winxp - what are some good memory cleaning programs?

I leave my computer on for long periods of time and I know winxp just tends to throw shit into memory over time, any kind of memory defragmentation or cleaning programs that are trustworthy?

Not really true. The explorer shell might grow over time (though not overly large, and it's easy to restart). Otherwise, XP does not have memory leaks of significance.

//edit: decided to revise. Aside from the above, I'm pretty sure ram managers and mandatory "memory management" reboots are bogus.

I use memturbo, but its kinda old and decrepid .

The last I read about those types of software, was that they are all gimmicks. Can't see I've seen anyone actually use one.

I have never seen a valid performance claim from any of those softwares. What problems are you having?

Direwolf20 said:

I use memturbo, but its kinda old and decrepid .

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I'll mention that memturbo is just a little thing that sits on my task bar and tells me how much memory I have left. It will also clear out any un-needed junk in your RAM for you. I used to use it when I had windows 98, and now that I'm on XP I haven't used it at all.

every couple weeks, reboot
both 2k an xp have few problems
occasionally software will, but shut it down and restart it

Don't get those memory programs. They do nothing for you. Please post what problems you are having (if any). Also, how much memory do you have in your machine.

KevinO said:

Don't get those memory programs. They do nothing for you. Please post what problems you are having (if any). Also, how much memory do you have in your machine.

Click to expand...

i second.

And if you dont have any problems dont get bummed cause you see high memory usage in xp, it happens over time. And it doesnt really bother you at all, since if you ask the system for more memory, it will page the system stuff and give your program full access to the ram

Do NOT use these programs. These programs will have no affect on performance. As a matter of fact all they will do is degrade performance as all RAM optimizers do is force many other things out of memory. For people that do not iunderstand how windows manages memory this may seem benefitial, but it is not.

For example what if you were running Photoshop. The RAM optimzer will force all the code that was a apart of Photoshop out of memory and this will have to be paged from disk again.

You have to understand how Windows manages memory though. Windows will always try to find use for all of your RAM. If you have left over RAM code from programs that were closed will retain in memory for faster operation if you plan on using the application again during your session. Also if you ahve plenty of RAM available Windows ill increase the file cache to help performance. So the fact of the matter is Windows will try to use all RAm avialable. If another use comes along old non-used code will be paged to disk to make room for w/e is needed.

So RAM optimzers are just stupid.

EDIT: Actually here is an article about this topic:
http://www.winnetmag.com/Windows/Articles/ArticleID/41095/pg/1/1.html

I've had my system up and running for 22 days now. either way, I probably should restart and will. the only question was there anything valid out there that can help me keep the machine running as clean as it does on a fresh boot.

the symptoms are fairly basic, such as random basic actions taking a few extra second or counter-strike source being finnicky w/ framerates. that right there is my only real concern.

the following are the specs:

xp2500 mobile oc'd to 2400mhz (200 x 12)
1gb corsair 3200 ram
160gb sata drive (down to 8gb of space, heh)
6800gr
abit nf7-s

thoughts on how to keep your games running top notch always?

If you're having problems, I'd blame the hard drive. I'd bet your crap is fragmented to hell and back, virtual memory included, and that's slowing down your system. 5% free space is (IMO) far to low to allow a system drive to go.

Not only that, but I have debugged bugchecks since one of those programs tried to page out the kernel. (That is not good for those who are wondering)

where did you "learn" this? I run my computer for months at a time and my mem usage stays the same all the time for the most part.

Aesalon said:

I leave my computer on for long periods of time and I know winxp just tends to throw shit into memory over time, any kind of memory defragmentation or cleaning programs that are trustworthy?

Click to expand...

I've had my 2k systems run months at a time without reboot, I don't even bother to shut down my main gaming rig at all, couldn't be bothered with rebooting it. If it weren't for the patches forcing a reboot, I'd be able to keep this system on all year.

KoolDrew said:

Do NOT use these programs. These programs will have no affect on performance. As a matter of fact all they will do is degrade performance as all RAM optimizers do is force many other things out of memory. For people that do not iunderstand how windows manages memory this may seem benefitial, but it is not.

For example what if you were running Photoshop. The RAM optimzer will force all the code that was a apart of Photoshop out of memory and this will have to be paged from disk again.

You have to understand how Windows manages memory though. Windows will always try to find use for all of your RAM. If you have left over RAM code from programs that were closed will retain in memory for faster operation if you plan on using the application again during your session. Also if you ahve plenty of RAM available Windows ill increase the file cache to help performance. So the fact of the matter is Windows will try to use all RAm avialable. If another use comes along old non-used code will be paged to disk to make room for w/e is needed.

So RAM optimzers are just stupid.

EDIT: Actually here is an article about this topic:
http://www.winnetmag.com/Windows/Articles/ArticleID/41095/pg/1/1.html

Click to expand...

The above is the most complete summary in this thread as to why NOT to use such programs, and it’s almost entirely correct.


For example, when trying to measure product performance at work we sometimes use such programs (though written by MS). Because it makes things perform better? Heck no! We use it because it removes some of the optimizations built into the system.



Dry gory details:
When page transitions occur (something that reduces disk access and speeds up the system), for example, it can introduce variability in measurements because the speed increase is not always constant, depending on what’s in memory, the page access sequence, disk speed\throughput, and many many other factors. In my case I’m trying to measure application perf, not Windows perf, so while flushing memory makes things slower in general it also reduces variability and unknown factors when measuring .

For example, say an operation normally takes 120ms +/- 50ms.
When memory is flushed just prior, it takes 200ms +/- 10ms.

It might be a case where it’s more meaningful to flush memory because it reduces the variability introduced by the optimizations. Of course, you have to weigh that against other factors that may impact the relevancy of the measurement, such as increased dependency on disk speed and hardware caching.