Freeing-up Memory Without Re-booting?

[Steve Wade]

Hello Guys,

It is quite often the case that after running my PC for a period of
multi-tasking I suddenly run out of resources even when I return to running
only a single application.

After I have closed all the applications, Checking System Resources will
usually show a very low percentage of RAM available (30% usually or less),
which I know through habit really requires a re-boot to avoid trouble.

Is there an application that can flush the memory, so the need to re-boot is
avoided?

Best regards,

Steve

[Ron Badour]

Nope. It is only when approaching 0% resources that a problem occurs. You
might want to check resources immediately after booting and see what is
available. You may have a ton of stuff running in the background that is
causing your PC to start with a low amount. Here is my standard blurb:

There are two kinds of system resources: user and graphic device
interface resources. They are used for such things as managing input
from the keyboard and mouse, toolbars, icons, graphics, etc. The
resources are fixed chunks (64 kb) of memory and are unrelated to the
amount of Ram that is installed. A PC with 512 mb of ram has the same
resources available as one with 16 mb.

If your machine starts getting sluggish, the cursor "hops" or you get a
resources warning, your resources are too low. Shutting down programs
that are unneeded may help or a reboot may be required. Certain
programs are resource hogs and once you identify one as such, limit the
amount of dual tasking that is done and reboot periodically. Reducing
the amount of programs started at boot will increase the amount of
resources you start with. This may keep you from running out so quick.

To cut back on the number of programs starting at boot, check the
programs themselves for an option not to load. You might have to double
click an icon in the tray (others might require a right click) and then
look for preferences or options. If you cannot find an option, look
for the program in the following start up points and remove the
reference to it:

Start up folder on the start menu, the load= and run= lines in the
win.ini and these registry run keys (use regedit.exe):

1. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion*\Run
2. HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\*Run
3. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion*\RunOnce
4. HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\*RunOnce
5. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion*\
RunServices
6. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion*\
RunServicesOnce
7. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion*\
RunOnce\Setup

There is a freeware program that makes this process a lot easier to
manage: Startup Manager,
http://home.ptd.net/~don5408/toolbox/startupcpl/

You can use msconfig.exe, startup tab, to disable programs; however, by
doing so, you may lessen its value as a troubleshooting tool. There
might be some double entries in msconfig--leave those for your AntiVirus
program and load power profile alone as they are required. If you
disable an entry in msconfig or remove it from the start up point and
the program loads again after a reboot, that is an indication that you
missed an option on the program itself. If you don't know what an entry
is, check here: http://www.pacs-portal.co.uk/startup_index.htm


--
Regards


Ron Badour, MS MVP for W98
Tips: http://home.satx.rr.com/badour
Knowledge Base Info:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=kbinfo



"Steve Wade" > wrote in message
...
>
> Hello Guys,
>
> It is quite often the case that after running my PC for a period of
> multi-tasking I suddenly run out of resources even when I return to
> running
> only a single application.
>
> After I have closed all the applications, Checking System Resources will
> usually show a very low percentage of RAM available (30% usually or less),
> which I know through habit really requires a re-boot to avoid trouble.
>
> Is there an application that can flush the memory, so the need to re-boot
> is
> avoided?
>
> Best regards,
>
> Steve
>
>

[Steve Wade]

">
> There are two kinds of system resources: user and graphic device
> interface resources. They are used for such things as managing input
> from the keyboard and mouse, toolbars, icons, graphics, etc. The
> resources are fixed chunks (64 kb) of memory and are unrelated to the
> amount of Ram that is installed. A PC with 512 mb of ram has the same
> resources available as one with 16 mb.
>


Thanks, it is all that stuff about higher and lower memory which I am not
sure would be the present choice of arrangement if they started from fresh.

This was helpful nevertheless.

It remains quite annoying that every apps creator wants to put it's creation
in the start-up/system-tray.

Obviously some apps and games just don't want to release memory once it has
grabbed it.

But the occasional re-boot I can put up with.

Thanks!

[Ron Badour]

You have a legitimate gripe. Most programs do not need to be started at
boot but many are started needlessly by design. My personal rule of thumb
is that no program gets started at boot unless it will be used during nearly
every computing session. As a result, when I used W98 as my primary system,
the resources started at 90% + and the system rarely ran out of resources.
--
Regards


Ron Badour, MS MVP for W98
Tips: http://home.satx.rr.com/badour
Knowledge Base Info:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=kbinfo



"Steve Wade" > wrote in message
...
>
> ">
>> There are two kinds of system resources: user and graphic device
>> interface resources. They are used for such things as managing input
>> from the keyboard and mouse, toolbars, icons, graphics, etc. The
>> resources are fixed chunks (64 kb) of memory and are unrelated to the
>> amount of Ram that is installed. A PC with 512 mb of ram has the same
>> resources available as one with 16 mb.
>>
>
>
> Thanks, it is all that stuff about higher and lower memory which I am not
> sure would be the present choice of arrangement if they started from
> fresh.
>
> This was helpful nevertheless.
>
> It remains quite annoying that every apps creator wants to put it's
> creation
> in the start-up/system-tray.
>
> Obviously some apps and games just don't want to release memory once it
> has
> grabbed it.
>
> But the occasional re-boot I can put up with.
>
> Thanks!
>
>
>
>
>

[Labrat]

Ron Badour voiced his/her/it's humble opinion in
microsoft.public.win98.apps on Sat 22 Oct 2005 01:57:16p:

> Nope. It is only when approaching 0% resources that a problem occurs.
> You might want to check resources immediately after booting and see
> what is available. You may have a ton of stuff running in the
> background that is causing your PC to start with a low amount. Here
> is my standard blurb:

<snip>

Bad advice there Ron. I've been using a little utiliy called Ram2Free
for ages and it frees up ram and lets you get back most if not all of
your ram and resources in a few seconds. Works great in 98 and XP.

It's true that stopping backgrond progs helps but you might just need
some of those.

As it's name states... it's free!

--
Later......

Labrat...... |:^{)

[Jeff Richards]

It's snake oil. The allocation procedure that is used to 'free' memory is
exactly the same allocation procedure that Windows will do when it loads a
new application or when an existing application loads new data. All that
Ram2Free does is to use a special application to do, ahead of time, what
Windows will do automatically whenever it needs to.
--
Jeff Richards
MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)
"Labrat" > wrote in message
...
> snip <
>
> Bad advice there Ron. I've been using a little utiliy called Ram2Free
> for ages and it frees up ram and lets you get back most if not all of
> your ram and resources in a few seconds. Works great in 98 and XP.
>
> It's true that stopping backgrond progs helps but you might just need
> some of those.
>
> As it's name states... it's free!

[Richard G. Harper]

Nothing can free up resources - it's simply impossible in the Win9x memory
model. As for freeing up RAM, I concur 100% with Jeff's statement. All
those programs do is to allocate a huge pool of RAM and then immediately
mark it free - at best snake oil, at worst actually harming performance if a
page of memory that was in use was forced onto the swapfile due to the
action of the "RAM cleaner" and then needs to be re-loaded from the slower
hard drive.

--
Richard G. Harper [MVP Shell/User]
* PLEASE post all messages and replies in the newsgroups
* for the benefit of all. Private mail is usually not replied to.
* My website, such as it is ... http://rgharper.mvps.org/
* HELP us help YOU ... http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm


"Labrat" > wrote in message
...
> Ron Badour voiced his/her/it's humble opinion in
> microsoft.public.win98.apps on Sat 22 Oct 2005 01:57:16p:
>
>> Nope. It is only when approaching 0% resources that a problem occurs.
>> You might want to check resources immediately after booting and see
>> what is available. You may have a ton of stuff running in the
>> background that is causing your PC to start with a low amount. Here
>> is my standard blurb:
>
> <snip>
>
> Bad advice there Ron. I've been using a little utiliy called Ram2Free
> for ages and it frees up ram and lets you get back most if not all of
> your ram and resources in a few seconds. Works great in 98 and XP.
>
> It's true that stopping backgrond progs helps but you might just need
> some of those.
>
> As it's name states... it's free!

[Steve Wade]

Just as a postscript to this discussion, I need to ask the sort of daft
question that tends to get overlooked.

All things being equal, would doubling the amount of memory installed,
change the percentage of system resources being displayed as available?

I seem to think it would be I am not confident I am right.

[Ron Badour]

Nope, it remains the same. As I said in my first post: The resources are
fixed chunks (64 kb) of memory and are unrelated to the amount of Ram that
is installed.

--
Regards


Ron Badour, MS MVP for W98
Tips: http://home.satx.rr.com/badour
Knowledge Base Info:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=kbinfo



"Steve Wade" > wrote in message
...
>
> Just as a postscript to this discussion, I need to ask the sort of daft
> question that tends to get overlooked.
>
> All things being equal, would doubling the amount of memory installed,
> change the percentage of system resources being displayed as available?
>
> I seem to think it would be I am not confident I am right.
>
>