posted
I'm doing some hyperspectral image processing which requires a boat load of memory so I'm trying to shut down all the memory hogging stuff that's running in the background on my PC.
With all my applications closed, the background stuff is using around 250 MB of memory (ouch). So I'm trying to figure out what's hogging the RAM. When I check the processes in the Windows task manager there are about 50 different process running some of which I recognize and some of which I don't. The big problem is that if I add up the memory usage of all the process, it comes to a bit less that 100 MB of RAM. So what's hogging my memory. How do I find it and kill it?
Additionally, of these ~50 things that Bill Gates has running in the background on my computer, how many of them are essential. What can I kill without causing problems.
Posts: 12591 | Registered: Jan 2000
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posted
The best way I've found is actually looking at the process, and typing the exact name in to google.com. Most of the time the first link is a proccess information page that tells me what the process does and why it would be running.
There are really only about 20-25 proccesses windows _needs_, you could also look at stopping some services that you don't need running by Start > Run > services.msc
You can check what is running at startup by running msconfig. There are some other tools around too, but I'm not at a windows machine at the moment.
Posts: 1132 | Registered: Jul 2002
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posted
How much memory do you have in your machine right now, Rabbit? How much can it take?
Memory is pretty cheap these days, and the easiest, and best, answer might be to just buy more memory.
Posts: 13123 | Registered: Feb 2002
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posted
It's not as simple as it sounds. There are lots of processes that misrepresent the amount of memory they are using inside the task manager. Also, it is possible to hide a process completely from it
My recommendation would be to go to the Microsoft site and download Microsoft Defender. Not only is that a good scan of spyware, but it has built in tools that allow you to analyze all the processes and services that are set to run when your machine starts up, and does a rather good job of identifying them and telling you the ones that are out of place.
Posts: 3486 | Registered: Sep 2002
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posted
As you can see, there's no easy answer to your question. You're going to have to research and dig to figure out what's hogging your system's resources. It may take awhile, but it should pay off in the long run.
Posts: 4753 | Registered: May 2002
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As well as msconfig or a 3rd-party start-up managers, and process managers, you can run memory optimizers. These work with varying degrees of effectiveness. I've used free ones from download.com that worked ok, so ones you pay for might work even better.
Posts: 6316 | Registered: Jun 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Storm Saxon: How much memory do you have in your machine right now, Rabbit? How much can it take?
Memory is pretty cheap these days, and the easiest, and best, answer might be to just buy more memory.
Not an option. I have 1 GB of RAM which is all the lappy will take. The Mac in my office has alot more RAM, but I'm in Germany now so I'm stuck with the 1 GB. I've been working on a bunch of sparse data routines to optimize the performance of my programs which makes it even more frustrating that something Microsoft is hogging nearly 1/4 of my RAM.
posted
Ah, o.k. All this talk of optimizing your memory would be kind of meaningless if you only had 250 Megs to begin with.
You say you've 'closed all your applications'. Does this mean you've closed everything that appears down by your clock? The only thing that appears down there that you probably might really need would be your anti-virus and firewall, and if you don't need to be on the internet when you're running this application (as I would hope you don't, as that consumes resources, too), then shut them down.
Another thing that occurs to me is to check and see if there are updated drivers for your laptop's video. The above paragraph not withstanding, I am willing to be that a lot of the lag you are experiencing comes not from lack of memory, but more having a crappy video card, as laptops often have very sub-par ones, and you are trying to run a video app. Plus, you have 1 Gig of memory which, while not an incredibly large amount in this day and age, should be sufficient for most non-video apps. So, optimizing your video performance might be more the direction you want to go.
Another thing might be to make sure the resolution on your laptop is set to 16 bit, rather than 32 bit. This can help speed video up a bit, too, I think.
Posts: 13123 | Registered: Feb 2002
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posted
use process explorer so get an accurate view of what processes are running. You can verify company signatures and google processes. You can also shut them down from there.
Look, too, here since it gives a breakdown of each windows process and whether you will need them (depending on what you are using your computer for.)
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Also, is it possible that you could turn off some of the bells and whistles inside the app you are running? That is, maybe google for optimizing the app itself, rather than Windows.
Posts: 13123 | Registered: Feb 2002
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Storm, Thanks for suggests but what I'm doing is not video intensive, its computationally intensive. Besides that, my lappy is a Vaio which I got in part for the quality video.
I'm working with very large data files in Matlab. I know that Matlab's got some serious memory management weaknesses but I know how to work around them for the most part. When my data files are closed, Matlab is using around 30 MB of RAM so there is not much to gain by closing down "bells and whistles" in Matlab.
quid: I got autorun and was finally able to get rid of some of the things which have inserted themselved into by startup. Thanks! Unfortunately that barely made a dent in my memory problems.
IanO, I just downloaded process explorer and I will let you know if it helps.
Thanks for all the advise. I am working my way through the list.
Posts: 12591 | Registered: Jan 2000
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posted
Me too. Ersomniac posted a guide in January about how to get the most out of your windows machine, and which processes you should delete.
Posts: 1757 | Registered: Oct 2004
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posted
OK, I've tried stopping every process thats running on the Machine and I've still got about 100 MB of RAM I can't account for. What next?
Posts: 12591 | Registered: Jan 2000
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posted
How much does this really matter, since you've eliminated everything you can resonably eliminate? Anything that isn't being used should be paged out.
Posts: 1621 | Registered: Oct 2001
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posted
The amount of memory Task Manager says you're using generally doesn't have a lot to do with the amount of memory you are actually using. When a process asks for memory, that memory gets added to the list in Task Manager, but it doesn't get subtracted when the memory is released. I have 512 MB of RAM in my computer at work, but my computer doesn't generally start swapping until the commit charge hits 650 MB or so.
Posts: 87 | Registered: Apr 2006
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quote:Originally posted by HollowEarth: How much does this really matter, since you've eliminated everything you can resonably eliminate? Anything that isn't being used should be paged out.
Whatever is hogging my RAM, isn't getting paged out. My enormous data sets, which are actively being processed, are getting paged out instead, which slows the entire computation down by about 2 orders of magnitude.
I guess its possible that in its minimal possible configuration, the Windows operating system requires nearly 200 MB of RAM. If that is the case, then someone needs to drop a bunker buster on Microsoft headquarters.
Much as I despise microsoft, I simply can't believe that there isn't something more that I can kill to free up some memory.
Posts: 12591 | Registered: Jan 2000
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quote:Originally posted by The Rabbit: I guess its possible that in its minimal possible configuration, the Windows operating system requires nearly 200 MB of RAM. If that is the case, then someone needs to drop a bunker buster on Microsoft headquarters.
Much as I despise microsoft, I simply can't believe that there isn't something more that I can kill to free up some memory.
It's a more radical solution, but you could try http://www.litepc.com/ which sells stripped down windows OSs/configs. Also, have you tried booting in safe mode? If matlab runs in safe mode, maybe that would help. Or you could boot in that step-by-step mode, so you could see and use the bare minimum of processes.
Or you could try linux?
Posts: 6316 | Registered: Jun 2003
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posted
Well, I use This site to look up running process names if I don't already know what it is.
McAfee can be a huge memory hog, so if you have that and are working offline where you're safe for awhile, you could turn that off temporarily.
Also, have you tried already tweaking your paging file size? (System properties - Advanced - Performance Settings - Advanced) temporarily to see if it helps?
posted
right click My Computer -> Properties -> Advanced -> Performance -> Adjust for best performance -> Apply
This will clear off about 64 megs+ (Well, maybe not that much, but it will certainly help.)
Also, you can try using a utility like MemTurbo to optimize your free memory and clear off stuff that doesn't get released from memory.
Posts: 3003 | Registered: Oct 2004
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posted
Thanks Boris, Unfortunately I'm already set for best performance.
I'm trying MemTurbo and it is able to free up a few more bytes of RAM but nothing like I was hoping for.
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posted
Do you have to load all of the data to memory at once? or could you do it in chunks? Otherwise it sounds like your left with finding a computer with more RAM, or seeing if a custom solution could handle the memory pressure a little better.
Personally, I have to say that I like the first choice alot more. (Esp. since the second one is likely to be a ton over of work for possibly no gain.)
Posts: 1621 | Registered: Oct 2001
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posted
Just to make sure, have you checked the MatLab's home page under support, or written them for support, since I'm guessing you are using a licensed version?
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All this talk of optimizing your memory would be kind of meaningless if you only had 250 Megs to begin with.
