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John_Cillis

How does it work?

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Yesterday I downloaded a little freeware program called FreeRAM XP Pro 1.31, installed it and decided to do a test. I restarted my computer and the program said it was optimizing memory. I have 512 Mb of RAM so the program showed (on the taskbar) 63% RAM free (325 MB). I started FS2002 (default at Meigs) and Activesky. I was having 17+ FPS (locked at 24). Minimized both programs and the icon on the taskbar showed 11% RAM free (52 MB). I right-clicked on the icon and selected "Autofree now" and after a few seconds I had 45% RAM free and the FPS within FS2002 jumped from 17+ to 23+.I know there can be no miracles but would like to know how these programs work and what they do in reality. Is it safe to assume from the results that it really improves the performance? Or is it a more free RAM - higher CPU load situation?If someone could please explain it to me I would be very grateful.Thank you.Hugo Bravo


Regards,

Hugo Bravo

LPPT

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Many of these programs "Rob Peter to pay Paul".... They take memory that's reserved for the O/S or other tasks, and if it's unused, they throw it back into the memory pool.Under some circumstances, that's alright. There are some applications which require more RAM to initialize, and don't let go of it after the process is done. This was a pain in the DOS days. I used to spend hours trying to free 50-60K of RAM...not because the app needed it when running, but because the app needed it to launch. I used to work miracles getting TSR's loaded by changing their loading order....Under other circumstances, these tools can come back to haunt you. They can force the O/S to start using virtual RAM. At that point, basic housekeeping and computer management can slow to a crawl. Or, sometimes they quit working altogether.Generally, I avoid such tools and run my system with as few such tweakers as possible. I'm running 98SE and it's hard to compare, but I average the same RAM free when FS is running with just 256megs installed. At bootup, only 25-30Megs of my RAM is used. Many applications will grab as much memory as they can, and maybe someone with XP can tell you whether your startup values are appropriate for XP.

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Guest Fortress

>I used to spend hours trying to free 50-60K of>RAM...not because the app needed it when running, but because>the app needed it to launch. I used to work miracles getting>TSR's loaded by changing their loading order....Crikey! That takes me back!! Back to when conventional memory was King and the critical question was what else did you need: XMS or EMS?Kids today - they don't know they're born!! ;-)Cheers,Paulhttp://www.strontiumdog.plus.com/sbird.jpgOfficially licenced by British Airways plc for use of name and logo

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Guest

If you want to free memory - have you tried a program called "End It All" ?It is a really good tool that I always run before simming. It shots down all non-vital applications that are running and frees a lot of memory. It is also possible to configure it to keep some programs running e.g. like anti virus programs. RegardsCedar

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>If you want to free memory - have you tried a program called>"End It All" ?Yes. I have "End It All", but decided to try this program and see if I had better results... The test I made was very inconclusive though. :-( Hugo Bravo


Regards,

Hugo Bravo

LPPT

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Guest WorkingStiff

Actually the program I use is MemoryBoost Pro Manager; you can find it at www.memboost.comIt is also a memory manager but it has a very neat function that I haven't seen in other memory managers. You can use the detective function to shut down all unnecessary applications running in the background. Since I don't really believe in memory managers - I think they deliberately use memory then release it to convince users of their functionality - I simply close out all unnecessary programs then shut down MemoryBoost itself.THe reason I recommend it is because it is much easier to configure than EndItAll which requires a fair amount of tweaking. MemoryBoost shuts down all my programs everytime without any crashing.I generally start running FS2002 with about 80-82 percent system resources available (512 MB RAM). But I've also shut down all those unnecessary Windows XP processes that consume memory. See http://members.internettrash.com/megapolon/winxptweak.html for details on which XP processes you should close.

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"I generally start running FS2002 with about 80-82 percent system resources available (512 MB RAM)."Just remember that free RAM is not measured in Windows' count of system resources. My resource count is 95 pct, as an example, with only 256 Megs. But only 85 pct. of my RAM is free at startup, with about 30 megs going to the Windows core, plus a couple of device drivers my system requires. The "resource" count measures pools reserved by the O/S for systems and application management.

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Guest WorkingStiff

Sorry, I should have said "80-82 percent memory available."But we are running different operating systems. Prior to running MemBoost I started with about 55 percent memory available.

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Sounds like an interesting program.... Also, if you have 55 pct. memory available at start, sounds virtually the same as the thread's author who has 300 some odd meg free at startup. Yikes! XP uses a lot of memory at startup. What the heck is getting loaded, and any idea what Memboost is killing?

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EMS/XMS - Qemm 8 wow I must be oldI remember when adding RAM from 128Kb to 25Kb gave a big improvement and an empty pocket. Expanded memory coming along, stealing graphics memory for more workspace for hungry DOS programs, QEMM v1 (cannot recall its release name) but it was a god send!I guess we could build a complete forum explaining what 'optimising' really means to those who understand assembler, software interrupts and direct manipulation of controller chips :-)Dereck

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