Windows 7: Physical Memory Usage

Hey guys, hi there,
i am running windows 7 ultimate 32bit and everything is fine except my physical memory usage which is very high, sometimes almost finished. i have a 1GB ram and without any applications open its around 700. Lowest i have noted is 550, i was happy, computer was fast and smooth, but i dont know what i did that it went that low. it keeps changing on itself. sometimes very high, sometimes high but computer is running (at a slow/normal speed). i have checked out the processes but am unsure which ones should i end without messing up with the system's processes. Please help on how to manage the physical memory and end unwanted processes. Thanks alot guys.

1 GB of RAM is less than I would like to use.

2 GB would probably make a noticeable difference.

What do you have checked in the startup tab of msconfig? Try unchecking everything except antivirus.

Look at the services tab of msconfig. Put a check in "hide all Microsoft services". How many services are left after you do that?

Welcome to Seven Forums juniorgeek. As ignatzatsonic mentioned, 1GB is the bare minimum for a 32 bit Windows 7. You can look in the Resource Monitor

Start> In search box type Resource Monitor> Enter> Click on Memory tab

and see your Memory and CPU usage. 700MB is not unusual, it is just you have so little ram for Windows 7.

A Guy

700mb to 800mb of memory being used is normal for the 32bit 7. The basic 64bit 7 install will tend to see about 1.3gb used as a start.

As ignatzatsonic was saying the increase from 1gb to 2gb even with the older versions of Windows is quite noticable and results in seeing Windows run smoother. For the 32bit Vista or 7 an increase to 4gb installed generally sees about 3.5gb available and from then on of course is limited by the 32bit kernel.

Likewise between XP and Vista alike increasing the amount of memory from 1gb upwards to at least 2gb is the recomemded for all three versions. One guide for optimizing 7 you may want to read for understanding how to improve overall system performance can be seen at Optimize Windows 7

In comparicon the increase from 2gb to 4gb on the last Vista/7 testing build made a hugh difference with the 32bit Windows installs eliminating any bottle necks. The minimum recommended for the The MS recommended minimum for the 32bit 7 is 2gb.

For the 64bit Windows that would be 2.5gb since the 64bit Windows loads more data into the active ram seeing less swapping out the drive in the paging file used for virtual supplimental memory relied on more by the 32bit kernel.

You might wane read RAM usage & upgrading RAM @ laptop

some RAM is used for hardware, so maybe thats your problem.

Windows 7 will attempt to use as much RAM as it can for best system performance. Applications frequently used will get cached into RAM. This RAM will show as "available", but not free. In the event that another app actually needs the RAM, it will be freed immediately. With 4GB of RAM, my box usually runs with 700MB free or less. If you have the RAM, you might as well use it. That's the mantra these days.

Thankyou very much, Friend.
for your time and suggestion on my problem, thanks.
hmm... i am looking at the msconfig, now.... and there are many applications....
yes, i know the typical statement you get when you tell someone that you have a 1GB RAM !! well, i have got this a lot and i know the requirements these days, thing is i bought this laptop about 3-4 years ago.... and since then it has been going just fine, infact, this laptop had windows vista installed by default, this is a windows vista laptop!! i noted that the laptop was slowing down after like 2 years so i was thinking of changing the windows.well, about more than a year now, i have changed the the windows from vista to seven, and had seen ENORMOUS change in the system..... the laptop was again "new" and running "fast", it is great!
i ofcourse plan to increase the RAM some day, but till the day arrives, i have to go on with this 1GB, right?
so, in this msconfig, these are the ones that open on startup and the services going on, changing this is the only solution to controlling the physical memory usage?
like what can be done in the task manager, eg ending some processes which arent needed.

Thankyou for welcoming me, and your time for suggestions on my problems. Thankyou very much.
i do see its not enough, but i have also seen the memory usage going below 600, like i said earlier, 550 was the min i saw the other day.. but i am not sure what great thing i did by which the usage was brought down..

Thanks alot.
i see your point but i dont get one thing, my RAM at times just fills up, its doesnt "free" memory usage from other app which is not in "user's" current use but working in the background, it just fills up until its full and then the computer is slowed down to a stop!
what can be done about that? Other than getting a bigger RAM which i cannot Possibly get from the nearest supermarket! heheh

Well, with 1GB of RAM, you are running in the "minimum" requirement area. So, with the minimum amount of ram, you can expect minimum performance.

You probably just don't have enough RAM to truly "free" up. If you had more RAM, it could be used more for caching and thus could easily be freed.