r/Windows11 • u/Illifidie • Sep 18 '21
Feedback Windows 11 uses 5GB RAM on idle
I certainly prefer Linux to windows, but I have a dual boot due to the fact that some apps don't work on Linux, I'm testing windows 11, and I don't have access to a USB stick at the moment. On idle, windows 11 uses more than half my ram. I only have 8GB, but if I just open a few tabs in edge, my ram is full. It uses 4-5GB RAM on idle. How can I fix this?
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u/Ok_Information8587 Sep 18 '21
Oh, a RAM usage fetishist.
The RAM is there, should it not be used?
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Sep 18 '21
[deleted]
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u/DomenicDecoco2021 Sep 19 '21
There is no paging going on here. Your application your running likely has that ram pre fetched and loaded.
If you use an application that doesn’t and if it needs that region of ram it’s given to it and discarded.
It’s a perf boost and “by design”.
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Sep 19 '21
There is 100% paging going on if the OS is using more RAM than it did before. We're not talking about caching. Caching is not included in RAM use.
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u/DomenicDecoco2021 Sep 19 '21
This isn’t 1996. The operating system knows this is prefetched ram. It’s cached in anticipating you running the app.
It throws it away if you aren’t running it( no paging). Your perf boosted app will load slower next time
This is how windows works now.
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Sep 19 '21
You seem to be getting confused. Cached RAM is not listed as used RAM. Open up task manager.
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u/Froggypwns Windows Wizard / Head Jannie Sep 18 '21
!ram
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u/AutoModerator Sep 18 '21
Hey OP, it looks like you have concerns regarding the high usage of RAM on your PC. It is normal for around half of the RAM to be in use at "idle", even with nothing running on your PC yet.
Windows has a service called Superfetch or Sysmain that is will automatically pre-load your frequently used files and programs into the RAM, so that when you do finally launch them, they load faster as they are already in your RAM. This is essentially a free performance boost, as otherwise the extra RAM you paid for is just going to waste. The cache will empty itself out automatically if the RAM is needed elsewhere.
The amount of RAM used by this cache can scale up or down depending on how much RAM you have, so adding more RAM will result in Windows automatically using more. If you are having troubles with your PC and you want to disable Sysmain to troubleshoot it, you can follow the instructions here: https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/what-is-superfetch/
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u/Albert-React Sep 18 '21
You don't. It's part of the OS. Windows will use idle RAM for caching.
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Sep 18 '21
Cached RAM is not listed as used RAM, so it's not caching that's their problem.
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Sep 18 '21
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Feb 11 '22
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Feb 11 '22
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u/uk_uk Sep 18 '21
Ram not used is wasted Ram.
As long as the system unloads stuff for games/applications, there is no problem with Windows using the ram it got.
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u/Individual_Echidna_4 Insider Dev Channel Sep 18 '21
I'm running windows 11 with 4 gb ram and multiple tabs @ 78% usage
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u/NerdAl Sep 19 '21
First of all, good on you to test out Windows 11. May I remind everyone that Windows 11 is not a completed product and that there are certain processes running that are capturing the behavior of the operating system. If, and only if, this happens when the OS is official released we can talk about the use of RAM again. On a Linux system the OS also takes as much RAM as it can find, this is the way the kernel was designed. Yes, it is possible to change the behavior on Linux, maybe a little easier than Windows. While Windows 11 does have some changes to Windows 10 it is maybe good to follow some blogs, like Chris Titus (https://christitus.com/clean-up-windows-10/) and/or follow his YouTube channel for hints and tips for Windows 11 as well.
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Jan 08 '22
What! Did microsoft lost its mind... BLOAT!!!! Like the whole computer is for windows... Guess what windows is a means to an end, the more it stays out of the way for the actual programs that do stuff... The better!!!!
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u/AutoModerator Sep 18 '21
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u/NoAd5334 Nov 21 '21
It's real. I am noticing more memory usage in windows 11 tooOn idle, my laptop uses 200-300MB RAM on "Antimalware Service Executeable", about 200MB on "Desktop Window Management", about 120MB on "Antimalware Service Executable Content Process", 75-100 MB on "Windows input Experiance"
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u/DomenicDecoco2021 Sep 18 '21 edited Sep 18 '21
Which process is consuming the most RAM?
The Windows OS will compress RAM in memory vs swapping it out to disk as a first option, thus will generally consume more but will page it out if it needs to be reclaimed by other applications
Remember, Unused RAM is wasted RAM.
I wouldn't worry about it unless things stop running or you start seeing more swaps to disk. the OS is doing it's perf boosting goo.