Improving Performance

Hi guys, I have a t61 with 2 gigs of memory and I am currently running 116 processes and using ~70% of my memory, I have disabled programs I do not need but I prefer to keep things like aero running even though it uses a lot of memory, I rarely max out my memory but even still I was wondering if adding another gig would improve performance for normal usage? Thanks

 

Keep in mind that Vista Prefetch "uses" a lot more of your system's memory than XP does, but this doesn't mean the system is not performing well. You may want to run a program like CCleaner just to make sure non-essential startup processes are gone without MSconfig's annoying nag-prompt, but it's normal for Vista to be near full usage at all times.

 

Is clean install an option for you? Seems that the number of processes will drop considerably. Two gbs of RAM should be enough to run Vista smoothly.

 

Like thain1982 said, Vista uses a different mechanism of manipulating your system's memory. It "fills" it with programs that it sees you use most and thus can be able to fetch it for you when you ask for it.

It is kind like saying: "Hey, why this extra 1GB memory is an empty space when i can surely fill it with your favorite programs and keep them there until you need them ?? Thus, i can instantly bring them to you!"

This is why after a boot/hibernation the hard disk is working for a while.

 

yes, and to add - this memory is reclaimed when needed.
(no matter how much memory you have, in vista you should always see, that almost all free memory is cached - check task manager).

 

Exactly. Memory is going to be given back for every process that Vista does not "know" about it yet, i.e. one that it has to fetch it from the hard disk.

Except from task manager, someone might use the (much) better Process Explorer" from (now Microsoft...) SysInternals.

 

If you add another gig you will get a performance boost. I also suggest doing a clean install