his computer must always be running at peak performance. With FreeMeter on his hard drive, Power can easily track several components of his computer's performance for free.
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CNET Networks)
Power Downloader uses several types of software throughout his day including word processors, mapping programs, database apps, and even a few games during break time to let off some steam. In his endless hunt for top-notch applications, Power also ends up using a few programs that aren't all they were cracked up to be. With all the software Power sifts through, it should come as no surprise that some apps even have memory leaks that end up slowing down his system to a crawl. As a software superhero, a slow system simply will not suffice.... Read more
CNET Editor Tom Merritt has a goal. He needs to squeeze more usable RAM from his memory. Good thing there are RAM-releasing apps like Free Ram Optimizer XP and RAMBooster to unblock clogged space.
In this Insider Secrets video, Tom explains the ins and outs of RAM, and how RAMBooster can work its magic to relinquish trapped memory.
Dont' forget to check out other great Insider Secrets videos on CNET Download.com, as well, including iTunes tricks and tweaking search in Avant browser.
What ails your sluggish computer? Old hardware? A fragmented hard drive? Or maybe it's overloaded RAM.
RAMBooster is a CNET Download.com user favorite for expanding the boundaries of your computer's available RAM. It's no substitute for the real thing, but combined with a few other choice utilities, RAMBooster is one ingredient in a faster, slicker Windows XP.
See how RAMBooster works in the video below, and as always, tune into other great First Look videos from the CNET Download.com crew.
True to form, Launchy opens with a quick hot key combo.
(Credit: CNET Networks)Last week I shouted out seven CNET Download.com staff favorites for small, straightforward software for Windows, Mac, and mobile that perform a single task simply and well. Here are five more fresh picks, suggested by you.... Read more
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CNET Networks)
Though we have several machines here at Download.com running Windows Vista for testing purposes, I have to admit that I haven't yet made the switch at my workspace. Maybe it's because with Windows XP, I like the way things are set up; I like the look; and I can rest assured that all my favorite downloads are going to work without fail. I'm not saying Vista won't support my programs--and I'm sure I'll make the switch at some point--but for now I'm sticking with XP.
Even though XP is my choice for now, as a major-league software nerd, I still try to find ways to improve upon a good thing. Rather than leaving well-enough alone, I continually search CNET Downloads to see what programs I can find to make my OS run even more smoothly. A few downloads I've come across trim down existing applications, clean out system flaws, and keep the whole XP operating system running at optimal speed.... Read more
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