Hi,

When opening my user account and checking with the Task Manager, I have 60 % used memory. This is high as I didn't launch any program.



If I launch Firefox with a quick url (no image, only text), Memory is peaked, more than 80% (look at the screenshots)

How to know exactely which processe(s) is/are the culprit ??

How can I reduce this memory ?

Thanks in advance !

You only have 1 GB of RAM on the machine - Vista has a fairly high memory requirement, and it's not likely to get much better.
Have you installed both Service Packs? - they do tend to optimise requirements, and are required for security as well.
What else is being started at boot? - Click on Start, in the Serch box, type MSCONFIG, and look in the Startup
tab - do you need all the items shown?

Hi NoelDP,

I know that 1 GB of ram is poor for Vista Business but I don't plan to buy any memory chip at this moment.

Yes, I have SP2 installed

Look at my capture screen for my Startup programs.

Originally Posted by NoelDP

You only have 1 GB of RAM on the machine - Vista has a fairly high memory requirement, and it's not likely to get much better.
Have you installed both Service Packs? - they do tend to optimise requirements, and are required for security as well.
What else is being started at boot? - Click on Start, in the Serch box, type MSCONFIG, and look in the Startup
tab - do you need all the items shown?

Very rarely do I see such a bare startup!
However, 4 of the 5 items are security software - the chances are pretty high that there is a conflict there somewhere.
I'm not familiar with any of them except Windows Defender, however I do at least know of both Emsisoft and Webroot. ShadowDefender on the other hand appears to me to be largely defunct, and it's likely that this reflects either poor performance, or a poor product.
I suggest that you start by uninstalling (or at least disabling) ShadowDefender, and see if that makes a difference. You may need also to disable ShadowDefender services if you go that route.

Ok townsbg, that seems to be normal according to you.

I have another question about the Task Manager:

If I add all the memory process I don't have the amount of physical memory used and appeared on "Performance" tab.

Adding all the memory process I will have about 330 Mb used memory and on the "performance tab", I see about 675 Mb. What so big difference ?? Is that normal ?

Question about memory stick:

Is it better to have 2X1 sticks of 1 Gb ram or 1 stick of 2 Gb ram ?? My Cpu is a dual core.

Thanks in advance

2x2GB is better
there's not much difference between 2x1GB and 1x2GB - providing the two 1GB sticks are properly matched.

Don't worry about what you see in teh Performance tab in terms or RAM usage - there are a number of things you may not be seeing, including the Commit Memory, which is not usually visible, and which takes up RAM (use the View > Select Columns).

1 stick of 2Gb will be the best, thanks townsbg.

I will try it with Process Explorer.

Thanks NoelDP for the explanation of Ram usage

Dual Channel often isn't available in the sort of motherboards that were initially loaded with 1GB sticks.
Either way, you should check that the machine can actually take 2GB sticks - you may find it doesn't