Vista - Available RAM

Why is it that I have 2 gigs of RAM yet only 1 gig is available for use?

aluminumpole wrote:
> Why is it that I have 2 gigs of RAM yet only 1 gig is available for use?


Because you don't have any applications running to use it all.
Available (Free) RAM is wasted RAM.


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Bruce Chambers

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Welcome to Windows Vista!

Yes, 2 Gigs of RAM or more is recommended.

--
http://xenomorph.net/
"aluminumpole" <aluminumpole@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:4DC6FECF-FEDC-45CD-A156-33C7D76C3E75@microsoft.com...
> Why is it that I have 2 gigs of RAM yet only 1 gig is available for use?

Is Superfetch enabled in Services?

Superfetch (Memory Prefetcher)

Shawn

"aluminumpole" <aluminumpole@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:4DC6FECF-FEDC-45CD-A156-33C7D76C3E75@microsoft.com...
> Why is it that I have 2 gigs of RAM yet only 1 gig is available for use?

Vista caches a lot of stuff for speedier response, so it appears to use a
lot of RAM even though you have no applications running. When apps need the
RAM, it gets reallocated to them, so there is nothing to worry about. It is
better that Vista tried to use unused RAM to cache stuff, as it is useless
when usused.

ss.

Where are you getting your figure from?

"aluminumpole" <aluminumpole@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:4DC6FECF-FEDC-45CD-A156-33C7D76C3E75@microsoft.com...
> Why is it that I have 2 gigs of RAM yet only 1 gig is available for use?

On Wed, 8 Aug 2007 05:02:08 +0100, "Synapse Syndrome"
<synapse@NOSPAMgomez404.elitemail.org> sang the following hymns:

>"aluminumpole" <aluminumpole@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>news:4DC6FECF-FEDC-45CD-A156-33C7D76C3E75@microsoft.com...
>> Why is it that I have 2 gigs of RAM yet only 1 gig is available for use?
>
>Vista caches a lot of stuff for speedier response, so it appears to use a
>lot of RAM even though you have no applications running. When apps need the
>RAM, it gets reallocated to them, so there is nothing to worry about. It is
>better that Vista tried to use unused RAM to cache stuff, as it is useless
>when usused.
>
>ss.
>
Can you in Vista change settings to have it use more cached space
rather than RAM? Not sure how to put the question but I guess I want
to know if you have any control over Vista's RAM usage?

--

Verger

"What are we in time going by"-- Mountain ( For Yasgur's Farm)

"Verger" <nomail@maildump.nl> wrote in message
news:hbhjb3923h7ed08slenjkcsf33envgj6m6@4ax.com...
>>
> Can you in Vista change settings to have it use more cached space
> rather than RAM? Not sure how to put the question but I guess I want
> to know if you have any control over Vista's RAM usage?
>


It's probably possible somehow, but the memory management in Vista is one of
the things that is improved over XP, and it reallocates to applications when
it is needed, so I see no reason to change anything with it.

There are probably memory management programs for Vista, but they probably
make things worse.

http://www.google.co.uk/search?sourc...ory+management

ss.

"Verger" <nomail@maildump.nl> wrote in message
news:hbhjb3923h7ed08slenjkcsf33envgj6m6@4ax.com...
> On Wed, 8 Aug 2007 05:02:08 +0100, "Synapse Syndrome"
> <synapse@NOSPAMgomez404.elitemail.org> sang the following hymns:
>
>>"aluminumpole" <aluminumpole@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>>news:4DC6FECF-FEDC-45CD-A156-33C7D76C3E75@microsoft.com...
>>> Why is it that I have 2 gigs of RAM yet only 1 gig is available for use?
>>
>>Vista caches a lot of stuff for speedier response, so it appears to use a
>>lot of RAM even though you have no applications running. When apps need
>>the
>>RAM, it gets reallocated to them, so there is nothing to worry about. It
>>is
>>better that Vista tried to use unused RAM to cache stuff, as it is useless
>>when usused.
>>
>>ss.
>>
> Can you in Vista change settings to have it use more cached space
> rather than RAM? Not sure how to put the question but I guess I want
> to know if you have any control over Vista's RAM usage?
>
> --
>
> Verger
>
> "What are we in time going by"-- Mountain ( For Yasgur's Farm)
It caches stuff in free RAM to improve the performance of the system. If an
application comes along which needs more RAM, then
the system either deletes the cache or stores the cache on disk somewhere
(most likely the pagefile). There are only so many places
to store cached items, and RAM is by far the fastest. One use for cached
items is to avoid time consuming recovery of data from disk.
As the unused memory is available, why would the system cache such items
elsewhere?
Jim