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Computer experts, how do I lower the amount of RAM being used? - Dark_Genome 212 When there no acitivity on my computer, 46% of my RAM is being used. When i open itunes, it jumps to 54-62%. Then once i open m web browser (opera, firefox) it jumps to 62-64%. Then i escatlates up to 70-94%. I don't understand what could be causing this. I have a Sony Vaio Desktop running on Windows XP Media Center Edtion with Service Pack 3. I currently have 1 Gig of RAM. I bought computer 4 years ago, and it runs pretty smoothly, even though it seems the quality of how it runs seems to degrade from since when i first bought it. But it still runs smoothly. I always take update and do a whole bunch of stuff like CCleaner, defragments, Disk Scan, virus scan, etc. The high perentage of use of RAM is worrying me though. It is also a bit slower than when i first bought it? What could it be? Should i buy another gig of RAM?

Best Answer: You have to remember, Windows uses a lot of memory to run all that is needed to make it work and you are running media center, that probaly requires more memory I am not sure. You probaly have a lot of programs running at bootup as well. You would need to go into MSCONFIG and disable programs that you do not need to startup when you boot your PC. It probaly wouldnt hurt to get another stick of 1GB of memory as long as your PC can support it. You can get one cheap from newegg. The more progams you run at once will cause your PC to become slow and you have to look at your processor speed, FSB, etc. If you need any help with modifying your MSCONFIG and startup please feel free to e-mail or IM me. - Dustin

Stop stressing about the Ram use. Put as much Ram in as you can and live with it. - D.M.

computers tend to get slower over time if as you add more programs cleaning off all the old junk you don't need might help. buying another gig of ram will defiantly decrease your ram percentage but make sure you buy a ram card thats compatable with your current card or you could really screw it up - Ike

Generic Host Process for Win 32, and spoolers run constantly. This will use some Ram, also your antivirus and firewall are , or should be running. You will have to check to see if your motherboard and processor will handle another gig of Ram. Every update you install will slow down the performance, just as every program you install does. I don't think you have a real problem. . - Granny

The higher amount of RAM usage, I am guessing, is being caused by a background application that you can't see running. To close unwanted programs, hit "ctrl>alt>delete" and click on processes. !!!IMPORTANT!!! Do NOT go ending random processes, if you do not know what they do, then do not end them. If you want to see what they are, just simply use google (although I'd better say yahoo too because this is yahoo answers after all :P) If the programs you don't need are running, you can close them after you search for them. Iv'e never experienced this on my mac, but I have on all of my PC's. Hope this helps, coder12 - coder12

You should Install programs in an External Hard Drive, that should lower your RAM capacity, Only Leave in your PC the Shortcuts and everytime you want to use a program connect The Dirver to the PC. Nice and Easy, I done it and my RAM capacity has lowered to 25%-20% Good Luck - GERM1389

1. make sure you also run spyware/adware software, like a free one I use is ad-aware. 2. download winpatrol, from winpatrol.com it shows you the programs you have in your startups and also active tasks. You do a search online to make sure the programs on startup and active are needed. If they are not needed, you can have winpatrol disable. - M75

How many processes do you have running? But firefox is a RAM hog, I had it using up 300K of my RAM earlier... - fgjk

After four years your memory, will increase, you can delete some files, that shows takes up a large amount of memory, and then partition your drive, and keep update for each of your programs. This is what happens with Windows XP, and put those files deleted on a hard disk or a CD-RW, if you don't want to delete them. And start labeling them. - ihatethediamondbacksmlb

duyh. - Dragons Rule-Trolls Shall Die!!!

hit ctrl+alt+delete click the processes tab. all the processes listed as being run by your login name can be deleted EXCEPT explorer. dont delete that one!and dont delete those that say 'system' or something else. These processes do not show up except on this menu so you wont see them like you see applications such as iTunes. A normal # of processes is around 40. Yours is probably around 60 or 70. but that should free up some RAM and if your woried about losing stuff, all those processes come back once you restart your computer. - wildyak

ok heres the deal ram is random access memory when you run applications they take some ram so say u have 100 ram and an application takes up 50 thats 50% ram the more programs that are open the more ram is being used also when opening a program innitially it takes more ram to lower the percent get more ram so that 50 out of 200 is onlt 25% - hihello123neb

media center uses alot of ram but you might not have enough ram for the system so it jumps alot - Smity

take away some programs! - matthewc65

click start then click run then type msconfig... click the startup tab and uncheck all the items click okay and then restart anything important will turn back on once you restart the computer. that will turn off all the programs that start up when the computer turns on. - Mike B

Don't run as many things at once - TShizzle

i dont know - Maddie C

download glary utilities, it has a tab on it where you can chose how much you want to lower you RAM usage. I use it for my laptop with vista, it helps a lot. - Anonymous

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