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General discussion

RAM of my computer has started dropping sharply & suddenly

Oct 2, 2004 1:14AM PDT

Hi,
I have a pentium II, 333MHz computer having an SDRAM of 128 MB. The operating system is Windows ME. I have been using some big applications eg. Autocad 2002, Limewire, Getright and also the Norton antivirus program etc. but lately the RAM has started dropping to critically low levels in a matter of minutes. For example it would drop from 120 MB to just 20 MB. When I defrag, it recovers only to fall again after sometime. I know that the kind of applications I use work better with higher RAM but this problem did not exist sometime ago and at that time also I was using the same applications so now what new thing has happened?? Another change that I have noticed is that the clock is becoming slower, perhaps it is a byproduct of my main problem. By the way the antivirus program has not found any viruses in the computer...
I will appreciate your help tremendously- Thank you!

Discussion is locked

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Re: RAM of my computer has started dropping sharply & sudden
Oct 16, 2004 12:27PM PDT

Let's begin with the basics:

Number one. Add More Memory!!!. I can go into countless reasons and explanations but, just trust me on this. You need to have AT LEAST 256MB and preferably more to run the applications you own on a consistant basis.

Now, the reason you're memory seems to be disappearing is more than likely due to hidden applications running in the background. Get a free program called SPYBOT that you can download from a number of online resources and then update it and execute the application. You will find a listing of applications that are running in the background and using up your resources. Have the program delete them and you should be back to normal. BUT DON'T GO ANOTHER DAY WITHOUT ADDING MORE MEMORY!!

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Where are you getting the amount of RAM number from???
Oct 17, 2004 12:33AM PDT

Sounds as your problem is resources which all the memory in the world won';t help. You probably have too many programs opening at boot [as the previous poster told you, but it also sounds as if you have a memory leaker program running, uses resources but never returns them. Here's a link to an article to get started.

http://aumha.org/a/loads.php

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Re: RAM of my computer has started dropping sharply & sudden
Oct 17, 2004 1:10AM PDT

Now somethign is very strange, you are talking about RAM then mention you "DEFRAG"? Defraggging reduces blank spots on your hard drive, it has absolutely nothing to do with low memory, so why are you defragging to help a memory problem, unless you are calling your hard disk space memory (which many people do).

If you really are talking about memory then defragging is worthless....BUT...what you are seing is absolutely normal and how Windows works. Memory is used but not freed up by windows, don't expect it to show any free, since it will keep it all in use unless another program wants it, then swap the memory to disk to free up space.

Either you are worrying about a normal event, or you have memory and disk space confused.