How much CPU does it actually use? Although I only have 2GB RAM on a single core Win7 (soon to be Win10) laptop, I do distributed computing on the BOINC platform and have very few RAM issues. CPU cycles are far more important to me. Use CleanMem and never even notice it running.

Last week I restored a Sony VPCS13M1E to the original state. (dual core/4Gb/500Gb)
It had become slow, very slow.
After the restore and with disabled internet Windows7-64 worked OK.
After installing SP1(downloaded with another PC) it worked OK.
After removing some trial-software and installing antivirus and 150~250 updates, Windows worked so so and started very slow.
The trick was: uninstall "VAIO Smart Network" and use the software IntelProset/Wireless WiFi software for the Wlan-interface.

On most laptop's Windows is installed with demosoftware/trial etc. And some software from the manufacturer.
If this software is never used, then removing is maybe the best choice: you can use Decrappifier
http://www.pcdecrapifier.com/
For the download:
http://www.pcdecrapifier.com/download
and the program itself:
http://dl.pcdecrapifier.com/pc-decrapifier-3.0.0.exe

Result: a cleaner startmenu, a leaner Windows and regained HD-space.

Also: there are PC with 2 drive-letters and a DVD-letter. And often the c-drive contains everything, Windows, photo's, music, documents etc.
And the d-drive is almost empty.
Why not move all the personal files to the other drive?
Make on that drive some maps for documents, photo's, music etc.
Open the explorer and click with the right mouse on the library My documents, look for the properties and there for Location.
Change that location to a map on the d-drive.
Windows will ask, if you want to move the contents: answer Yes.
Do it also photo's, music, video etc. All the libraries
After that all personal files will be stored on the other drive.

And also use once a week cCleaner(piriform) to clean up Windows.

.
It just freed up my 4 GB Toshiba Win 8 portable from hesitating with "too many tabs open" in Google Chrome -- I can order 16 GB Ram for $100+ or ... oh this is free!
.

Registration at a different way:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/10366431/_GOTD/SuperRAM7810_20150829/Registratie.png

At the bottom of the program screen is a grey box, which asks you to click on to open the registration box.

Are you running a 32-bit Operating System? If you don't know, then I can GUARANTEE that you are. If you want to take full advantage of your 8GB's you need install a 64-bit operating system.

No program will ever fix this issue for you because it's a technical limitation. 32-bits of information per-millisecond can only utilize RAM addresses that are within the range of 32-bit strings. If it goes over that, the OS is literally unable to see it and never will be.

you don't understand what this program do. try to read carefully, or visit the developer website page.

"Buy" is easy said - but not every system can be upgraded and not every user can built it in...

Yes, but some of us have laptops with Win 7 that have a 4 GB limit. How can we buy for that? Neat software. :)

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Some older systems are limited to installable memory, so this is great there.

Also, this is more a Windows fix because even with a new 16 GB RAM system, programs bog down, this helps them get out of each other's way.

I use PGWare SuperRAM and Booster and find they do NOT misbehave and systems with them settle down and behave.

Thanks GOTD.
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Exactly, i agree with the others. My netbook is maxed out and it's only 2 GB. I can't add anything more and this kinda thing might be a good solution. Will give a try!

Mike, Do you really have experience with Windows 95? I do, but not as many do as use it for reference. This is not a challenge or a put down. A lot of internet quotes aren't quite as accurate as their writers would have us believe.

But today's program sounds like a third party memory manager; does it do a better job than windows? will they play together well? and would its benefits outweigh having yet another entry, or several, in my processes list?

@Allan,
Thanks. Will try CleanMem. The problem with my computer is that I have 8GB, but the system only sees 4GB of those, So I was wondering if CleanMem would use the rest of my RAM.

"I have 8GB, but the system only sees 4GB"

Have you put 8GB of RAM on a 32-bit version of Windows?
If so, updating to 64-bit Windows will solve the problem (if the hardware is suitable).
Otherwise, you have a major incompatibility problem with this RAM.

@bart
Sounds like you are running a 32bit Operating System in which case the maximum memory your computer can physically use is 4GB - basically that is the highest number that can be stored in 32 bit (232). For technical reasons, Windows will only ever use slightly less than that.

The additional 4GB you have is completely wasted as will be any more memory you add and no software can change that unless your processor supports 64bit and you upgrade to a 64bit Operating System.

@bart,
No it will not. You must be using a 32 bit OS. You will need to change to a 64 bit OS to be able to utilise more RAM . If you have a 64 bit OS there is a problem with the memory.

@Harry and Bart.. I run Win7/64 Ultimate. I had 16gb then upgraded to 32gb after getting a new mobo that supported faster ram. System defaults to 16gb max, had to go into MSCONFIG Advanced Options uncheck the MAX Memory option, then reboot to get all the ram to show up. I've been working with Win 7 for along time and never knew Microsoft had it's OS's locked like that (Except server). Guess this was back in the day when they say "naw, no one will ever need more then 16gb"..

Oh and forgot to mention. If you want to see how well your memory programs work, open Task Manger, Look below the pretty graphs for the Physical Memory (MB) section. Notice TOTAL then look at FREE. Then run the program. Notice how much is flushed. We were having some performance issues at work recently and noticed how said users were always opening and closing programs (outlook, word) and the free memory was LOW.. 8gb total, 150mb free. If your caching more then half your RAM on a 32gb system, something is wrong. I would be looking at what processes are "sticking around" when they should be CLOSED. Windows never had a good rep of releasing it's ram and cleaning up after itself. Just an afterthought.

" @Allan,
Thanks. Will try CleanMem. The problem with my computer is that I have 8GB, but the system only sees 4GB of those, So I was wondering if CleanMem would use the rest of my RAM.
Comment by bart — August 29th, 2015 at 4:26 am " the only way to use more than 4 gb of ram with a 32 bit operating system is to use RamDisk

@tc1uscg:
Windows 7 x64 has no such limit and MAX Memory is by default unchecked and the amount is set to zero.
No idea how it became checked on your computer - maybe you have run some "optimizer" product.

Wow!

Thanks for all the answers, guys.

I have an HP Pavilion dv9000 bought in 2007. The original OS was Vista 32-bit. Over the years, I upgraded the system to W7 Home 64-bit, Then added new ram, 2x4GB. The system uses only 4GB. I'll have to explore all the options detailed above.

Thanks for all the pointers.

bart

Had the same issue with 12 GB and only showing 8 GB. Moved the ram to different slots and did get 12 for a while but after replacing the ram with a new group of 12 GB all was good.So I suggest you switch your ram slots around first and if that does not work, replace them.

@Allen: If your computer is really "running out of memory all the time" then there are only two truly effective solutions. Either add more memory or have fewer processes running in the background. The best solution is, of course, to add more memory and, since RAM memory prices have been dropping over the last few months, now is a good time to buy some. The second option is to reduce the number of programs loading at startup, thus reducing the number of background processes each of which uses some memory.

@justchuck69:
My understanding of RamDisk is that it uses a specified amount of ram to be used as a boot drive (to speed the boot process) and not to create additional ram space...

Since it's being discussed, this seems like a good time to mention PrimoCache for those of you who have more RAM than you can utilize presently:

http://www.romexsoftware.com/en-us/primo-cache/index.html

Starting with Windows XP, it can put to good use such "excess/unused" RAM memory to greatly speed up disk access beyond what Windows itself is capable, even on systems using SSD drives (you can also allocate a portion of "normal" RAM and other available sources memory if desired):

"PrimoCache is a supplementary software caching scheme that cooperates with physical memory, solid-state drives (SSDs) and flash drives to provide data caching for local physical disks...

...Why PrimoCache?

Why do we need PrimoCache since Windows has already implemented a file-system level cache?

PrimoCache is a block-level cache program which caches data on a logical block basis (offsets within a disk), while windows cache is a file-system level program which caches on a virtual block basis (offsets within a file). Each has strengths and weaknesses, and PrimoCache can be a good supplement to Windows cache.

Some applications can bypass Windows cache but cannot bypass PrimoCache because PrimoCache runs at a lower level in Windows.
Windows caches all data, while PrimoCache can cache on behalf of a specified volume in which users are interested. Given same size of system memory, the latter has a higher hit-rate.
PrimoCache supports persistent SSD caching for mechanical hard disks, improving system boot-up time and applications loading time. Windows cache cannot.
PrimoCache can customize write-deferred mode, while Windows cache cannot.
PrimoCache can make use of Invisible Memory on 32-bit Windows as cache, overcoming the Windows limits on amount of system memory..."

It gives older systems without SSD drives the access speeds of one, boosting system performance.

I don't yet know whether it works correctly with today's Super Ram offer.

@bart - I have seen systems report less than installed RAM when one of the sticks is defective. I've also seen motherboards which aren't capable of seeing more than 4 gigs of RAM.

@Bart,
"I have an HP Pavilion dv9000 bought in 2007. The original OS was Vista 32-bit. Over the years, I upgraded the system to W7 Home 64-bit, Then added new ram, 2x4GB. The system uses only 4GB. I’ll have to explore all the options detailed above"

It's seems you're already have the 64-bit computer because 64-bit windows work on it fine. You have to check your BIOS to confirm your memory setting. It sounds like you have to re seat the memory modules again because you are only using 1x4GB right now.

@Bart,
Or your memory do not have the same matching specs, the second one is being ignored.

@Null,

Yes, some motherboards, especially on laptops, are locked at a certain amount of RAM. I'll have to check the HP forums to see if mine happens to be one of them.

A lot of us do not WANT to run 64-bit Windows - especially those of us with Legacy Software, which either will not run, or will run poorly. A lot of that software is not available for 64-bit and if it was, we don't want to have to buy it again.
Also, a lot of people have systems with hardware that won't support more RAM. A lot have hardware configurations that won't support 64-bit.
These reasons don't make them worthy of derision.