Need help reducing memory usage (Vista Professional)

My PC is hogging memory; the "Health Report" says to increase physical
memory. My PC already has 1Gb of physical memory, so I hardly think it needs
that. I have set visual settings to improve performance (set to Classic
theme, reduced resolution to 16 bit...or is it colors?) and still I get the
warning that the visual settings have to be adjusted to optimize
performance. My gadget memory monitor is almost always up in the 80% range.
Are there any suggestions out there as to how to reduce memory usage? Any
help would be greatly appreciated.

"John Raser" <> wrote in message
news:i317i0$trn$...
> My PC is hogging memory; the "Health Report" says to increase physical
> memory. My PC already has 1Gb of physical memory, so I hardly think it
> needs that. I have set visual settings to improve performance (set to
> Classic theme, reduced resolution to 16 bit...or is it colors?) and still
> I get the warning that the visual settings have to be adjusted to optimize
> performance. My gadget memory monitor is almost always up in the 80%
> range. Are there any suggestions out there as to how to reduce memory
> usage? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

My two 64-bit computers are at 8 GB, and still show signs or needing
more memory. My 32-bit computer is at 4 GB, and also shows signs
of needing more memory.

I've read that this can be the results of incorrect settings of the
registry values controlling the SuperFetch feature of Vista, but
I haven't been able to find enough information on what registry
values and what alternate values to correct them.

What I've found so far:

http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/200...my-memory.html

http://blogs.technet.com/b/markrussi...7/3031251.aspx

http://blogs.technet.com/b/askperf/a...px?PageIndex=2

http://social.answers.microsoft.com/...3-fedd1c0308d8

Robert Miles

Thank you for the web references. Though they are more technical than I can
understand (I had to skim parts) they explained the cause of the problem. I
have adjusted Performance Options; overall performance is improved (though
at the expense of visual effects). I am experimenting with the processor
scheduling "just to see." As a general comment, registry information might
be hard to come by simply because of the rapidity of the replacement of old
information with new (like the way past versions of Windows are no longer
updated).
John

"John Raser" <> wrote in message
news:i317i0$trn$...
> My PC is hogging memory; the "Health Report" says to increase physical
> memory. My PC already has 1Gb of physical memory, so I hardly think it
> needs that. I have set visual settings to improve performance (set to
> Classic theme, reduced resolution to 16 bit...or is it colors?) and still
> I get the warning that the visual settings have to be adjusted to optimize
> performance. My gadget memory monitor is almost always up in the 80%
> range. Are there any suggestions out there as to how to reduce memory
> usage? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

There's a lot of files in temp; just delete them? Same with cache; what I
found was music files; delete them? There must be several caches, only
search found music files.
John

"Eric" <> wrote in message
news: ers2...
> Actually 1Gb of memory for vista isn't a lot of memory, mine came stock
> with three gig.
>
> Have you tried cleaning your system temp files out, your cache and other
> stuff.
>
> hth
>
> Eric
> John Raser wrote:
>> Thank you for the web references. Though they are more technical than I
>> can understand (I had to skim parts) they explained the cause of the
>> problem. I have adjusted Performance Options; overall performance is
>> improved (though at the expense of visual effects). I am experimenting
>> with the processor scheduling "just to see." As a general comment,
>> registry information might be hard to come by simply because of the
>> rapidity of the replacement of old information with new (like the way
>> past versions of Windows are no longer updated).
>> John
>>
>> "John Raser" <> wrote in message
>> news:i317i0$trn$...
>>> My PC is hogging memory; the "Health Report" says to increase physical
>>> memory. My PC already has 1Gb of physical memory, so I hardly think it
>>> needs that. I have set visual settings to improve performance (set to
>>> Classic theme, reduced resolution to 16 bit...or is it colors?) and
>>> still I get the warning that the visual settings have to be adjusted
>>> to optimize performance. My gadget memory monitor is almost always up
>>> in the 80% range. Are there any suggestions out there as to how to
>>> reduce memory usage? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
>>
>

Eric,
I've noticed that a lot of downloadable utilities are really things I can do
myself if I know how to use my computer. I'll try the *.tmp business you
suggested. Thanks.
John

"Eric" <> wrote in message
news: ers2...
> I use CCleaner to clean out the temp files and the like, as well as the
> registry. A friend of mine swears by defraggler, for defragging the hard
> drive. My AV has a degragger in it so I use it.
>
> If you want to do it manually, do a search for "*.tmp" and delete
> everything it comes up with (some may be in use and unable to be deleted),
> use windows "Disk Clean up" and defrag the hard drive.
>
> What ever you do, do not buy some program from a website that promises
> improved performance, when you can do most every they do for nothing,
> without adding more stuff to your computer.
>
> Good Luck.
>
> Eric
>
> John Raser wrote:
>> There's a lot of files in temp; just delete them? Same with cache; what
>> I found was music files; delete them? There must be several caches, only
>> search found music files.
>> John
>>
>> "Eric" <> wrote in message
>> news: ers2...
>>> Actually 1Gb of memory for vista isn't a lot of memory, mine came
>>> stock with three gig.
>>>
>>> Have you tried cleaning your system temp files out, your cache and
>>> other stuff.
>>>
>>> hth
>>>
>>> Eric
>>> John Raser wrote:
>>>> Thank you for the web references. Though they are more technical than I
>>>> can understand (I had to skim parts) they explained the cause of the
>>>> problem. I have adjusted Performance Options; overall performance is
>>>> improved (though at the expense of visual effects). I am experimenting
>>>> with the processor scheduling "just to see." As a general comment,
>>>> registry information might be hard to come by simply because of the
>>>> rapidity of the replacement of old information with new (like the way
>>>> past versions of Windows are no longer updated).
>>>> John
>>>>
>>>> "John Raser" <> wrote in message
>>>> news:i317i0$trn$...
>>>>> My PC is hogging memory; the "Health Report" says to increase physical
>>>>> memory. My PC already has 1Gb of physical memory, so I hardly think it
>>>>> needs that. I have set visual settings to improve performance (set to
>>>>> Classic theme, reduced resolution to 16 bit...or is it colors?) and
>>>>> still I get the warning that the visual settings have to be adjusted
>>>>> to optimize performance. My gadget memory monitor is almost always up
>>>>> in the 80% range. Are there any suggestions out there as to how to
>>>>> reduce memory usage? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
>>>>
>>>
>

Addendum: *.tmp produces many Template files and folders; I don't think I
want to delete them. I used Disk Cleanup and Defrag (which are usual
maintenance tasks, since I don't leave my PC "on" all the time).
John

"John Raser" <> wrote in message
news:i36n8p$s7a$...
> Eric,
> I've noticed that a lot of downloadable utilities are really things I can
> do myself if I know how to use my computer. I'll try the *.tmp business
> you suggested. Thanks.
> John
>
> "Eric" <> wrote in message
> news: ers2...
>> I use CCleaner to clean out the temp files and the like, as well as the
>> registry. A friend of mine swears by defraggler, for defragging the hard
>> drive. My AV has a degragger in it so I use it.
>>
>> If you want to do it manually, do a search for "*.tmp" and delete
>> everything it comes up with (some may be in use and unable to be
>> deleted), use windows "Disk Clean up" and defrag the hard drive.
>>
>> What ever you do, do not buy some program from a website that promises
>> improved performance, when you can do most every they do for nothing,
>> without adding more stuff to your computer.
>>
>> Good Luck.
>>
>> Eric
>>
>> John Raser wrote:
>>> There's a lot of files in temp; just delete them? Same with cache; what
>>> I found was music files; delete them? There must be several caches, only
>>> search found music files.
>>> John
>>>
>>> "Eric" <> wrote in message
>>> news: ers2...
>>>> Actually 1Gb of memory for vista isn't a lot of memory, mine came
>>>> stock with three gig.
>>>>
>>>> Have you tried cleaning your system temp files out, your cache and
>>>> other stuff.
>>>>
>>>> hth
>>>>
>>>> Eric
>>>> John Raser wrote:
>>>>> Thank you for the web references. Though they are more technical than
>>>>> I
>>>>> can understand (I had to skim parts) they explained the cause of the
>>>>> problem. I have adjusted Performance Options; overall performance is
>>>>> improved (though at the expense of visual effects). I am experimenting
>>>>> with the processor scheduling "just to see." As a general comment,
>>>>> registry information might be hard to come by simply because of the
>>>>> rapidity of the replacement of old information with new (like the way
>>>>> past versions of Windows are no longer updated).
>>>>> John
>>>>>
>>>>> "John Raser" <> wrote in message
>>>>> news:i317i0$trn$...
>>>>>> My PC is hogging memory; the "Health Report" says to increase
>>>>>> physical
>>>>>> memory. My PC already has 1Gb of physical memory, so I hardly think
>>>>>> it
>>>>>> needs that. I have set visual settings to improve performance (set to
>>>>>> Classic theme, reduced resolution to 16 bit...or is it colors?) and
>>>>>> still I get the warning that the visual settings have to be adjusted
>>>>>> to optimize performance. My gadget memory monitor is almost always up
>>>>>> in the 80% range. Are there any suggestions out there as to how to
>>>>>> reduce memory usage? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>