How to Prevent Windows 7 From Using So Much Memory
By
Miguel Leiva-Gomez |
November 4, 2011 |
Picture this: You have a computer with two gigabytes of physical
memory,
you turn it on, and just after Windows 7 finishes loading, it’s already
using about half of all that memory when you look into your task
manager (hold “Ctrl + Shift + Esc” on your
keyboard to access it quickly). Even if it looks a little scary, don’t panic!
What Gives?
In
case you didn’t know, RAM (also known as physical memory), serves the
purpose of storing pieces of every program you open. When you type “I’m
Superman” into a text box in an open program, whether it’s true or not,
each letter fills a space in your physical memory. This space can be
deleted once you erase the phrase.
Windows has always used RAM to store components of every program, service and library it runs.
Windows 7, however, does one more thing with your RAM: it stores the data of every program it thinks you
might
use. This feature is otherwise known as Superfetch, and has many people
complaining of W7’s memory usage. Windows basically pre-records the
memory for certain
applications
you often use in order to reduce the time it takes them to load. If you
have 2 GB of physical memory or more, you usually end up benefiting
from this extra feature. Any less memory, and Microsoft turns your
computer into a snail begging for mercy. For those of you with
underprivileged computers that don’t have plenty of memory to work with,
you may benefit more from disabling Superfetch.
How to Disable Superfetch
If
you don’t feel like you need this feature and would like Windows 7 to
stop making decisions for you, disabling Superfetch isn’t difficult and
might take at most a minute of your time if you follow these
instructions.
1. click your Start menu and click “Control Panel”.
In Windows 7, the Start icon is depicted as an orb with a “Windows” icon
on it, instead of the traditional text that says “Start” on the lower
left corner of the screen. When the control panel window loads, click
“System and Security” as depicted below. In Vista, however, this section
of the control panel is called “System and Maintenance” and it sits in
the same location.
2. Once you’re in the “System and Security” area, click “Administrative Tools”.
3.
In “Administrative Tools”, you’ll notice a “Services” icon.
Double-click on that icon and scroll down to “Superfetch” once in the
“Services” window. Right-click “Superfetch” and click “Properties”.
4.
Once in “Properties”, click the box that says “Automatic” to expand it
and then click “Disabled.” Click the “Stop” button below the box you
clicked and wait for the application to stop. Once it stopped, click
“OK”. The image below shows you what to do.
Once
you disable Superfetch, you’ll notice your computer has more breathing
room. If this effect doesn’t occur immediately, just restart your
computer. There are, however, other reasons your computer might be using
a lot of memory. You could have a virus, or run a program that has a
memory leak. To troubleshoot this issue, close each program you run
one-by-one and monitor your memory usage after the program closes using
the task manager (remember: Ctrl+Shift+Esc). Having a healthy amount of
memory is essential to your computer’s daily functions.
Source:
http://maketecheasier.com/prevent-windows-7-from-using-so-much-memory/2011/11/04?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MakeTechEasier+%28Make+Tech+Easier%29
![image[2]](http://www.howtogeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/image2.png "image[2]")
