Thread: RAM
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Old July 21st 04, 06:45 PM
Ron Martell
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Default RAM

"Andrew H. Carter (Applied ROT 17 Left, for Email do 17 Right)"
wrote:


So what you are saying is that I am not freeing up memory
when I defrag and free up the memory? Funny how after I
defrag and/or scrub my memory, but it and my Taskbar clock
TclockEx report the same amount of RAM. So it must work.


You have totally misunderstood the basic concepts of memory management
in Windows. Free memory is more appropriately described as *useless*
memory because that is what it actually represents - memory for which
Windows has so far been totally unable to find any potentially
beneficial use for.



***************

Frequently Asked Questions

Here we answer some frequently asked questions from MemTurbo
users. If you don't see the answer to your question here,
please take a look at the more comprehensive online version
of the FAQ.




What does MemTurbo do?
MemTurbo manages system memory, the paging file, and the way
in which virtual memory is treated in order to maximize
performance. It recovers RAM not currently needed by the
operating system and applications, and recovers memory
leaked by applications. It also can temporarily flush
unused DLLs and libraries out to disk to make room for your
big applications and games (these come back transparently
when needed).


And when they are needed it takes up to 1,000 times longer for Windows
to reload these items from the hard drive than it would to access them
if they had remained in RAM. That is the price of useless////free
memory - slows things down tremendously.


On Windows9X, it also adjusts the system
caching in order to better target the way you use your
particular machine. This can improve disk performance,
gaming performance, and can prevent buffer under-runs that
interfere with, for example, burning CDs.


That is pure balderdash, with a touch of hogwash and a bit of malarkey
thrown in. Note that they do not provide any timed benchmark reports
to substantiate their claims. The windows disk cache requires no
tweaks, except on systems with more than 512 mb of RAM, and that tweak
is a one time entry that takes perhaps 15 seconds to do.



I'm not a Technical person... save the geek-speak and just
tell me how to use it effectively!
Sure! Let it start from your Startup group so that it is
running at all times. After exiting a memory-hungry program
or before launching a new one, press the hotkey (CTRL-ALT-M)
to recover and defragment your RAM. In a matter of seconds
your system should have that "just booted" feel!


RAM fragmentation is another snake-oil myth. RAM is always
fragmented, because Windows puts things where it wants to and there is
no way to control or prevent this. Furthermore RAM fragmentation has
zero repeat zero impact on performance under any circumstances. All
addresses in RAM are equally accessible within the RAM chip access
time, and there is no difference in the time required to switch from
an address at the beginning of RAM to one at the upper end compared to
that required to switch between two adjacent addresses. None. Zero.

How do I stop a RAM recovery in progress?
When a RAM recovery is in progress, as indicated by the
on-screen status display, just press escape. If a
background recovery (triggered by your timer or a memory
alarm level) is running, clicking on the MemTurbo tray icon
will abort the recovery.


MemTurbo should be permanently and totally aborted. :-)


Sometimes my system seems slower after recovering RAM...
why?
If you have your "Target" level of RAM to recover set too
high, MemTurbo may reclaim memory from the file cache, or
flush system DLLs (such as the shell and OLE) out of memory.
When you flip to an application that needs these, they must
be paged back in. Try setting your Target level to a lower
level. Note that for games that do not use much of the
operating system, a higher Target level is better, since
more memory will be available to the game. Remember that
too much free RAM is as good as RAM in your desk drawer:
nice to own but unused! A good compromise takes a while to
discover, but that's why we give you the control to adjust
it!


There is no need to compromise. Period. Just let Windows handle the
memory management and forget about these snake-oil products.


Can MemTurbo make my system unstable?
No. If anything, because it increases the amount of memory
available to applications, your system should become more
stable. It installs no VxDs or drivers and does not modify
your system files in any way.


It will make your system slower in use, and that is enough to condemn
it to the dust bin.

And available RAM has zero repeat zero effect on overall stability.



Does MemTurbo compress memory?
Absolutely not; there is no performance-robbing compression
at all. It simply causes what physical RAM you have to be
used in a more efficient manner, and allows you to reclaim
that memory from applications and the operating system when
you need it most.


More effecient? Slowing down the computer is more efficient?

Why does MemTurbo not always recover up to the Target
setting?
Because if you set the target too high, you've set an
impossible goal! MemTurbo will recover as much RAM as
possible, and can usually get up to your target level
(though the higher the level, the more work MemTurbo must
do, and hence the longer it will take). Note that on
Windows NT, the kernel manages the memory in such a way that
as soon as memory is recovered, it is used by waiting
applications and the operating system, so the displayed
value may never equal the target level. It's still doing
its job, though, even if not apparent!


The target should be to get rid of MemTurbo.


Why can "Program X" seemingly recover more RAM than
MemTurbo?
MemTurbo tries to be pragmatic about its memory recovery.
It doesn't just arbitrarily toss things out of memory to
meet your goal if that means dumping code and data you
really should keep in memory, like parts of the kernel and
so forth. While it would be possible to recover more memory
at times (and early betas of MemTurbo did so), it proved
detrimental to performance, so we strove to keep the
heuristics on how to recover more conservative.


Why do I get "Low Virtual Memory" pop-ups under Windows NT?
Your page file size is too small for proper performance.
Take the system's advice, and increase your paging file size
in your system properties.


Especially because MemTurbo is forcing the system to move a lot of
stuff unnecessarily to the page file so as to increase the supply of
*useless* RAM.


Can MemTurbo really recover memory leaks?
While it cannot recover them from the address space (the
application would fault if it did indeed try to use that
memory at some point) it can recover the physical RAM
leaked, making it available for use by the operating system
and other applications.


All it does is force active memory content out to the page file,
thereby slowing the system down because that memory content needs to
be paged back in again when it is needed.




What is the Memory Load Index?
This is a statistic provided by the system that serves as a
general measurement of how much demand for RAM there
currently is in your system, with 0 being very little and
100 being very much. If you find your system pegged to 100%
shortly after startup, you should seriously consider adding
more physical memory to your system (even MemTurbo won't be
enough by itself in this case).


Can MemTurbo improve gaming performance?
Yes. Let's say you start a game, and part way in, it
suddenly demands memory for graphics, etc. Without
MemTurbo, your system would visibly pause as other
applications and parts of the operating system were
page-faulted out to make room. If you "Defragment and
Recover" before starting the game, MemTurbo should make a
noticeable improvement.


How does MemTurbo prevent buffer underruns while burning
CDs?
In the Windows9X registered version only, it adjusts the
system file caching to ensure that enough cache is set aside
so that the data you are burning to a CD is available,
rather than having to fight with the CD on the I/O bus for
the next block of data.

***************

For a system that is bloatware and a resource hog, from what
I gather XP is moreso than 98/98SE, why isn't such a good
thing?


Because MemTurbo is based on a totally false premise regarding the
value of *useless* RAM.


Also why does XP require a faster processor and more RAM
than 98/98SE ? At best, unless I upgrade my MOBO, I can
only get WindowsME.


Because it is a bigger operating system with improved capabilities
over Windows Me. It is based on the Windows NT kernel rather than the
Windows 9x kernel used in Windows 95/98/Me, and the NT based versions
of Windows have always been larger and more demanding than the 9x
based versions.

Windows XP is designed to use the higher speed CPUs, larger memory
modules, and larger hard drives that were generally available in 2001,
and many of the features and functions included in Windows XP require
this higher performance and increased capacity.

My first copy of Norton Utilities would fit on a single 360K 5.25 inch
diskette. Today it requries several hundred megabytes of space on a
CDROM. It is called evolution, and we are still only half-way through
inventing the PC.


You'll have to do better than mentioning that such a piece
of software is bad. That's like saying fire is bad. It is
bad if uncontrolled, it is also required in some cases as in
a forest fire to release the seeds from the pine cones.
Without fire, there would be many a cold meal.



Fire has many redeeming features. MemTurbo has none.

Good luck


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"The reason computer chips are so small is computers don't eat much."