[lady_hime]

i've finished downloading anti-spyware/malware programs, the sysrestore, erunt, and a few others, but
i talked to a friend the other day and i told him that almost 50% of my RAM is being used immediately after startup. after downloading all of the programs, my RAM starts at 40%.... i'm thinking this might not be normal.
if it's not, what should i do?

my os is vista 64 bit and i heard it takes up some RAM, but is it normal for the programs plus vista to take up 40+ RAM at and after start-up?

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It all depends on what's using this RAM. My "mature" Vista x64 installation (over a year since it was installed) is using over 50% of it's memory and still appears to be working well (8 gB of DDR2 running in Dual Channel mode). Most is being consumed by svchost.exe and iexplore.exe*32

My Vista VM (32 bit) with 512 mB of RAM is only using 0-4 % of the RAM and it's slower than my "mature" installation.

Vista will use memory for it's own purposes - things like background processes, SuperFetch, etc. If it's got extra memory, it'll take advantage of that (like in my "mature" system). If there isn't enough memory (like in my VM) then it won't use it.

So, if there's no other problems with the system I wouldn't worry about it.

[usasma]

It all depends on what's using this RAM. My "mature" Vista x64 installation (over a year since it was installed) is using over 50% of it's memory and still appears to be working well (8 gB of DDR2 running in Dual Channel mode). Most is being consumed by svchost.exe and iexplore.exe*32

My Vista VM (32 bit) with 512 mB of RAM is only using 0-4 % of the RAM and it's slower than my "mature" installation.

Vista will use memory for it's own purposes - things like background processes, SuperFetch, etc. If it's got extra memory, it'll take advantage of that (like in my "mature" system). If there isn't enough memory (like in my VM) then it won't use it.

So, if there's no other problems with the system I wouldn't worry about it.

[Broni]

It's perfectly normal. Vista uses RAM in very different way, than previous Windows versions.
Vista's motto: "Not used RAM, is a wasted RAM".
More reading: http://www.codinghor...ves/000688.html

[lady_hime]

well, it's good to know that using so much RAM is normal. is there ever a point when should i start to worry about it? such as slow booting and what not...

Edited by lady_hime, 05 April 2009 - 02:24 PM.

[usasma]

If the computer starts acting up on you, one of the things used for diagnosing it is the Task Manager...Processes tab

For example (from work), if the computer starts slowing down and there's a lot of activity in one of the antivirus/antispyware programs - then that'd suggest that that program is to blame.

[Broni]

Also...
If your Vista has at least 2GB of RAM, you can forget about worrying about RAM.

[lady_hime]

okay, thank you very much guys. this was all very helpful ^_^

[Broni]

You're welcome