Getting windows 7 to use as less RAM as possible

[andy_nic]

Anyone got any tips to getting windows 7 to run with as less RAM as possible, I’ve turned off some features and disabled aero and set it to classic mode; I’ve got it down to under 400mb.

[GREED]

Turn the PC off? sorry!

 

Turn off all the stupid bloatware that comes with apps, such as Adobe speed launcher. Anything that runs in the task bar basically. That would be a start. There is always a list of unneeded services that can go as well (UPS always used to be one!)

[Valente]

Yeah I have some advice for getting windows 7 to use less RAM. Format your disk and install windows XP ;-)

[localzuk]

First I'd say 'why?' to this sort of question. Memory is cheap and Windows 7 uses it for caching, to speed up all sorts of operations. Having memory sat doing nothing is not effective use of that memory.

 

Vista and 7 both use a feature called 'Superfetch' which caches lots of things in memory. Turning this off in services can free it up, but you will most likely notice a considerable drop in speed when opening applications regularly etc...

[Hightower]

Also, to add on from @localzuk I'd say that if you don't have enough memory and don't have any lying around spare, I believe with Windows 7 you can plug in a USB stick and tell the PC to use that as additional RAM.

 

I've never actually used it mind so not sure how it works, but it may be handy depending on your situation.

[GREED]

Also, to add on from @localzuk I'd say that if you don't have enough memory and don't have any lying around spare, I believe with Windows 7 you can plug in a USB stick and tell the PC to use that as additional RAM.

 

I've never actually used it mind so not sure how it works, but it may be handy depending on your situation.

 

My colleague tried it. Ensure you plug into a UBB2 direct to the PC, not via a USB mini cable (though a hub or the likes), killed the PC dead! lol

[localzuk]

Also, to add on from @localzuk I'd say that if you don't have enough memory and don't have any lying around spare, I believe with Windows 7 you can plug in a USB stick and tell the PC to use that as additional RAM.

 

I've never actually used it mind so not sure how it works, but it may be handy depending on your situation.

 

It does work, I've tried it. Seemed to help somewhat on my laptop with 2GB RAM.

[andy_nic]

The reason I’m looking in to windows 7 is because windows XP is having trouble with our remote services and windows 7 just works with no messing about. These laptops are the older ones and are at max ram, with office packages, MIS software and antivirus software which all seem to use a quite a bit of RAM. So I’m testing to see if it worth the upgrade to windows 7, so far between the 2 images there’s not that much between speed wise. but would like windows 7 to use a bit less ram so other applications can use it.

[localzuk]

The reason I’m looking in to windows 7 is because windows XP is having trouble with our remote services and windows 7 just works with no messing about. These laptops are the older ones and are at max ram, with office packages, MIS software and antivirus software which all seem to use a quite a bit of RAM. So I’m testing to see if it worth the upgrade to windows 7, so far between the 2 images there’s not that much between speed wise. but would like windows 7 to use a bit less ram so other applications can use it.

 

Windows will release RAM that it isn't using, when applications request it as far as I know. So, the amount being used by Windows shouldn't be taken as gospel.

[alexsanger]

7 is far more efficient than Vista ever was, but still heavier on resources than XP. Keep an eye on Virtual Memory in Task Manager and see how much is available and being used. If you have upgraded to your maximum RAM (M$ say 1GB is fine for 7 32bit but I wouldn't want to run it on less than 2GB) the other thing to consider could be the HDD. We have some old lappys with 4.5k rpm disks. Perhaps upping to 5.4k or 7.2k would help access speeds and thus caching performance.

 

Once you've dialed back all the pretty graphics, turned off wallpapers, sidebar and so on you'll really need to focus on applications rather than the OS, because as localzuk mentioned, you'll probably harm performance more than helping it. Even in XP, the OS tried to keep regularly used dlls and the like in virtual memory to help speed things up, and I have often found that the OS knows better than me, or third party "RAM management" apps. Try comparing things like Chrome and OpenOffice to your current solutions to see if they make any difference. Which anti-virus solution are you using?

 

Let us know how you get on.