How To Clear Memory Usage On Windows 10



Anyone who regularly works with a computer and has to deal with software which requires a lot of processing power knows how important powerful hardware is. Most people immediately think of the processor or graphics card (especially when the focus is on image and video editing). However, the main memory is also of fundamental importance for the smooth operation of the system and other software. This memory is required by the processor to manage the data of running programs and services or processes. The capacity of the main memory has a decisive influence on how many applications can be loaded simultaneously and how quickly data can be processed.

In principle, the more memory, the better. However, since the costs also play a role and the RAM memory cannot be expanded, many people use a fairly simple trick when the memory reaches its limits - deleting processes that are no longer required from the cache, and creating space for the data that is relevant for your current activities. This increasing your RAM. So all you do is clear the RAM or free it up.

Windows 10 and the applications you have installed on it needs a few more RAM memory to operate with registry settings can lead to high RAM usage on Windows 10. This Windows 10 high memory memory usage or high RAM usage issue may cause computer crashing, freezing, and running slower and slower. In this video, I will show you guys how 3 ways by which you can clear your memory and boost your RAM in your windows 10 pc or laptops.Note:- This video has f. Restart the Windows 10 System. The best way to clear the Windows memory cache is just to turn off the system and turn it on again. When trying to restart the system, Windows will either complete all the pending tasks or abandons them as needed. Unlike the regular hard drive, the system memory is volatile. I.e, without active power, the data in. Mar 05, 2021 Here are 11 ways to fix Windows 10 high memory usage. These methods can solve high memory usage caused by most common reasons. The above 11 methods can solve Windows 10 high memory usage caused by most common reasons. However, there are still other reasons to cause it and other methods to cause it.

Nov 22, 2019 The term 'memory' is used to refer to the place where the computer holds the program and data it is working with at the moment. It's normally random access memory (RAM), but that can be extended with the page or swap file on the hard disk.

  1. Free up your RAM – here’s how

What is the function of the main memory?

The main memory, also called RAM memory, is the central storage unit for all data that is required for programs or program parts that are currently running and for all active system processes. This memory, whose data is automatically lost when the computer is switched off, is accessed directly by the processor. If there is not enough memory available to process the relevant data during such an access attempt, the execution of the respective application will not work. The more processes take place simultaneously and the higher the system requirements of the executed programs, the more important a high capacity RAM becomes.

Which factors are vital for an efficient RAM?

The performance of the main memory is affected by the following three factors:

  • Access speed: time required for successful access (write or read operation)
  • Data transfer rate: a value that indicates the amount of data that can be transferred in a given time
  • Memory capacity: available RAM

These three things are essential for the efficiency of the main memory in managing processes to be executed. Capacity is of particular importance, as it sets a strict limit to the storage capacity. For example, if an application requires 2 gigabytes and another 3 gigabytes of memory over a longer time, both cannot run simultaneously if only 4 gigabytes of memory are available. However, when it comes to processing a large number of temporary processes, access speed and data transfer rate come into play. The faster the individual data is processed and then disappears from the main memory, the faster space is freed up from the RAM for new processes.

Why is it a good idea to clear your RAM? And when should you do this?

A slow PC can be frustrating, especially when you need to problem solve and use your computer quickly. An ever decreasing performance of the computer is often connected with straining the RAM. On the one hand, it is already automatically occupied by the operating system and system processes, on the other hand, it gets a bit fuller with every open program. Often it is of little use to close programs again. The latter is due to the fact that all files are rarely deleted from memory when you close an application. In addition, there are programs and processes that are active but not actually needed. For the above reasons, it may be advisable to clear the RAM if your computer shows signs of a significant decrease in performance

Free up your RAM – here’s how

Even if you are unsure whether your computer's memory is actually too full, you can try and free it up anyway. This way you’re only pre-empting an operation that would be performed automatically when you turn off your computer (but save the files you are working on so that your work results are not lost). In general, you have three different options for clearing your RAM manually:

  1. Empty the working memory via the task manager of your system
  2. Write a script that releases used memory
  3. Use an external tool that has a function for emptying RAM memory

The following sections explain what you need to do in detail.

To clear the RAM in Windows 7, 8, and 10 via the task manager

The task manager has long been an established feature in Windows systems. The background service lists running applications, services, and processes and also provides an overview of CPU and memory usage. Opening the Windows service works across all Windows versions by pressing the key combination[Ctrl] +[Shift] +[Esc]. Press these three buttons simultaneously to open the interface. Alternatively, you can also use the Windows search: Simply enter the term “Task Manager” and then click on “View running processes with Task Manager.”

To use the task manager to empty the working memory under Windows 7 and other versions select the “processes” tab:

Now go through the list of active processes and search for those that you do not need – for example, because you have already closed the program. Select the corresponding processes with a left or right click and press “end task” to close them permanently and clean up the working memory piece by piece.

Empty memory via script: the necessary steps

An interesting alternative to memory management via the task manager is to write a script that frees up a specified amount of RAM when it is executed. That sounds like a complex task at first glance – but you don't need any programming experience. A small entry in a simple text document created for this purpose is completely sufficient. To create a script to clear the RAM, proceed as follows:

Memory

Create a new text document by right-clicking on your desktop and selecting “new” and “text document” in the pop-up menu:

Open the created document and insert the following line of text:

Then save the file under the desired name. Make sure that ANSI is set as the encoding form if the editor offers an appropriate option. The last step is to replace the default extension .txt with the extension .vbs. Only in this way can Windows determine that the file is a script.

You can now execute the script simply by double-clicking it. The code proposed here automatically releases 32 megabytes of main memory, and this process can be repeated as often as required. Of course you can also adjust the amount and empty 128 megabytes (“Space(128000000)”). However, the value should never exceed half of the built-in memory size – otherwise there is a risk of program errors or even system crashes.

How to clear RAM with external tools

If you want to use an external solution instead of the system-internal possibilities for memory cleaning, this is also possible without problems: there are various programs that were developed especially for this purpose and are mostly freeware. One of the most popular tools of this kind is Wise Memory Optimiser. The program by the developer company WiseCleaner is completely free of charge and available for all current Windows systems. After you install and start Wise Memory Optimizer, you will be taken to the main screen of the application, which displays both the occupied and free memory. With a single click on “Optimize Now” you can use the tool to empty the memory under Windows XP up to 10.

Under the tab “settings” (the gear symbol), you can activate auto-optimization. Use the slider to specify how much should be cleared from the RAM automatically (for example, if less than 1280 MB is free, then the RAM should be optimized).

As an alternative to Wise Memory Optimizer, you can also use the tools RAMRush or Mz RAM Booster to clear your RAM.

Related articles

Don't worry if your computer gets stuck and Windows Task Manager warns 'High memory usage'. On this page, we will guide you to easily fix high memory usage issue in Windows 10/8/7 with the following resolutions:

Workable SolutionsStep-by-step Troubleshooting
Fix 1. Close Unnecessary ProgramsOn Task Manager, find running programs that take high memory, click End Task...Full steps
Fix 2. Disable Programs from StartupOn Task Manager, go to Startup, right-click to disable big programs from Startup...Full steps
Fix 3. Defragment Hard DriveType dfrgui in Search, open Defragment and Optimize Drives, select drives to Optimize...Full steps
Fix 4. Fix File System ErrorRun EaseUS Partition Master, right-click drives to fix file system error...Full steps
More Fixes...Other 6 fixes are available here for you to follow and fix high RAM memory errors...Full steps

What is High Memory Usage?

High Memory Usage is a state that Windows computers' RAM, ROM, or Cache usage grows to an extremely high level. Windows 10 high memory usage error is related to RAM and virtual memory.

When the PC has a high memory usage error, it will freeze while running a program and pops up an error message, warning that 'Your computer is low on memory'.

Follow to check if you are having this error and what caused high memory usage.

Define High Memory Usage Windows 10 Error:

Try the following steps to define if your computer is with high memory usage, high CPU, or high disk usage error:

Step 1. Press Ctrl + Alt + Del keys and select 'Task Manager'.

Step 2. At the Process tab, check the usage state of CPU, Memory, and Disk.

If the Memory column displays 70%, 80%, 90%, or 99% used as the two figures shown below, it's a 'High Memory Usage' issue.

High Memory Usage in Processes:

High Memory Usage in Performance:

Symptoms and Causes of High Memory Usage:

So what will happen when your computer is caught with a high memory usage issue? And what causes this error? Check it out.

Symptoms of High Memory UsageCauses of High Memory Usage
  • Computer slows down
  • Applications won't respond
  • File transfer stuck, programs/software get stuck
  • Unable to download or upload files, programs
  • Registry hack
  • Virus attack
  • Disk file system error
  • Low space due to high usage by multiple apps or big installation patches.
  • Running too many programs at one time
  • Insufficient physical and virtual memory
  • Too many programs start in the startup

10 Fixes for High (RAM) Memory Usage Issue in Windows 10

So how to fix 'high memory usage' or 'High RAM memory usage' issues? How do I reduce or fix the high memory usage in Windows 10?

Here is a list of all tested fixes, just follow to fix high memory usage Windows 10 issues immediately:

How To Clear Memory Usage On Windows 10 Desktop

If you are having a similar problem in older Windows OS, like Windows XP, you can also give these fixes a try.

Method 1. Close Unnecessary Running Programs/Applications

When your computer is with high memory usage, you can try to close some unnecessary running programs and applications to fix this issue.

Step 1. Open Task Manager by right-clicking on the Windows icon and select 'Task Manager'.

Step 2. Go to the process tab, find the running programs that are taking high memory but you don't need it at all.

Step 3. Click the unnecessary programs and select 'End Task'.

Method 2. Disable Programs Running from Startup

Disabling programs running from Startup will effectively decrease the system load and saving quite a lot of CPU memory space.

Step 1. Press Ctrl + Alt + Del keys, select 'Task Manager'.

Step 2. Click on 'Startup' in Task Manager, right-click the applications that you don't want to run from Startup, and select 'Disable'.

Method 3. Defragment Hard Drive & Adjust for Best Performance

It will also help to save quite a lot of memory space by defragmenting hard drives. You can also refer to a manual way to defrag and optimize the disk for its best performance.

Defragment hard drives:

Step 1. Press 'Windows + R', type: dfrgui, click 'Defragment and Optimize Drives' to open this app.

Step 2. Click on the hard drives (C: drive for example) you want to defragment and click 'Optimize'.

Wait for the process to finish the defragment process. Do remember to restart the computer when the process completes.

Adjust for the best performance:

Step 1. Right-click 'This PC' and select 'Properties'.

Step 2. Click 'Advanced system settings', click 'Settings' under Performance.

Step 3. Check 'Adjust for best performance', click 'Apply' and 'OK' to confirm.

Method 4. Fix Disk File System Error

File system error is a major reason that may cause high memory usage or high CPU usage on Windows 10/8/7 computers. Professional partition manager software - EaseUS Partition Master can easily fix the error and get rid of it from your PC. It's easy for all levels of Windows users.

Check and Fix System Error

Method 5. Increase Virtual Memory

Virtual memory makes use of part of disk space to serve as memory so as to release computer memory stress. Therefore, when your computer is with high memory usage issue, you can try the following steps to increase virtual memory:

Step 1. Right-click on This PC, select 'Properties'.

Step 2. Click 'Advanced system settings' in the pop-up window.

Step 3. Go to the Advanced tab, click 'Settings...' under the Performance section.

Step 4. Navigate to the Advanced tab, click 'Change' under the Virtual memory section.

Step 5. Uncheck 'Automatically manage paging file size for all drives'.

Step 6. Select C drive, check 'No page file', and click 'Set'.

Step 7. Click 'Yes' to continue.

Step 8. Select a non-system partition, check 'Custom size', and set the same value in Initial Size and Maximum Size.

The value size is recommended to be twice big as the physical memory on your computer.

Step 9. Click 'Set' and 'OK' to save the changes.

Method 6. Disable Superfetch Service

Windows

Step 1. Press Windows + R, type services.msc into the Run box and click 'OK'.

Step 2. Locate and right-click 'Superfetch' > select 'Properties' > click 'Stop' on the pop-up windows.

Step 3. Click 'Disabled' from the 'startup type' drop-down menu.

Method 7. Set Registry Hack

This method will release some virtual memory on your computer by deleting page files in the Registry. Here is how to do so:

Step 1. Press Windows + R keys, type regedit to open the Registry Editor.

Step 2. Navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Control/Session Manager/Memory Management.

Step 3. Find and right-click ClearPageFileAtShutDown, select to modify its value to '1' and click 'OK'.

Method 8. Increase Physical Memory

Logically, when your computer is with a high memory usage issue, you can add a new memory card to your computer so to extend the physical memory.

You need to first check out the memory type by referring to the parameters of memory on your computer. Here is how to increase a physical memory on your PC:

Step 1. Check the physical memory size: Right-click on This PC and select 'Properties'.

Step 2. Open Task Manager and go to the Performance tab, click 'Memory'.

Step 3. Check out the speed, size of the memory to decide which type you'll need.

Step 4. Then purchase a new memory card, add it to your PC.

After adding the new memory to your computer, restart the PC and it will automatically detect the new memory.

How To Clear Memory Usage On Windows 10 Using

Method 9. Disable NDU in Registry

Note: EaseUS technical support experts say this method may affect the usage of internet connection.

If you would like to try, here are the steps:

Step 1. Type regedit in Windows Search and click Registry Editor to open it.

Step 2. Go to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/ControlSet001/Services/Ndu.

Step 3. Right-click on the Start DWORD and select 'Modify'.

Step 4. Change its value to 4, click 'OK' to save the changes.

After this, restart your PC and the high memory usage issue should be resolved.

If your computer internet connection gets disabled, we suggest you repeat the steps and change the Start word value back to the previous number - 2.

Method 10. Clean Up Virus

How To Clear Memory Usage On Windows 10

Sometimes, virus infection or malware may also take up high usage of memory on your PC. The best way out is to run antivirus software on you PC to clean up all existing virus, and malware immediately:

Step 1. Download and install anti-virus software on your computer.

Step 2. Run the anti-virus software and choose to scan your whole computer drive.

Step 3. Select to clean up all found virus or virus-infected files or devices.

Bonus Tips: How to Avoid High Memory Usage Issue on Windows 10

After you fixing Windows high memory usage on Windows 10/8/7, some of you may want to know how to prevent this issue from happening again.

Here, we'll offer tips to protect your Windows 10 computer from this issue.

How to Avoid High Memory Usage in Windows 10 - Tips

Here are some tips that you can follow to avoid high memory usage issues in Windows 10/8/7. See how to set your computer with the best performance:

  1. #1. Add a big enough memory card to the PC
  2. #2. Run virus cleaner regularly
  3. #4. Disable unnecessary programs from Startup
  4. #5. Release virtual memory from hard drive
  5. #6. Fix file system error and defrag hard drive regularly

You May Also Interest In:

Some of you may also want to know how to define High CPU or High Disk Usage errors. Here are the steps'

Step 1. Hold Ctrl+Alt+Del keys, click 'Task Manager'.

Step 2. On the Processes tab, check the Memory or the Disk usage state:

  • The CPU column reaches up to 99% or even 100%, it's a 'High CPU Usage' issue. Refer to Fix 99% or 100% High CPU Usage for help.
  • The Disk column shows high usage or even displays 100%, it's a 'High Disk Usage' issue. Follow to fix this problem.

Take Action, Keep Your Computer from High Memory Usage Issue

On this page, we provide tips to help you define whether your computer has high memory issues. And we also collected 10 practical fixes to resolve high memory usage Windows 10 error, and listed tips to help you avoid this issue.

Besides managing RAM and virtual high memory usage issues, we also suggest you apply EaseUS disk management software to make your computer running smoothly again. EaseUS Partition Master helps to manage partitions, make full use of disk space and optimize disk performance to the best state.

Now it's your turn. Take action and keep your computer from the high memory usage issue, making it running smoothly again.