Memory

I will try to put all this together. I'm not saying there is or is not a problem. Just a little look see for the OP the way Windows see's and uses RAM. Don't try to changes things.
Start andtype resmon. You will see Processes and below it Physical Memory.
Use the little up and down arrows to the right so you can see the colored bar under Physical Memory. Drag your cursor over each color and a drop down window will tell you what it means.
Now use the arrow to the right on Processes to open it up fully. What you are see are processes that are being used by your physical ram. Look at the column Hard Faults/sec. Hopefully they will all be 0. Now drag your cursor over the other column's and again a drop down window giving you information. If you see something that is using a lot of ram right click on it and choose search on line. There will be many sites that will explain what this process is doing. Please don't start changing anything because of what you might read. We are still in the Look and Understand mode. In most cases what you see in Processes will be normal. Now close all programs such as Photo anything, music, Instant Messenger ect. Things you don't need running now. Take a peek again and see if your memory use has changed.
Lets do a reboot now.
After reboot go to start and type msconfig and tick. At the top you will see Start up, tick it. What you are seeing now are programs that can start at boot if they are checked. What you decide to check is your choice. I have 5 checked and things work fine. Keep in mind that things that are not checked can still be used when you ask them to work. Like Media Player. You will always want your anti virus, mouse, keyboard checked. What happens at times, when you install a new program or up update them they will attach them self to the Start up when they are needed there. Once you have did a looking and understanding, if you have any question please ask here before changing things. Please don't use any 3rd party programs to mess with these setting. I hope this helps. Looking and learning comes before changing anything.

Thanks to all who have replied to my problem/worry!

Layback Bear, I have followed your instructions and I am now a lot wiser. However this is a new installation of Windows 7 home (last week, previously XP) and I don't have many things in the start up box in fact there are three, Skype, Google update and Microsoft and my "used physical memory" still reads high at 78%.

I have done some research on the forum and from what I gather win 7 will use most of the available memory, "in case it needs it". If this is the case I won't worry any more but I am still thinking to increase my memory from 4gb to 8gb. Is it worth it or can I keep my money in my pocket as it won't make any difference to the performance.

Thanks again.

By all means......................but I am embarrased to ask - how do I do that?

I have found the snip tool and taken a copy - how do I get it into my message?

[IMG]file:///C:/Users/benbow/AppData/Local/Temp/moz-screenshot-3.png[/IMG]I am struggling with this and it is 12.35 am. I will try again in the morning. Thanks for your help.