[Ted128]

Dell Inspiron 6000
2 GB RAM
80 GB disk storage
10 GB disk assigned to available memory

I run a stock charting program called TradeStation with a number of large charts in memory.

It operates quickly with no problem.

Then, I will open 3-4 Internet Explorer windows, and also an Excel spreadsheet.

Clearly all this fills my RAM and available memory and my execution slows way down.

Why can't I recover fast execution time for Tradestation and maybe one (1) IE window by closing the spreadsheet and other windows?

Instead I have to run System Mechanic to recover "available memory" which it says has dropped to 6%. This takes 10 minutes, etc.

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PS I seem to have tracking cookies under control by blocking 3rd-party cookies and verifying with Ad-Aware.

[Ted128]

PS I seem to have tracking cookies under control by blocking 3rd-party cookies and verifying with Ad-Aware.

[edge2022]

What is your virtual memory (swap file, pagefile) size set at?

At Control Panel | System | Advanced, click Settings in the “Performance” Section. On the Advanced page of the result, the current total physical size of all page files that may be in existence is shown. Click Change to make settings for the Virtual memory operation. Here you can select any drive partition and set either ‘Custom’; ‘System Managed’ or ‘No page file’; then always click Set before going on to the next partition.

Change the size of your page file to 3GB.

[Broni]

1. Using System Mechanic is a bad idea.

2. Some poorly written programs will have "memory leaks". They use some amount of RAM, and then, when the program closes, it won't give all used RAM back.

[edge2022]

2. Some poorly written programs will have "memory leaks". They use some amount of RAM, and then, when the program closes, it won't give all used RAM back.

This can happen with Firefox and IE. Utilities like Rambooster are used to open up RAM that has not been cleared after the program has closed.

http://download.cnet...4-10028673.html

[Broni]

Utilities like Rambooster are used to open up RAM that has not been cleared after the program has closed

Miracle tools never work

[edge2022]

It helped a little when I didn't yet upgrade to 2GB RAM, and I still only had 512mb. When using Firefox, along with parts of Office (Word, Powerpoint) I would just give a quick cleanup with this program.

Adding more RAM is the only "real" way of increasing the amount of it you have available. Programs like Rambooster have a very limited usefulness.

[Broni]

All those programs do, they replace "lost" real RAM with virtual memory, which is much slower.
In numbers, all looks fine, but in performance, not.
Jusr regular cheating of miracle tools

[edge2022]

I don't really know how the programs work, but thank you for the enlightenment.
In this case, the problem is a program that has a memory leaking problem.

[Ted128]

Thank you for all the replies.

My page file size is 10 GB (this is what I meant by available memory).

However, I think I'm getting the same results as when it was set to 3 GB.

[edge2022]

Then, I will open 3-4 Internet Explorer windows, and also an Excel spreadsheet.

Try doing that before you open TradeStation. See what program has a memory leaking problem. If the issue is TradeStation, we can't do anything, except install more RAM. You will need to contact a developer and ask the the issue be fixed.

[Broni]

There is no reason to have 10GB assigned to VM. It's a waste of space. 3GB is all you need.
How much of a free space do you have on your HD?

[Broni]

See what program has a memory leaking problem

Well, it can be checked pretty simply through Task Manager.
Check initial RAM usage.
Open IE. Use it for a while.
Check RAM usage.
Open TradeStation. Use it for a while.
Check RAM usage.
Close TradeStation, and check RAM level.