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Thread ID: 17452	2002-04-05 03:22:00	Unused Physical Memory	Guest (0)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
41989	2002-04-05 03:22:00	My PC has 98MB of RAMM and a Celeron 400MHz chip. On startup the System Monitor shows about 500KB of Unused Physical Memory. When I open 12KB picture file and then close it the Unused P M increases to about 27 MB. The more files I open and close the greater becomes the UPM. Is this normal? The reason I ask is that my PC freezes on landscape printing and also on the Internet, and I wonder if it is running short of memory. Any ideas?	Guest (0)
41990	2002-04-05 04:22:00	Roly, What operating system are you running on your machine?	Guest (0)
41991	2002-04-05 05:09:00	The operating system is Windows 98SE. Thanks for your response	Guest (0)
41992	2002-04-05 12:37:00	You are getting free ram because windows is moving programmes onto your swapfile to make room for the programme you opened (to view the picture). The programmes don't get put back into main memory unless they are needed. Have a look at 'swapfile in use' if your programme supports it (or try system monitor).	Guest (0)
41993	2002-04-05 23:48:00	bm, Thanks for the reply. Yes my programme supports System Monitor. I understand how the swapfile supports RAMM when it is in need of more memory, but what puzzles me is why the Unused Physical Memory should be so low at startup. Its as if some major programme is working in the background. When I go to Ctrl+Alt+Del to check I see 9 programmes are open. One is Explorer which I assume is IE and the others might be essential to the PC's operation. If I close these can they be reopened if necessary?? Is it possible that these programmes are depleting the Unused Physical Memory? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again.	Guest (0)
41994	2002-04-06 10:06:00	Win9x makes use of 'unused' ram to cache (vcache). At startup, vcache can grow to nearly full memory size, as win98 caches parts of itself! Vcache memory is released if ram is required (e.g loading an application). After the application is terminated, the ram used by the application is (should be!) returned to free. Hence the free memory grows with use. Win try to use available ram for caching - it is quite difficult to draw conclusions on memory use from only 'free memory'. 'I had a good memory once - if only I knew where I left it'	Guest (0)
41995	2002-04-07 02:27:00	Thanks for responding to my Querry. I now understand how memory is distributed and transferred...I think. I assume the vcache you refer to is the Disk Cache Size as shown in Memory Manager?	Guest (0)
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