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?

You might wane read RAM usage & upgrading RAM @ laptop

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

ignatzatsonic said:

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?

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.

A Guy said:

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

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..

pparks1 said:

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.

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