memory hog Vista Tips Discuss memory hog in the Windows Vista forums; HI I'm new to the forum and to Vista. Just got a new laptop with Vista and a few programs added from Best Buy. I was shocked to see ...

[montour207]

HI
I'm new to the forum and to Vista. Just got a new laptop with Vista and a few programs added from Best Buy. I was shocked to see that it was using 660 meg of my 1 gig memory and 77 processes right out of the box!
Is this normal? Is Vista a big memory hog??

[felix8406]

From my own experience and comments made on other post, the high usage rate of RAM from Vista is normal and actually a good thing. There are two main things to keep in mind when it comes to RAM and Vista. The first is that RAM most be used, effectively of course, but it's there because it's much faster than accessing files from the HD or from virtual memory. If you have, for example, 2GB of RAM and just 1GB has being used, then 50% of RAM would be lost or useless. The second thing about Vista's RAM usage has to do with a feature called Superfetch. It's designed to bring the program you used more to the front, RAM, or Virtual Memory is RAM is full, so you can access those files faster. As you use our PC,
Superfetch will continue learning your computing habits and so you can be more efficient. The more you use your PC, the more it learns from you to provide those programs that you use the most to the front.

[Snuffy]

It is rumored also that the SuperFetch will get a fix in SP1.
so it should be left intact... and 1GB is really not enough memory for Vista..
(IMHO). since my laptop has only 1GB memory, almost every thing I test with it is about 60 to 65% slower than my Desktop with 2GB Memory.
Like Felix says. the more memory you have used the faster your system actually is... and in most cases the use of SuperFetch greatly enhances your system, I also have found the use of a VERY FAST USB for ReadyBoost helps also...and rumors also say ReadyBoost will also have a nice fix... or patch.
If only MS has the actual time to get all the REALLY NICE Recommended fixes/patches in place...

[montour207]

Thank you to flix8406 & snuffy for your reply. I use some video editing software so I like to have some extra RAM laying around. It seems like I need to add more RAM if the machine is capable. Thanks again.

[felix8406]

Basically like Snuffy mentioned, the more RAM the better. The minimum amount of RAM listed for Vista is 512MB, but take it from me, it's not enough. 1GB makes a difference, but 2GB makes a huge difference. And like I mentioned before, don't worry about the amount of RAM Vista is using, that's what is there for.