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For RAM addicts: FreeRAM XP Pro
By Michael Pietroforte | 5 Comments | Permalink | Trackback | Previous | NextI’m a RAM addict. If your PC gets unbearable slow, forget about CPU power, hard disk speed or network speed; in most cases you just don’t have enough RAM. Maybe I am a bit overstating here, but I just said it: I am a RAM addict. FreeRAM XP Pro is a free tool that can help remedy acute memory shortage.
Ill-mannered programs sometimes don’t release their memory after you run them. FreeRAM XP Pro returns this RAM to the operating system. It also can defrag your computer’s RAM which helps increasing its performance and stability.
You can tell FreeRAM XP Pro to free memory automatically in regular intervals, or specify a certain amount of memory you need. This tool can’t work miracles, of course. It always will only free as much RAM as possible.
FreeRAM XP Pro uses another method, what its programmers call “global memory compression”. However, this technology has nothing to do with compression in the literal sense. If you tell FreeRAM XP Pro to compress memory, it will ask the OS to reduce the RAM requirement of running processes. Some applications occupy a huge amount of memory even when they are idle.
Please note that RAM optimizing tools are controversial. If not programmed properly they might cause apps to crash. During my tests, I experienced no problems though. I tested FreeRAM XP Pro 1.51. You should be cautious though, if you plan to use this tool on a productive server.
FreeRAM XP Pro has more features and options than I discussed here. If you are also a RAM addict, you might have a look at it. Of course, another, more effective option is to go and get more memory for your compi.
This may have been true before, but not really anymore. The reason for slowness is overall resource usage. Although it include the amount of ram, it also includes the amount of cpu usage going to certain applications. If a great deal of cpu usage is up, clearing up ram won’t do anything. Most of the time, the cpu usage can be boiled down to background applications not needed, bloatware, and adware/spyware. Also, the average pc user has 512 megs of ram in their pc which is more than adequate for most instances.
Deathventure, Id be careful about what you say about Ram. Mike seems to have a very fond affinity for his ram. Maybe he’s pullin a Freddy Mercury and gettin fresh with his M.B. & Dimm. Be Careful he might try to boil youre modem!
On what planet is 512mb ram STILL more than adequate for most circumstances??
Deathventure, it depends. If we’re talking about desktop computers, CPU power is very seldom an issue here. The only desktop apps I can think of that need CPU power are games and video/graphics editing software.The average office PC doesn’t need much CPU power. We just replaced 250 office PCs. I think, we bought them more or less 5 years ago. Each PC had a 450 Mhz CPU and 256 MB RAM. The PCs were so slow that the people could hardly work with them. It never was a CPU issue. I guess, the 450 Mhz CPU would have been fine for the next 2 or 3 years. The point is that most desktop applications get fatter over the years because its GUIs get more intricate. These new GUIs need RAM not CPU power.
Freeram Xp pro is very wonderfull.