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Introduction
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| Windows (XP and Vista) has excellent memory management and for the most part you don't need a third party memory management product. I've tried a few free memory managers but none has impressed me enough to allow recommendation. Until now that is. |
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Discussion
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CleanMem I've got to talk about this little program that another category editor told me about. I've been running it now for several months and I've got to say that I almost forgot about it. You never notice it other than you eventually notice that your system is running smoother and faster. After installation, you don't even realize that it is working. The program will install and set it to run every 30 min via the windows task scheduler. You can change this to any amount of time you like by simply going to the task scheduler in windows and changing any of the options you like. This doesn't work like other memory cleaners that do nothing but force windows to free up memory by using up all the avail. memory. This old trick then causes your system to lag big time! CleanMem has just been upgraded to version 1.4.2. Cleanmem now also clears the file cache of the system, the same way CacheSet does ( http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897561.aspx ). So now when Cleanmem runs, both the processes and the file cache are cleaned; recovering even more memory and performance. Again now, you wont see tons of performance on a normally running system, but it does keep things in shape. Just like Cleanmem always has. FreeRAM XP is a memory manager that not only works but also doesn't seem to cause problems; a rare combination. It ticks away in the background, consumes few resources, and does genuinely free up a bit of memory when you ask it to. It can also be configured to automatically free up memory. Does freeing up memory improve performance? On both my test system and personal laptop it certainly did release some more memory, but it didn't make much difference to performance. Still, all my systems are XP and have 1GB plus. Maybe on older PCs with less memory, or when using applications like PhotoShop that eat up a lot of memory it may make a difference, I can't say. What I can say is that FreeRAM XP caused no problems other than a 10-30 second freeze of my PC when FreeRAM is in the actual process of releasing memory.
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Related Products and Links
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MZ Ram Booster (http://mztweak.bravehost.com/) Please be advised that MZ Ram Booster requires .Net Framework 2.0 or higher. RAMBooster 2 (http://www.sci.fi/~borg/rambooster/). There are actually 2 videos on CNET TV (http://www.cnettv.com/) featuring RAMBooster 2 that speak highly of the program. If you are interested, just follow the link and do a search for RAMBooster. CachemanXP (http://www.outertech.com/index.php?_charisma_page=downloads) While not solely a Memory Optimizer, I also need to mention it. CachemanXP is somewhat unique. CachemanXP is a Windows tuneup utility designed to improve the speed and stability of your computer by optimizing several caches, recovering RAM, and fine tuning a number of system settings. Oneclick-Optimization makes it suitable for novice and intermediate users yet it is also powerful and versatile enough for computer experts. Backups of settings ensure that all user modifications can be reversed with a single click. CachemanXP requires Windows 2000/2003 or XP/XP64 to run, uses minimal resources and virtually no CPU time. It does offer a Memory Optimizer as a part of its package. |
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1.4.2 
Unrestricted Freeware 
Windows 2000, XP, 2003, Vista, & 2008 (32bit & 64bit)
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I've got an old laptop with a 1000MB CPU and 384MB of memory. FreeRamXP works very well on this old clunker with tiny RAM. Firefox3 uses over 250MB after visiting a chain of news sites with vids etc, and although this is probably a fault condition (that's a ridiculous amount of system resources to use), I guess nobody cares any more as they all have 2GB of RAM.
But the old clunker is on its knees with both that and email running, so a quick burst of FreeRamXP and it gets 100MB of RAM back. Takes about 20 seconds. That's enough to get it running OK again. This is on W2K by the way, no doubt the system memory management is not optimal.
chris.p
"Fresh ram" is the giveaway today! Should I replace my CleanMem with this?
http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/fresh-ram-500/
NO! CleanMem is nice, but has compatibility issues when dealing with Windows Vista, system slowdowns, and also does not support computers with over 2 GB of RAM, so stick with the freeware.
I don't know. Sorry, I've never tried it. Feel free to give it a try and report back to let us know what you think.
Smart Ram is the best for me.It can be set to work at startup and in same time you can manual optimize memory with some 5 deep manual memory optimize.
I've spent a fair amount of time looking for Smart Ram download. It appears that it is no longer available. It apparently has become a part of Iobit's Advanced Care program.
If you can find it by itself, please let me know. I do not think it is available anymore nor is it being developed.
hi, do you have any experience with z-defragram?
I've never heard of it. Can you post a link?
Here is the link:
http://www.point2click.de/
They only have a German version for now.
I apologize, but I cannot review this. I had 2 years of German in high school, but that was __ years ago! (Trust me, it was quite a while ago.) I will not be able to review it until or unless it comes out in an English version. Again, my apologies.
I will add Smart Ram to my next round of testing. I did get your message (I assume that it was yours) forwarded to me from Gizmo.
Thanks for the lead.
Can you also test out minimem. I heard its real good.
I've spent the last 2 weeks trying out Minimem. I've had it installed on my work computer. To be honest, I'm not all that impressed. First of all, like most of these programs (except CleanMem), it must be running at all times in your taskbar. Secondly, I can't really tell if it's doing anything. It certainly doesn't appear to be from my experiences. While it does free up ram, it didn't change my computer experience or make things any faster.
You are certainly welcome to try it out. But, for me, I'm going to stick with CleanMem for now.
I will add it to my review queue. Please note: Minimem requires the version 2.0 of the .NET framework to be installed on your computer.
how does advanced systemcare v3's smartram compare with freeram xp? can i have them both operating at the same time?
I'm sorry, but I've never used Advanced Systemcare's Smartram. There shouldn't, however, be any issues with using it and CleanMem.
Kendall, could you please update the direct download link?
It links to the 1.30 version, and 1.4.1 is out, as someone said.
Personally I forgot CleanMem that much that I forgot to update it too, until some minutes ago...
Oops...thought I had done that. Thanks for the reminder.
CleanMem 1.4.0 is out. "Cleanmem now also clears the file cache of the system. The same way CacheSet does."
Thank you. I've updated the review. I'm anxious to try out the new version!
In spite of what many others have written here (even my fellow editors) I find that CleanMem seems to help keep my system running smoothly. It might be all in my head, but it is truly set-it-and-forget it. It should even be better now with the new version.
I tried the new version and it seems that you should use it only when you need it (manually), and not by scheduler. Maybe I'm wrong, please test it further.
Sorry, I'didnt see that 1.4.1 is out, and you can disable new feature in the ignore list. I think the new feature is really great, but only after heavy-weight jobs, like gaming, video converting, huge files copying (with built-in copier), ..., etc.
You are right.Thanks for this post.
IMHO Minimem is the best.
i am looking for a program that simply displays current ram usage , am not after a ram optimizer or booster etc?, any help will be appreciated
RAMpage serves well for me. It displays current free ram within its icon on the system tray.
Double click the icon to free up ram, but you don't need to touch it if you don't need to free up the ram :>)
If you don't mind using a little ram to see your ram usage, try downloading the google desktop device found at, of course, the google mainpage. once it's in your systems tray, you're offered a sidebar onto which you may place applications. it's pretty neat stuff if you don't mind your browser sharing some screen space. plenty of apps to choose from, and a couple gadgets to show ram speed and cpu usage.
I doubt that memory manager programs are beneficial at all. In fact, from what I've read over the past years (since win98)these programs do not do a better job than the OS, and in cases they end up slowing down certain types of memory because they have to stay in memory in order to monitor it. I've always followed very simple rules to system memory:
1. learn how to tweak your cache mem according to your hardware and computer usage (it's easy when you know the math). Then simply set it yourself through the OS.
2. If things are slow get more RAM. You can never cause problems with more, but at some point more will not make any difference.
3. Only run start-up programs & services that you need.
Cleanmem is good. Just remember to white list the program you want to keep cache in memory.
Third party mem cleaners are simply unnecessary and often bog-down your system more than help. WIN manages menory just fine, if not then you should adjust settings, remove unnecessary start-up program & services that hog space. Why would I want another program to sit in memory when I can simply streamline everything myself? Once I learn what to remove and adjust then I have a fast/stable system.
I agree with you that 3rd party mem cleaners often bog down your system more than help. As to why you would "want another program to sit in memory..." the fact of the matter is that in the case of CleanMem it doesn't sit in your memory and therefor doesn't take up space. It runs as a scheduled task and opens, performs its task, and closes itself in a manner of seconds. I do mean seconds...you won't even know it is there unless you check event logs or use something along the lines of Process Monitor (from Sysinternals)to see it running. Because of this it has virtually ZERO impact on your system while actually cleaning up poor code that doesn't clean up after itself. For a detailed explaination on how the program works you can refer to bottom of utility's page http://pcwintech.com/node/145). You can easily remove the tool if you don't like it or if you don't agree with the concept don't install it...but it does work differently than other programs. If you run a clean system and don't leave programs open for long amounts of time (assuming they are generating memory leaks) then you might not notice ANY difference in performance with this program installed (neither negative nor positive).
Bottom Line: If this program can help...it will. If it can't help...it won't hurt.
This category has to be up there with the Registry Cleaner category for the "dubious usefulness" award!
Love your comment!.... please register and come over to the new forum as it (and me in particular!) needs more people with your level of thinking!
Hi, Did a test this week on my XP Pro SP2, 1G. Usage with CleanMem and Cacheman XP installed was 33% physical and 17% paged. With exactly the same line-up and duplicating the same usage, figures without these applications were 36% and 17%. Are they worth it for just 3%+....NAH!!!
Midnight, you know that I have tremendous respect for you sir. However, in this, I have to disagree with you. For me, any little bit of speed or stability is a plus. Unlike other programs, CleanMem does not sit resident so it takes up absolutely no RAM. It does it's thing in a blink of an eye and then is gone.
The author admits on his site that "Again now, you wont see tons of performance on a normally running system, but it does keep things in shape." So, no, you're not going to see tons of performance difference. But, I can tell you that I'm a gamer and I notice a significant difference after playing processor intensive games.
Now, with the newest version, I challenge you to try it again. This time, tax your system hard with resource-intensive programs and see what happens.
This might rate as one of the dumbest questions ever posted here but........ a while back my physical memory use was much less. Now in normal use it is typically 65% with 652 out of 958mb in use. I recently installed BitComet but the amount stated in use for this application does not account for the difference! Any ideas where or what I should be looking for??? Paged memory use is the same as before - around 27%.
Many thanks.
hardly a dumb question.
Is this happening only when BitComet is open?
It is possible that BitComet is causing another application to be more active and use more memory. Usually a security application, but could also be an indexing program.
You can sort the programs by memory usage in the Task Manager. Right-click on the lower task bar on your computer and select Task Manager and then click on Mem Usage at the top of the memory use column.
If it is happening only when BitComet is running, check the usage of programs that way when BitComet is not open and the again when BitComet is running.
Steve
I like Vitamem pro, but alas don't have a valid serial key. The patch works, but you need to keep adding it to the system tray.
Data Execution Prevention (DEP) monitors programs to verify whether they are using system memory securely. Unlike Windows 7, Windows XP's DEP is only enabled for necessary operating system programs and services because not all software programs run smoothly with DEP. To enhance security, you can turn on DEP for all programs and then define exceptions for individual programs and services.
How to enable DEP for all programs
From the Control Panel, click System
Click the Advanced tab, then click under Performance
Click the Data Execution Prevention tab, select Turn on DEP for all programs and services except those I select, and then click OK.
Save & Restart the computer for this change to take effect
Defining exceptions - If certain programs cause problems, define them as exceptions.
From the Control Panel, click System
Click the Advanced tab, then click under Performance
Click the Data Execution Prevention tab, then click
Search & select the program file you want to add as an exception, click Open, and then click OK.
Repeat Step #4 as needed
Save & Restart the computer for this change to take effect
If you have your doubts about Memory Optimizers in general or don't believe that they can work or make a difference, then please check out the homepage of CleanMem. It truly is different than the rest. Read the author's post entitled:
PLEASE READ: (10-01-2008)
Ok for once and for all I am going to explain in detail how Cleanmem works, why it works and how it can & can not make a difference in your system.
Hi.
I've tried Cleanmem and indeed it frees up RAM, BUT I noticed an issue, before using cleanmem I was able to copy video DVDs and the resulting copy was fine.
After using cleanmem, EVERY DVD that I copied ended with a bad result: skipping video & audio, playback errors, etc.
So I decided to make a test with and without cleanmem and guess what:
without cleanmem my DVDs burns fine, with cleanmem they end up messy.
Just for you to be aware
I personally prefer the Memory Optimizer that comes with Advance Systems Care as it seems to do the trick without havin to do any sort of math or setup as it's 4 easy options and it runs on any amount of ram.
- Shane -
http://4einc.co.cc
All old comments have been moved to our forums. Please check there for some earlier discussion about this topic.