How to decrease ram usage in vista

[THATSghetto]

Hello all, I'm new to these forums and I'm not the smartest as far as computers go. My RAM usage in Windows Task Manager shows up at about 40% when I'm not running any big programs and my processes show up around 60-70. I've already gone into Msconfig and disabled all the programs I don't want turning off at startup but I'm pretty sure there's other ways to reduce how much RAM I'm using. I currently have 3GB worth of RAM, and all my processes should show up in the attached image. If anyone could tell me what to turn off and how, that'd be great.

 

[CrayonMuncher]

is this your system on startup?

you have google chrome which opens up each tab in a new process if you close down google chrome i that will give around 150 mb free, i cant be bothered to add up all the ram used, you also have a lot of svchost up, which is normal btw, but there usually up for reason and there would be that many unless you were doing something.

what is the list of programs/processes open on startup? this looks like you are using the comp, when i had vista i had around 30 processes on startup and atm whilst im using the comp on xp i have 23 processes

 

[Bodaggit23]

AVG and Spybot...

Lots of useless stuff there.

Download Avira Antivir Free or Microsoft Security Essentials, and get rid of AVG and Spybot.

You'll be amazed when you see the difference...

Side note:
Why people disable the beautiful Vista UI to make it look like a Win 95 turd is beyond me.

 

[THATSghetto]

@Bodaggit23, I've taken off spybot now but since it's a family computer my parents want me to keep on AVG. @innercx, this is not the system at startup, however I have slightly over 60 processes running at startup, and a similar ammount of RAM being used.

 

[lubo4444]

@Bodaggit23, I've taken off spybot now but since it's a family computer my parents want me to keep on AVG. @innercx, this is not the system at startup, however I have slightly over 60 processes running at startup, and a similar ammount of RAM being used.

Get rid of the AVG. For best protection use what Bodaggit23 said or install Malwarebytes Anti-Malware. It's better than AVG.

 

[Broni]

Your computer RAM usage is perfectly fine.
Vista handles RAM in a very different way, than previous Windows versions.
See here: http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000688.html
Basically, Vista's motto is: "RAM not used is a wasted RAM".
As soon, as your computer starts, Vista will cache as much RAM, as possible, having it ready for action, no matter, if you have any programs running, or not.

 

[gamblingman]

AVG is an anti-virus program, you can have malwarebytes and its great. But malwarebytes is a malware removal tool, its not an anti-virus program.

I don't see anything wrong with AVG on Vista. It's what I use on one of my laptops and I have found that AVG runs minimally and nicely and it does a fine job as an A/V.

Vista is somewhat of an odd one. I sat down one day and messed with trying to get that RAM usage down, to no avail. Its just how Vista runs! Though, there are things I've done to get the system to run faster like stopping and then disabling (via services.msc) superfetch, wireless, java starters, ms office software extras, bonjour, all apple junk, messenger, remote access, windows search. I also uninstalled unneeded/unwanted programs, cleaned the startups/system tabs in msconfig. Then ran Malwarebytes, SUPER AntiSpyware, and ran CCleaner and defragmented the HDD with Defraggler (both from Piriform) and ran chkdsk. (I did not do it in that specific order. I am also not recommend that you do all of this either. This is just an overview of what I've done.)

Another step I take with my machines is that I usually only put them in standby or hibernate when I am going to be away from them for awhile. I don't shut them down all the time, it takes too long to restart Vista! I typically only restart once a week.

We can definitely check to make sure there isn't anything malicious lurking in your system taking up valuable resources:

-----

Please download Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware HERE or HERE and save it to your desktop.

• Double-click mbam-setup.exe and follow the prompts to install the program.
• At the end, be sure a checkmark is placed next to
  
  o Update Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
  o and Launch Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware​
• then click Finish.
• If an update is found, it will download and install the latest version. Please keep updating until it says you have the latest version.
• Once the program has loaded, select Perform quick scan, then click Scan.
• When the scan is complete, click OK, then Show Results to view the results.
• Be sure that everything is checked, and click Remove Selected.
• A log will be saved automatically which you can access by clicking on the Logs tab within Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware

Please create a HijackThis log by doing the following:

Download the HijackThis installer from HERE

Run the installer and choose Install, indicating that you accept the licence agreement. The installer will place a shortcut on your desktop and launch HijackThis.

Click Do a system scan and save a logfile

Most of what HijackThis lists will be harmless or even essential, don't fix anything yet.

Post the log file that HijackThis produces along with the Malwarebytes Anti-Malware log; and tell us how the system is running, any better?

 

[Aastii]

AVG and Spybot...

Lots of useless stuff there.

Download Avira Antivir Free or Microsoft Security Essentials, and get rid of AVG and Spybot.

You'll be amazed when you see the difference...

Side note:
Why people disable the beautiful Vista UI to make it look like a Win 95 turd is beyond me.

AVG is using ~ 20MB of memory, that isn't a lot, at least not enough to see any noticable difference what so ever, same goes for spybot, that is using a whole 2MB!! 22MB out of 3GB of memory is nothing. And besides, Avast! is lighter and just as secure as Avira, using ~6.5MB of memory in the background when not scanning, but about 14MB difference you are saying will make a world of difference?

@OP, your system is fine. Vista uses that much memory so it can start stuff up much more quickly. It already has the programs loaded into memory, so when you open them, part of them is already there, thus taking less time.

Chrome, and any other browser, uses a fair bit of memory if you have it open for a long time, because it stores all the tabs and previous pages in memory, and I see you have it open taking up a couple hundred MB of memory. You also have paint open, I assume, because of the size, with some sort of image in there, again, any sort of image will be using a decent amount of memory.

You don't have any problems at all, you are just thinking what everyone who saw the memory usage in Vista thought; it is using near half my memory when idle, something must be wrong, when in fact it is just how Vista is programmed.

there is nothing there to raise suspicions of an infection either, so running Malwarebytes isn't necessary

 

[Bodaggit23]

you are saying will make a world of difference?

Yes. It's magical.

There's probably more AVG going on there than just the processes that say "AVG".

Believe me, if you get rid of the AVG bloatware, the RAM usage will go down.

Vista has always used about 20% of my 6GB of RAM.

40% is high for idle, but as you stated, there's programs open that are affecting it.

 

[Aastii]

Yes. It's magical.

There's probably more AVG going on there than just the processes that say "AVG".

Believe me, if you get rid of the AVG bloatware, the RAM usage will go down.

Vista has always used about 20% of my 6GB of RAM.

40% is high for idle, but as you stated, there's programs open that are affecting it.

20% of your 6GB
40% of this 3GB

Before I ran the upgrade to 7 and was on Vista, I had 30-35% on my 4GB of memory. When I had 8GB, it was using ~15-20%. With 2GB, both a single 2GB and with 2x1GB, it was about 50%. It scales with memory, to a point, but 40% with the amount of memory that he has isn't a lot.

Let's say then, that AVG uses double what it says there, so instead is using about 40MB of memory. Let us then assume that Avira uses just 10MB. Those figures are made up by the way, but I highly, highly doubt that AVG uses more than double what it says, that is from experience using it. That would only be 30MB of memory freed up, which is still nothing.

Even if it were to free up 100MB, that is still not a whole lot for the entire system, about 3%. There will be programs that are using a hell of a lot more, but unfortunately, those programs will be part of the OS, or will be programs that are necessary

 

[THATSghetto]

Ah that sucks. I suppose if I wanted to reduce my RAM usage I'd have to upgrade to windows 7 or just get more/larger ram sticks?

 

[Bodaggit23]

20% of your 6GB
40% of this 3GB

You sound like an Engineer. Because the numbers add up on paper = real world results. Not always so...

Bottom line: There's too much crap running, and AVG is not helping that. It's bloated software, and adware to boot if you're using the Free version...

Uninstall AVG and the running processes will drop by at least 10, which is still high in my book for Vista. Also stopping Apple's crap along with several other things I see running that don't need to be would help. This WILL reduce the amount of RAM being used.

Also, the OP stated they have 3GB of RAM...hopefully two 1GB sticks and two 512MB sticks, as most likely the board is meant to run Dual Channel RAM.

I stated my opinion, and the OP has chosen not to use it. No biggie.
I came to help, not argue. :good:

Btw, my living room pc running Vista has 2GB of RAM and also uses about 20%.

 

[Aastii]

You sound like an Engineer. Because the numbers add up on paper = real world results. Not always so...

Bottom line: There's too much crap running, and AVG is not helping that. It's bloated software, and adware to boot if you're using the Free version...

Uninstall AVG and the running processes will drop by at least 10, which is still high in my book for Vista. Also stopping Apple's crap along with several other things I see running that don't need to be would help. This WILL reduce the amount of RAM being used.

Also, the OP stated they have 3GB of RAM...hopefully two 1GB sticks and two 512MB sticks, as most likely the board is meant to run Dual Channel RAM.

I stated my opinion, and the OP has chosen not to use it. No biggie.
I came to help, not argue. :good:

Btw, my living room pc running Vista has 2GB of RAM and also uses about 20%.

I agree that it will free up memory, but not enough to make that much difference. Maybe in boot times because it doesn't have to load as much data into memory, but after that, there won't be any noticeable difference. If it were something like Norton he was using, then I could understand and would agree completely that it would make a massive amount of difference because that is such a POS program that is such a resource hog

And I'm not trying to argue either, I'm sorry if it came over like that, just saying what I think will help, and if I'm wrong get put in my place. Can't know everything after all

 

[linkin]

AVG is a resource hog, hence i don't use it anymore.

For now, i recommend the OP to open up the msconfoig utility, uncheck all startup items, go into services, check "hide all microsoft services" and uncheck the rest. Apply and reboot.

That will stop everything that isn't related to windows (except perhaps some crafty malware) running when windows starts. This, of course, decreases RAM and processor usage.

 

[THATSghetto]

ty for that advice linkin, I was unsure whether or not I should uncheck services.
@Bodaggit23, if you could specify what "apple's crap along with several other things" are, that would be great.

 

[Aastii]

Download/run soluto:

http://www.soluto.com/Download/

it scans what starts up when your computer boots, and gives advice as to what is required, what isn't, what you can potentially get rid of. It will speed up your boot times, as well as making your initial RAM usage lower, which if you've never thought "can I change what starts up", and fixed it accordingly, then will make your RAM usage lower throughout all the time you are using your computer

 

[BurningSkyline]

Download/run soluto:

http://www.soluto.com/Download/

it scans what starts up when your computer boots, and gives advice as to what is required, what isn't, what you can potentially get rid of. It will speed up your boot times, as well as making your initial RAM usage lower, which if you've never thought "can I change what starts up", and fixed it accordingly, then will make your RAM usage lower throughout all the time you are using your computer

Known about soluto for a short period of time, and already suggesting it. (I'm running it too, haha.)

But yeah, Vista is... terrible. As somebody mentioned "two 1GB sticks and two 512mb sticks" that probably isn't the case- Everybody I know with 3GB of ram has Two 1GB sticks and a third 1GB.

I was just wondering, How will 3GB work with Win7?

 

[Bodaggit23]

@Bodaggit23, if you could specify what "apple's crap along with several other things" are, that would be great.

Everything that says "Apple" does not need to run at startup,
but it will if you let it.

But yeah, Vista is... terrible.

As somebody mentioned "two 1GB sticks and two 512mb sticks" that probably isn't the case- Everybody I know with 3GB of ram has Two 1GB sticks and a third 1GB.

Vista is faster on my pc than Win 7. Period.

Anyone with Dual Channel RAM should run 2 sticks or 4 sticks, not 1 or 3.

Otherwise it will run in Single Channel, and greatly decrease performance.

Maybe that's why Vista doesn't work well for you...

 

[Broni]

But yeah, Vista is... terrible.

Nothing personal and hopefully, it's not your case, but from my experience, Vista haters fall into one of four categories:
1. Never used it.
2. Saw it on friend's computer, or in computer store.
3. Used it for couple of days and it was too big jump fro them from Windows XP
4. Their computers specs were below Vista requirements, or met requirements listed at MS site, which are simply ridiculous.

I have two computers with Vista and I'm very happy with them.

 

[BurningSkyline]

Everything that says "Apple" does not need to run at startup,
but it will if you let it.



Vista is faster on my pc than Win 7. Period.

Anyone with Dual Channel RAM should run 2 sticks or 4 sticks, not 1 or 3.

Otherwise it will run in Single Channel, and greatly decrease performance.

Maybe that's why Vista doesn't work well for you...

I have 2x2GB of ram.