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FreeMem Pro
by Meikel
Memory management is not an easy thing. It used to be quite easy
when computers only came with 640k of memory. Now, most computers
come with 32MB of memory, many come with 64MB, and it isn't uncommon
to find 128MB or more. Everyone wonders... How do I optimize my
memory usage? There are many things you can do, but one of the
best things to do is to install a memory program like FreeMem
Pro, by Meikel.
Most people wonder why they "run out of memory" even
though they have sufficient memory (let's use 32MB as an example).
Problems like this arise because programs and files are loaded
into memory, and then when they aren't needed, they are supposed
to removed from memory. Unfortunately, due to programming errors,
and operating system errors, this memory isn't always freed up.
Your active programs may only need 20MB of memory, but the other
12 could be "tied up" by programs that are now closed.
This is where FreeMem
Pro helps.
FreeMem
Pro loads at startup, and in the system tray there is a little
icon displaying how much memory is available. In the image below,
the icon second from the right has a green bar and the number
46. That means at the time I capture that image, my system had
46MB of RAM free (out of 128MB).
It runs in the background, and at specific intervals (you can
change this) or when you choose, FreeMem will allocate a specific
amount of memory, and fill it with dummy data. This memory is
then freed and returned to Windows. As I said, this all happens
in the background.
I have been using FreeMem
Pro on my laptop (64MB of RAM) for over a month, and I have
never once received a low resources or low memory error. During
this time, my desktop (128MB of RAM) has had many of those errors.
There are many thing to consider when comparing these systems
(quality of RAM chips, programs running, etc.) but I definitely
think that my laptop has been performing better because of FreeMem
Pro.
This may seem like a very technical and minor thing, but I can't
express enough how nice it is to just use my computer without
worrying about any annoying error messages regarding memory and
resources. Not only does this save some frustration, it also saves
you from having to restart your computer to regain the needed
memory. In the end this all saves you valuable time.
Meikel offers a standard
version of FreeMem that performs the basic functions, but
this version does not allow you to free the memory yourself. Its
background memory checking is also limited.
Overall FreeMem Pro is an excellent utility that seems to do
what it claims. It has helped me and I'm sure it will help you.
You can buy
FreeMem Pro online (an electronic download) for $19.95 from the Plaxoft website
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