Windows Vista... How can you stop it from using so much RAM!

[coorskickin]

Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64x2 Dual Core Processor 3800+ 2.0 GHz
Memory (RAM): 894 MB
32-bit Operating System

Im supposed to have 1 GB of memory I belive, have to double check, However the problem Im seeing is that I dont have as much memory as it says I should. My RAM o meter is showing that im using a constant 50-60% of the memory available. As im typing this it is at 65% What is going on? Its about peaked out on memory usage and nothing is running other than Windows Internet Explorer! There is nothing else installed on my computer besides what few programs that came with it when it was shipped from the factory. Is this a memory hungry operating system or what?! When i had windows XP, i thought the operating system ran much better and smoother. Keeping up to speed on stuff, I noticed that windows VIsta isnt all up to par like they say it is. Please help me make windows vista run better!

[Basementgeek]

Go into the task manager - what things are running ? and their percentage?

If this is commercial built PC, I am sure that you have things loading on start that are not required/needed.

Very few Vista users here. From what little I have seen, since I am not a Vista user, you will find that the minimum is 1 gig, but 2 gigs is recommend.

The "missing" RAM is probably being used by your video/sound devices.

BG

[MrDarn]

I hate the OS. since being forced to have it on my last laptop purchase (no longer have the XP option) i've had to do more 'work arounds' to get things working than anything else!

Simple things like installing the program that comes with my phone results in the message 'this program does not support this operating system' leaving me to seak out manufacturers websites looking for answers.

Why this OS was not developed further before release so other manufacturers could catch up, i'll never know!

Mind, windows update for drivers seems to be alot more sucsessful that it was for XP, with XP all i ever got was 'searching for drivers on the internet.....drivers not found'

now it seems to find an alternative for most things!

[PartieHonteuse]

Ok..I'm gonna be the runt of the litter. Yes, that was me, the only 1 that says I love Vista. I beta tested it (legally!) with a lot of other people. I loved it during the beta test and I love it now. I do grant you the gripe that it likes a lot of resources but when you make something that pretty it's gonna take up some resources. Drivers will always be an issue on any new operating system (linux, mac osx, whatever). I think the problem with MS and 3rd party vendors is how long it takes them to get drivers out and how far back (backwards compatibility) they want to go....

My 2 cents.

Partie

[lucent]

Hello coorskickin, If I remember correctly, Vista will use as much ram as reasonably possible for caching OS instructions progam operations and tasks. It will keep using this amount of RAM until another application is started, once this app is started it will release the needed amount of RAM to the newly opened application and pass the sacrificed RAM to the swap space. This is not a new technology the linux kernel has been doing this for years. Why have 2 gig of memory if you are not using it all? Catch phrase of the day, "Unused RAM is wasted RAM." So don't be upset that your RAM is being used, you should be happy that is being used in a good way. If the OS can cache its most used operations and actions it provides you with a faster and more efficient system.
Hope this explains things for you the only thing I'm not to sure about is what happens to the data when it is released for another application hence my use of the swap space (linux) ....
Cheers, Lucent.

[PartieHonteuse]

Good info on the XP page file (swap file, what have you) here: http://www.aumha.org/win5/a/xpvm.php

Although written for XP as far as I am aware the same applies for Vista.

Partie