Windows 7 (64-bit) memory usage

I have a laptop with 4 GB of RAM and a desktop with 8 GB of RAM. Note that memory usage does not include amount used for cache, I'm referring to Memory marked as "In use" or "modified".

With my laptop it almost always hovers around 1.04 GB with no programs open and quickly returns to 1.04 GB even after an entire day of use.

My Desktop, upon boot uses around 1.08 GB. However, after I close my browser and other programs it tends to not go back down to it's original 1.08 GB and is typically hovers at 1.16 GB or more. Unlike my laptop which releases used RAM after it finished defrag, my desktop does not.

Both computers have most of the same programs installed with the exception of VMware Workstation on my desktop (with no VM's running.)

My initial conclusion so far is that the more RAM you have installed the less likely Windows 7 seems to release used RAM after programs close.

Has anyone else out there seen a similar trend?

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Devilsbane

It is called a memory leak, and is pretty common. Ideally an application will give up memory that it no longer needs, but it doesn't always happen. (Which is one reason why forcefully ending an application is bad)

That is one of the reasons that you will notice your computer being sluggish if you leave it on for a week straight.

Essendon

Yeah, I was actually going to post something similar myself. I have 4GB on my dual core machine and the RAM usage does stay at over a gig. Never seems to come down with nothing open. I tried closing my SEP11 AV and it still remained the same. Anyone else?

tiersten

Superfetch. No point having memory there if it isn't going to be used. If an application needs it then it will release it but until then it will cache.

exampasser

Devilsbane wrote: »

It is called a memory leak, and is pretty common. Ideally an application will give up memory that it no longer needs, but it doesn't always happen. (Which is one reason why forcefully ending an application is bad)

That is one of the reasons that you will notice your computer being sluggish if you leave it on for a week straight.

I first thought that it was a memory leak but it after a while Memory usage tends to go up no matter which applications are used. Some memory is released after I close an program, just not all of it all of the time.

exampasser

It does appear to be superfetch. When I turned off superfetch a good bit of RAM marked as "In use" was released. I took it a step further and temporarily disabled the service, rebooted and now RAM usage has fallen under 1 GB.

Devilsbane

exampasser wrote: »

It does appear to be superfetch. When I turned off superfetch a good bit of RAM marked as "In use" was released. I took it a step further and temporarily disabled the service, rebooted and now RAM usage has fallen under 1 GB.

I hope you intend to turn that back on. There is no benefit to having 3GB+ memory free.

exampasser

Devilsbane wrote: »

I hope you intend to turn that back on. There is no benefit to having 3GB+ memory free.

I will as apps are slower to load and such with superfetch off.

So far so good, I've only seen a 60 MB climb or so after running applications and such.

tiersten

exampasser wrote: »

I will as apps are slower to load and such with superfetch off.

Yes. The whole point is that memory that isn't being used is pointless so it uses it as cache. Once something requires that memory then it will remove it from the cache and allocate it to your applications/services.