Which means available physical memory. What is the difference between available and free physical memory

5 reasons and ways to speed up

If you notice that the computer slows down, then the system have already happened some changes. Something is now different from yesterday.

Let's deal with the reasons and at the same time see how you can speed up.

So, in order.

If the computer starts to slow down, then the first thing to do is

check the system for viruses

Slowdown of work speed is one of the main signs of system infection. The virus needs to replicate itself, protect itself from, and even follow the instructions laid down in it by the creator. Therefore, it is in a running state all the time, thereby eating up computing resources: processor time and RAM.

The second reason:

Lack of Memory

Each computer has several microcircuits for storing operational information. Such memory - physical - can accommodate limited number of megabytes or gigabytes. At the same time, each running program captures a certain amount of kilobytes (and maybe mega and even gigabytes) for its work.

Sometimes the user tries to launch the application, and the system displays the message "Out of memory". The situation often happened in ancient versions of Windows running on low-power computers... Now less often, but the computer slows down noticeably, why?

When there is not enough for work physical memory, Windows uses a different memory - virtual. She ostensibly is in the system, but in fact operative information is stored not in microcircuits, but on the hard disk. In file. He is called swap file(or swap file).

The less physical memory, the more often it is "flushed" and "swapped" from the swap file. Each paging file operation takes time, i.e. simple. The system slows down.

The memory load can be viewed using the Program Manager.

It is done like this:

• Click on an empty space on the taskbar right click mice.

• From the menu, select "Start Task Manager".

• In the window, go to the "Performance" tab.

• Look at the Memory icon, physical memory status, utilization percentage (in the status bar).

• To see how much memory - right now - each program is eating, go to the "Processes" tab. On the right is the name of the program and for each in the column "Memory" the number of bytes. (Draw conclusions: do you need all of them?)

You can check how quickly physical memory runs out:

1. Open performance monitoring.

1. Launch several programs. Desirable "gluttonous" applications: Excel, Word, PhotoShop. open the video.

1. After several launches, the amount of available physical memory will begin to decrease (virtual increase).

1. Run programs until physical memory is very low.

1. Now try quickly switching from one program to another. Windows will slow down, and the hard disk indicator will blink - the paging file is being read.

(If you have launched a dozen applications and the physical memory is loaded less than 70%, there is no braking when switching over - it means that you have everything Okay with memory.)

What to do if you run out of memory?

Unload all unnecessary and rarely used from memory.

• Disable system decoration. Installed on the desktop beautiful picture(may have a size in bytes) sits in memory all the time and does not give it to other programs. Therefore on old computer it is better to use a simple solid color fill. The recommendation also applies to themes in browsers, mail programs etc.

• Visual effects should be used with caution. More often than not, they eat up processor resources rather than memory. Turn off pop bells and whistles.

• Work with only one or two programs at a time, you should not keep a dozen running at once. We launched the program, worked, and closed it.

• Reboot the system periodically. Some users use hibernation mode all the time. This is convenient, but in order to get rid of glitches that occur due to "frozen" resources, it is better to reboot the system periodically.

• Recommendation for those who know the way to " Windows Services". Many services can be disabled, because you still do not use, especially on home computer... Disconnection candidates can be found on the sysadmin blogs.

The third reason why the computer slows down:

Unkempt Hard Drive

If you filled the disk two-thirds full and at the same time never "served" it, most likely, it will reciprocate - it will slow down the work. Will demand attention. Each time more and more persistent and persistent.

The reason for the slowdown is fragmentation. What it is?

Look, data is written to disk in chunks. Sometimes pieces of one file are written one after another, sequentially, and sometimes one ends up at the beginning of the disk, the other at the end. In the first case, reading the file is faster than in the second. The difference is in some milliseconds, but ... if the file is large ... if we access it often ... if the parts are scattered randomly across the disk ... then fractions of milliseconds can become seconds.

This is file fragmentation. She has " back side" - fragmentation free space .

If the pieces of the file are written to the disk sequentially, and in the middle you delete the fragment, you get a kind of "hole". The next time it needs to write down information, Windows will look for a suitable piece of free space. It will take time. Again, milliseconds, but recording a movie to an almost full, highly fragmented disk would take longer than usual.

(It is not a fact, by the way, that there is a suitable "hole". Then the information will be written to the disk not sequentially, but chaotically in pieces, i.e. the fragmentation of one file entails the fragmentation of others.)

There is another type of fragmentation, not everyone already knows about it, but only iron specialists.

He associated with surface damage. And it can be found both on new media, just purchased, and on old ones, already "time-tested". The first is a factory defect, and the second is a natural process of wear and tear.

Modern hard drives arranged in such a way that instead of an unreadable area, another one located in a special spare area of ​​the disk will be used. As a rule, manufacturers place it on the periphery, so the access time increases.

Much depends on which part the damaged area is located in. If it is at the beginning of the disk - in a frequently used area - this will have a significant impact on performance.

And of course the more broken sectors, so more likely lose data.

• Always have free place on disks. Especially on the system one (which is with the letter "C:").

• Delete extra files (films, photos, documents, distributions, etc.) Or transfer them to another disk, USB flash drive, burn to CD / DVD

• Empty the trash.

• Run regularly utility program Disk Cleanup

• Check the disc periodically for errors and damaged areas.

• Don't be lazy to defragment your disk.

Another reason for the slowdown of the computer (for many it is not at all obvious):

Overheat

Modern processors are designed so that when a certain temperature is reached, do not stop, but decrease productivity... The less they count, the less they consume energy, the less they heat up. And while they cool down - the system is idle. Of course, it does not stop at all, but "makes gaps".

To avoid overheating, fans (coolers) are installed. The system unit has two to six fans. This mechanical devices, they have rubbing parts that periodically require lubrication or replacement... If the computer makes a lot of noise, hums, grunts when starting in a cold room - it's time, it's time to take care of the coolers.

The main reason for the failure of coolers is dust. Air is constantly sucked into the computer and blown out. Part of the microscopic particles remain inside. It settles on the blades of coolers, on the lamellas of radiators, microcircuits. Dust build-up interferes with proper heat dissipation, creates the preconditions for all kinds of electrical short-circuits. Therefore, it must be removed periodically.

• If you are not afraid to remove the cover system unit then vacuum the computer. For cleaning, you need a vacuum cleaner that blows out rather than sucking.

• Another option is to send the computer for routine maintenance at service center... A specialist will clean dust, lubricate coolers or suggest replacing worn ones. It takes a little time, for a penny for the money, in general, the procedure is useful.

The last, perhaps the most unpleasant, reason for the slowdown:

Obsolete Hardware

The paradox is that Computer Engineering begins to become obsolete immediately after the developer announced the start of mass production. The point, in general, is not even in the pieces of iron.

The computer makes it "old" software... New versions appear almost every day. Moreover, programmers are guided not by yesterday, but by equipment that put on store shelves tomorrow.

A new computer is considered two years old, the next three it can still be used. You can also work at a five-year-old, but if you "equip" him with the last word, then it will harm him quickly.

When your computer starts to slow down, there can be a number of reasons for this, and not large quantity troubleshooting, you can often identify the culprit. We offer a number of free resources If you want to do it yourself, we also have a number on our website that will do most of the work for you. Working on this troubleshooting process can tell you whether you can fix the problem with some maintenance and optimization, go through with an inexpensive upgrade, or start investing in a brand new computer system.

An often misunderstood concept is how much memory you have on your system and how this can affect the performance of your computer. To find out, your task manager is - a good place to start. Among other things, it lists memory and processor usage. As these values ​​begin to approach 100 percent, your system will slow down or stop working. Unfortunately, the messages Windows gives can be somewhat cryptic. With so many options to choose from, let's find out how much memory you are actually using.

"Press Ctrl + Alt + Del to access Task Manager to check various system metrics including memory usage."

Breaking different options, it's much easier to understand what's going on.

Common memory. This is what is installed on your computer. Memory is currently sold in gigabytes (GB), and if your screen is showing megabytes (MB), use the numbers in the thousand column to see how much you have. If you need to buy memory, this is one of the most important numbers you have.

Saved copy. This is where things can get confusing. The purpose of memory is to make things available faster. To this end, Windows loads items into memory that are not yet needed, but may be later. This is cached memory. It has stuff in it, but it can be emptied if one of your programs needs it.

Free. It is a memory that is actually empty. As you might imagine, this space is available for use, either as an additional cache or directly into the program. Don't worry if this number is less than you expect. This is not all the memory you actually have available to run programs.

Accessible. This is the number you are looking for. If this equals zero, your system will be very unhappy. On closer inspection, you should see that this number is equal to cached memory plus free memory(minus a little). This is because not all cached memory can be immediately flushed (or freed). It is likely that at least some of this will actually be triggered.

The file Commit / Page. Windows actually uses a little of your hard disk to better manage your memory. It places items that are not needed right now to active elements could use faster physical memory. Programs will often ask for large chunks of memory, even if they won't actually use them, so there is no need to worry.

"Widows 8 Task Manager has similar information about system memory"

Now that you know what each of these numbers mean, you can quickly see where your system is in terms of memory and usage. If you work with a lot of programs, you can always close a few for easy use. less memory... On the other hand, if even the simplest program is using almost all of your resources, it may well be time to check for a memory upgrade or even a completely new system.

The operating system uses 3.25 GB of RAM out of four installed, and this value exactly corresponds to the lower limit of the address space used by the video adapter (PCI-E port): hexadecimal value d0000000. Please note that the addresses from d000000 to dfffffff are reserved for the video adapter, that is, 256 MB. Let's check how the memory size of the video adapter affects the available RAM. Let's replace the board with 128 MB for the same model, but with 512 MB. As you can see, nothing has changed. The size of the used address space is not set by the adapter itself, but by the AGP or PCI-E bus hardware.in the IBM PC / 386 and all subsequent compatible computers RAM in the address space occupied the lower areas, and the rest of the equipment - from the upper 4 GB boundary down. And for a long time no one seriously worried about this fourth gigabyte - units or tens of kilobytes of buffers network adapter and disk controller and a few megabytes of video adapter memory did not make the weather.

AGP technology made the first serious leap in "eating away" address space from RAM. With the advent of video adapters with hardware output accelerators 3D images the need for volume has sharply increased random access memory such an adapter. AGP technology made it possible, if necessary (lack of its own memory), to use part of the main memory of the computer for the needs of the video adapter.

Need fast work with the memory of the video accelerator dictated the placement of the entire volume of this memory in the physical address space. Therefore, AGP equipment reserves the address space for its needs, which until recently was much larger than the size of the video RAM. Usually 256 MB are reserved, it doesn't matter how much memory is installed in the video adapter.

To limit the address space available to RAM, the physical presence of the device on the bus is sufficient, and it does not matter whether it is used or not.

Conclusion: Although 32-bit Windows versions XP / Windows Vista / Windows 7 can use four gigabytes of RAM, due to limitations imposed by the architecture of the hardware used, this value usually turns out to be in the range of 3-3.5 GB.