RAM usage

Leroy Riggs · Post by **Leroy Riggs** » 19 Jun 2007 9:54 am

Wiz or whomever, when one opens numerous browsers, what is stored in RAM (in general terms). Do more browsers cause the machine to slow down?

I guess I'm asking what part of additional browsers are loaded into RAM.

Also, when one invokes a process such as Norton security, what happens to RAM?

Thx.

Wiz Feinberg · Post by **Wiz Feinberg** » 19 Jun 2007 11:10 am

Leroy;
That is an excellent question. You want to know what is loaded into RAM when you open browsers or security programs.

Prologue
RAM (Random Access Memory) is a temporary and volatile storage location for frequently used data. RAM is incredibly fast at delivering data that it has stored. Most RAM is magnitudes faster than hard drive cache storage at reading and writing temporary data. Windows, and all operating systems, place the main parts of their "kernels" into RAM for fastest retrieval. The more complex the OS the larger the amount of RAM you will need just to load the operating kernel itself into RAM. If your computer has the bare minimum amount of RAM required to run the OS there will be a shortfall when you begin to load programs and browsers.

Every application that you open will try to load it's main components into the system RAM. This includes each instance of a program that allows multiple instances to open at the same time. Since you asked about multiple browsers I'll give you a quick answer to that part. Every new browser tab or window that you open loads it's basic graphical and behind the scenes components into the system RAM. Websites containing multimedia content will occupy even more RAM as you open them in new tabs or browser windows and they try to place all of their viewable content first into RAM, then into the browser cache.

Security programs operate at the kernel level, in order to protect your computer against direct attacks to the brain. In order to do this they also load their real time components into RAM. Norton products are absolutely notorious for consuming humongous amounts of RAM, sometimes crippling a computer that has the minimum amount of installed RAM. Your computer may become so slow from such a security program loading into RAM that even hidden adware and spyware won't have a chance to launch normally.

I always advise people to add as much RAM as their motherboard can manage. Adding RAM is the least expensive option to speeding up your computer. I have devoted a really long web page to explaining all about RAM - it's history, various types, technical details and configurations. I have provided links to two of the major suppliers who have online scanners that can identify your computer/motherboard brand and RAM handling capacities. This will help you determine if you have room to add more modules, or to what extent you can swap out your existing modules for a higher total capacity.

As a reference, I run Windows XP Professional with 2 Gigabytes of DDR PC3200 Dual Channel Corsair RAM on an MSI K7N2 Delta 2 motherboard, with a Front Side Bus speed of 200 Mhz, using an AMD Athlon XP (Barton core) at 2200 Mhz, all self built a couple of years ago. I have personally tweaked the BIOS RAM timing settings for maximum performance, with excellent stability. I am not overclocking because my SoundBlaster Audigy card apparently cannot be overclocked with any significance, without locking up the system during the boot process.

Leroy Riggs · Post by **Leroy Riggs** » 20 Jun 2007 9:45 am

Thx for your time and efforts here. After I digest this a little I may have a follow-up.

Leroy Riggs · Post by **Leroy Riggs** » 20 Jun 2007 10:12 am

OK, one more question then I'll leave you alone on this.

Are there products that will monitor the contents of RAM as far as amount being used and the program using the RAM in realtime?

Wiz Feinberg · Post by **Wiz Feinberg** » 20 Jun 2007 10:46 am

Leroy Riggs wrote:OK, one more question then I'll leave you alone on this.

Are there products that will monitor the contents of RAM as far as amount being used and the program using the RAM in realtime?

Yes, one is included with Windows itself. Open your Task Manager (Ctrl + Alt + Del) and click on the Performance tab. There is a realtime monitor for RAM usage and the system pagefile usage, plus the CPU load.

Leroy Riggs · Post by **Leroy Riggs** » 20 Jun 2007 11:12 am

I am so stupid sometimes. Thanks again.

ray qualls · Post by **ray qualls** » 20 Jun 2007 12:25 pm

Leroy, I use a product called FreeRAM XP Pro 1.50 that you download for free. It tells how much ram that you have free in a little icon in the lower right hand corner of the task bar. I've used it for 2 years and it really been helpful. You can adjust how much ram you want to free up. Hope this helps, Ray

Leroy Riggs · Post by **Leroy Riggs** » 20 Jun 2007 1:26 pm

Thanks Ray. I'll try it for a while.

Ray Minich · Post by **Ray Minich** » 20 Jun 2007 1:53 pm

Norton products are absolutely notorious for consuming humongous amounts of RAM

consume RAM, hog the CPU, basically turn the machine into a zombie, and that's before the malware finds its way into your machine...

Leroy Riggs · Post by **Leroy Riggs** » 20 Jun 2007 2:23 pm

Are the alternatives better than Norton in that respect and just as effective for the firewall and the virus protection?

Wiz Feinberg · Post by **Wiz Feinberg** » 20 Jun 2007 10:12 pm

Leroy Riggs wrote:Are the alternatives better than Norton in that respect and just as effective for the firewall and the virus protection?

I use AVG anti virus and ZoneAlarm Personal Firewall and see no slowdowns as a result of them, except when AVG starts a scheduled scan of the system. It does consume a lot of CPU during the scans, but otherwise it is not in the way at all. ZoneAlarm doesn't cause any noticable drag on my system either, but I do have 2 GB of RAM. Both of these are available in free or paid versions, so you can try them out. You would have to either disable Norton, or uninstall it first, to avoid horrible conflicts between these programs.

Will Holtz · Post by **Will Holtz** » 21 Jun 2007 7:23 am

For more in depth monitoring of your system performance, on the start menu go to Programs, Administrative Tools, Performance.

Leroy Riggs · Post by **Leroy Riggs** » 21 Jun 2007 7:51 am