RAM Issue - High Usage

This issue has been occuring for a long time now. My computer has 8GB DDR3 RAM and according to my Resource Monitor, I have usage of 99% at times when I'm not running all that much. In addition, programs such as Firefox can use 600MB of RAM numerically, but when I list this as a % in the Task Manager, it is listed as 25%, something is clearly wrong here. How can I go about fixing this? I've attached a load of screenshots and reports below. Note that my Windows 8.1 is not activated, could this be a contributer?

 

Screenshots (Resource Monitor, System, Task Manager): http://imgur.com/a/jziOR

Speccy: http://speccy.piriform.com/results/mfHeK5wFUx0JOdfZGEWCSdO

SFC /scannow reports no problems

Anti-Malware Bytes reports no problems

After running Windows Memory Diagnostic, my computer restarted normally and nothing else happened.

After running ADW Cleaner, there were no files to remove (I have ran this in the past and removed files, but the problem has long since persisted.)

 

I've also attached the Killer Diagnostics data and will update when I run the windows memory diagnostic.

Edited by Rykurex, 03 February 2016 - 04:17 AM.

 I'd run SFC and have it check for & attempt to fix any corrupt files.  Start an administrative command prompt and issue this command: sfc /scannow.  If you think you could have a virus or some form of malware, create a post in the Am I infected forum.

 

 Good luck.

Thanks, Niweg, I ran SFC and it reported no problems. I'm pretty sure it isn't a malware or virus problem.

Edited by Rykurex, 03 February 2016 - 06:47 PM.

After adding up the values in my resource monitor both at idle and under load (reporting 50% and 90% RAM Usage respectively), I've found that there always seems to be 2GB of RAM unaccounted for.

Bump?

 It could be your graphics that's using that extra RAM.  I see from your Speccy report that your graphics has 2 GB that appears to be onboard, but it also says 2 GB virtual memory, so I'm wondering if that 2 GB is being reserved by your graphics card.

I was thinking that at first and was about to move on and just buy more RAM until this happened:

 

99% Usage, Firefox reportedly using 40% of RAM at only 500MB.
[Screenshot](http://imgur.com/a/bgRJs)

 

What do you think could cause that? There must be about 6GB unaccounted for.

Edited by Rykurex, 06 February 2016 - 06:32 PM.

 Windows will attempt to keep previously used programs and data in RAM for performance reasons.  That's because RAM operates in nanoseconds whereas hard drives operate in milliseconds.  That's a factor of a million in speed.  I expect that could be what you're seeing.  I've installed Windows 8.1 on about 6 desktops, but most of my recent experience has been with Windows 7 and 10, so there could be something in 8.1 that's a bit different from 7 and 10.  However, 10 is built on the same stuff under the covers as 8, so I don't know what that might be.  It could be just the things you run on your computer.  Right now I have 8 GB on my Windows 10 Home  laptop with 54% used (46% free), and it's been over 4 days since I last booted it, so that's different from your situation FWIW.  I have no idea what the difference could be, but I'll tell you that no two computers are the same after human hands have been on them.

 

 Good luck.

- It's actually quite normal memory usage. (58%). The remaining part of the memory usage ("Standby") is actually a buffer, a cache. Windows keeps track of what programs you use regularly and pre-loads the most used programs/files in the "Standby" part of the memory. When you open those programs then Windows doesn't have to read those programs from disk but gets the programs from the "Standby" memory and that's MUCH faster.

- Firefox is known to use A LOT OF memory.

- I noticed that your system has been running for 19 hours. That explains why the size of the "Standby" & the "In Use" parts of the memory are so large.

- You can reduce memory usage by installing PcWinTech'Cleanmem. It reduces the "In Use" memory every 15 minutes and that (can) speed(s) up overall system performance. The file cache can also be VERY large but that doesn't show up in Task Manager. Cleanmem also can collapse the file cache.

Edited by Willy22, 09 February 2016 - 10:24 AM.

- It's actually quite normal memory usage. (58%). The remaining part of the memory usage ("Standby") is actually a buffer, a cache. Windows keeps track of what programs you use regularly and pre-loads the most used programs/files in the "Standby" part of the memory. When you open those programs then Windows doesn't have to read those programs from disk but gets the programs from the "Standby" memory and that's MUCH faster.

- Firefox is known to use A LOT OF memory.

- I noticed that your system has been running for 19 hours. That explains why the size of the "Standby" & the "In Use" parts of the memory are so large.

- You can reduce memory usage by installing PcWinTech'Cleanmem. It reduces the "In Use" memory every 15 minutes and that (can) speed(s) up overall system performance. The file cache can also be VERY large but that doesn't show up in Task Manager. Cleanmem also can collapse the file cache.

Thanks for this reply, I will try installing the recommended program. Does any of this explain the problems that I screenshotted here?

 

99% Usage, Firefox reportedly using 40% of RAM at only 500MB.
[Screenshot](http://imgur.com/a/bgRJs)

- Install Cleanmem first and then see how things evolve.

Cleanmem constantly clears the RAM cache which isn't necessarily good.  The following is from a article from How-To Geek.  Part of this article explains why emptying the RAM cache is not such a good practice.  There are other sections of this article which I believe Rykurex could benefit from reading.
 
I will point out on potential problem I noticed in the Speccy.  Your C: drive only has 12% free space.  This can affect the performance of the SSD.  On a drive of this size you should have at least 15% free space.

Why Empty RAM is Useless

You may be thinking that using RAM as a cache is great, but you don’t want these program files and other data taking up your RAM. You’d rather have empty RAM available so that programs will launch instantly and the memory will be used for what you think is best, not what your operating system and programs think is best.

However, this isn’t a concern at all. Whether your RAM is full of cached files or completely empty, it’s all available for programs that really need it. Cached data in your RAM is marked as low-priority, and it’s instantly discarded as soon as the memory is needed for something else.

Because this data can be instantly discarded when necessary, there’s no disadvantage to using the RAM for cache. (The one potential disadvantage is users who don’t understand what’s going on becoming confused.)

Empty RAM is useless. It’s not any faster for the computer to write data to empty RAM, nor does empty RAM use less power. In fact, assuming you’re launching a program that may already be present in your RAM’s file cache, programs will load much faster when your RAM is used rather than when it’s empty.

Edited by dc3, 10 February 2016 - 10:49 AM.

@DC3: NO. Cleanmem DOES NOT reduce the size of the system cache. It only shrinks the "In Use" part of the memory and NOT the "Standby" part of the memory. In that regard, that "How-To-Geek" article doesn't apply.

 

Suggestions:

- Remove the folder called "C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\download". This folder can contain GBs of obsolete files.

- Run the build-in "Disk Clean Up" tool and let it clean out the "system files" as well.

- Browsers can be configured to delete the folder with the temporary internet files when one closes the browser.

- Run Piriform's Ccleaner.

- Remove ALL the "Optimizer" software. You don't need that when you have an SSD.

 

Now suggestions that cost money:

- Buy a larger SSD (of - at least - 500 GB). A SSD of 120 GB is (way) too small for a Win 8 system.

One of the options in Cleanmem is to empty the RAM cache.

- Yes & No. Yes, Cleanmem does collapse the file cache. No, the filecache then is pushed to the "Standby" part of the memory (See Resource Monitor).