Solved Extremely high physical memory usage

[Cop]

Hi,

about two weeks ago I saw that my computer used a lot of memory (3/4GB). It hasn't been changing a lot in the past two weeks. Now, what could I possibly do to prevent my computer from using so much memory? The only programs I have opened are Firefox, Nettalk (IRC Client), Thunderbird, occasionally uTorrent and Dropbox. Except for Firefox, I don't see anything using too much memory.

Here are a couple of screens of the Task Manager and Resource Monitor:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/49460192/105708695.png
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/49460192/105802573.png
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/49460192/105838652.png

 

[zigzag3143]

You have 3 gigs installed, and one is free. Of the remaining 2 firefox is using 627Mb, Thunderbird 138Mb, both are higher than I have ever seen. So that leaves you one left for the rest of the processes.

I would imagine from FF usage that you have quite a few addons? Do you and what are they?

 

[Cop]

You have 3 gigs installed

Actually I have 4.

I would imagine from FF usage that you have quite a few addons? Do you and what are they?

Yep, I do. I have Adblock Plus, Cybersearch, Element Hiding Helper for ABP, Firebug, Greasemonkey, Pixlr Grabber, Tineye Reverse Image Search, some addon to toggle proxy usage, the Trashmail.net Addon, User Agent Switcher, Vacuum Places Improved and Web Developer installed.

 

[zigzag3143]

You have 3 gigs installed

Actually I have 4.

I would imagine from FF usage that you have quite a few addons? Do you and what are they?

Yep, I do. I have Adblock Plus, Cybersearch, Element Hiding Helper for ABP, Firebug, Greasemonkey, Pixlr Grabber, Tineye Reverse Image Search, some addon to toggle proxy usage, the Trashmail.net Addon, User Agent Switcher, Vacuum Places Improved and Web Developer installed.

My bad. I looked at task manager incorrectly. Sorry

All the rest holds true.

 

[Influx]

Run Resource Monitor and take a screenshot of the processes running including the amount of RAM they consume and the number of processes running. If possible, sort it by RAM Usage. This is likely to be caused by unnecessary 3rd party programs running in background which you may not be aware of. I would not worry much about malware if the CPU Usage is fine, especially since it is clear that you have a tough amount of programs running in background. This is a commonly neglected issue, fyi.

 

[Cop]

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/49460192/124520571.png
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/49460192/124541308.png
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/49460192/124557862.png
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/49460192/124612594.png

That should be everything.

 

[Influx]

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/49460192/124520571.png
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/49460192/124541308.png
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/49460192/124557862.png
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/49460192/124612594.png

That should be everything.

That's ~90+. That is a lot, and it should be normal that 2.8gb is consumed. Firefox does take too much. Mine currently takes ~300mb with several tabs, I have 6 extensions and 15 plugins. Disable the ones you don't need as they seem to be rarely used. :warn:Leaving unnecessary programs running in background is not a healthy practice, since they do consume RAM and a minuscule amount of CPU power in background.

:tip:Also, if you want a completely new Firefox Profile/Configuration and reinstall only those you need. Go to rb:Start :ar: Type Run :ar: Press Enter :ar: Type

firefox -p

:ar: Delete All Profiles :ar: Close it :ar: Run Firefox. After that, reinstall the plugins you need, including Adobe Flash.

:note:Note: Before attempting to configure msconfig, create a system restore point.
Those are a numerous amount. A clean system would have 40-60 processes running at startup. A cleanup would help lessen the RAM Usage. We can disable unnecessary programs by using msconfig. rb:Start :ar: type Msconfig :ar: press enter :ar: click on the Startup Tab :ar: Identify the ones that you don't need and uncheck them (ie. Any IM messager, Google Update). Be careful, do not disable your Anti-Virus. Next go to the Services Tab (you may skip this) and check Hide all Microsoft Services, then uncheck the ones you don't need.

Post a screenshot, we will try to point out which are completely unnecessary and those which you may need but only at a specified time.

I would predict that your RAM Usage will go down to approximately 1.2GB.

 

[Cop]

Okay, thanks for the help first of all.
Now, I've unchecked all the startup programs and services I know about (and I don't need).

I'm unsure about these
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/49460192/132622833.png
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/49460192/132738981.png
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/49460192/132752222.png
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/49460192/132814650.png
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/49460192/132831564.png
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/49460192/132842673.png

 

[Influx]

Okay, thanks for the help first of all.
Now, I've unchecked all the startup programs and services I know about (and I don't need).

I'm unsure about these
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/49460192/132622833.png
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/49460192/132738981.png
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/49460192/132752222.png
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/49460192/132814650.png
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/49460192/132831564.png
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/49460192/132842673.png

Just leave those for now, let me see the current RAM Usage, with the current configuration, without any window running except Task Manager.

 

[Cop]

Perfect Now when I start Firefox it goes up to 2.10, but well, as soon as I remove some addons it'll be perfect. Thanks for the help.

 

[Influx]

Perfect Now when I start Firefox it goes up to 2.10, but well, as soon as I remove some addons it'll be perfect. Thanks for the help.

That's near to average. Consider removing the Acer Services. Also, for future reference, if you want to know if a certain startup entry or a service is safe to uncheck, do a google search on what it is and if it is safe to uncheck. If you want a service to only run when needed, use the Services app (Start > Type Services). Right click on an entry and configure when it runs. That'd be unnecessary right now, since services usually take a negligible amount of ram. Do not ever consider disabling a Windows Service. You may need to take another look at the Startup Tab, remember to do a google search. I currently have ~1.3gb used without any windows running.