Windows 8.1 high Ram usage question

R3X · 22 Oct 2014 at 20:33

Hi bit of a strange question I have recently installed Win8.1 64bit fresh. But during general task usage (surfing/virus scanning) I find my Ram upon booting to be around 1.5-2gig usage, with firefox + 6 tabs and a virus scan my ram can hit
3-3.5gig Ram usage.

The question is however when I close firefox or AV finishes the ram still stays @ 3.5gig usage ?

Is this normal since few topics on google suggest Win8.1 does this and makes full use of Ram.

I have disabled superfetch and even tried uninstalling firewall/AV so nothing is running upon start up but same situation, this is also causing windows popups saying I need to close some apps when it maxes my 8gig Ram feels like something is off ! Any advice?

zakblood · 22 Oct 2014 at 20:36

it's normal, if you had less, it would use that, so it only uses what you have tbh so nothing to worry about, better and quicker to use ram than pagefile.

quick question, what AV are you using, as some poor ones use more resources than good ones.

tabs / pages open use more resources and ram etc as well

R3X · 22 Oct 2014 at 20:58

thanks for that confirmation yeah I was not sure I felt the ram would free up once the programs were closed but guess not.

I use Avira but hear its a resource hog so going to look at others.

My only concern is those low ram pop ups I get time to time I just close them since I tend to have 1gig free and no issues running general stuff.

KIA · 23 Oct 2014 at 09:18

Empty RAM is wasted RAM. Windows will use empty RAM to cache data.

Have you disabled the pagefile?

Open resmon from the start screen/menu and post a screenshot of the memory tab.

zakblood · 23 Oct 2014 at 13:39

Avira is about as good as a paper bag is at keeping your head dry in the rain tbh...
it is a memory hog, reminds me of norton, what ever the system has got it hogs, unles you got access to the corp version.

there is better, but then again it all depends on your surfing habits, dont do much and you will be fine, do stuff you shouldn't then i'd get better one...

markweatherill · 23 Oct 2014 at 14:52

I've never noticed 8.1 using any more than 1.5GB out of my 4GB available. Even when I'm doing things that I'd expect would require RAM.

R3X · 24 Oct 2014 at 22:22

KIA said:
Empty RAM is wasted RAM. Windows will use empty RAM to cache data.

Have you disabled the pagefile?

Open resmon from the start screen/menu and post a screenshot of the memory tab.

yup i did disable virtual memory/page file

I have since switched it back on and memory usage appears better even more so since I uninstalled Avira and tried bitdefender free edition.

Memory appears much better managed with virtual memory switched back on so will see how it goes. I only switched it off since I read its not wise to leave it on with encryption due to data/passwords possibly leaking in the page file.