Smart Ram

[mamqqq]

hi,

just got the Advanced Systems Care Pro. with the Smart Ram, it has "Smart Free Off" & "Auto Free Off". what are these & when best to use & how do i turn them on if i want to?

didn't see any instructions in the manual.

thanks,

alan

[solbjerg]

Hi mamqqq
You just click on settings and choose the settings you want.
As far as I remember there are explanations in the program?
Cheers
solbjerg

Originally Posted by mamqqq

hi,

just got the Advanced Systems Care Pro. with the Smart Ram, it has "Smart Free Off" & "Auto Free Off". what are these & when best to use & how do i turn them on if i want to?

didn't see any instructions in the manual.

thanks,

alan

[Toppack]

What is 'Smart-Ram Compression Technology' in the Smart-Ram utility?
What is being Compressed and why is it being compressed?
What are the advantages of having this option turned On in the Smart-Ram utility?

Are there any Disadvantages of loading 'Smart-Ram' at Boot-up?
Will it Slow down anything, such as Videos or Games?

Is Smart-Ram really needed if you have Win-7 64bit OS?

I realize that's a lot of questions but I've not been able to find any Information about this utility anywhere.
Thank you for the Info,

[enoskype]

Hi Toppack,

Although all of your questions have been discussed in ASC section of the forum, unfortunatelly they are gone in the tunnels of the Forum when the sections were re-arranged.

Perhaps, a search in the Forum will reveal a lot of answers to your questions.

I will try to answer your questions in 4 parts:
1) No disdvantage loading Smart RAM in boot-up. (Other than very small footprint- less than 1% of CPU amount and less than 1MB memory, 1 minute in 3 hours of CPU time as total.)
2) It will not slow down anything, contrary, will speed up response time in longer run.
3) I don't have Win-7 64bit OS, but Win-7 32bit OS, and I use it in start-up. (Very useful if you have a Virtual XP Pro embedded in Win7, and Smart RAM running in both OSs. In my case, 2GB for for both OSs and 750MB allocated to Virtual XP Pro.)
4) I don't know the technical definition by IObit about 'Smart-Ram Compression Technology' (Never been released by IObit), but the function is a combination of releasing, defragging and compacting of RAM.

I find it very useful in my other laptop, with XP sp3 Pro OS with 1GB of RAM, together with CleanMem. (CleanMem automatic cleaning every 3 hours.)


After all that said, please find below what IObit Guy had written when Smart RAM and compression technology didn't exist and there was a small IObit utility 4-5 years ago called MemCleaner.

Originally Posted by IObit Guy

In fact, we do not recommend XP users using any Mem cleaner (including ours). We think Microsoft's memory managment in Windows XP is perfect and no one else can do better.

Please refer to the following resource

1) Myth - "Increasing the amount of available RAM using RAM Optimizers/Defragmenters improves performance."

Reality - "RAM Optimizers have no effect, and at worst, they seriously degrade performance. Although gaining more available memory might seem beneficial, it isn't. As RAM Optimizers force the available-memory counter up, they force other processes' data and code out of memory. Say that you're running Word, for example. As the optimizer forces the available-memory counter up, the text of open documents and the program code that was part of Word's working set before the optimization (and was therefore present in physical memory) must be reread from disk as you continue to edit your document. The act of allocating, then freeing a large amount of virtual memory might, as a conceivable side effect, lead to blocks of contiguous available memory. However, because virtual memory masks the layout of physical memory from processes, processes can't directly benefit from having virtual memory backed by contiguous physical memory. As processes execute and undergo working-set trimming and growth, their virtual-memory-to-physical-memory mappings will become fragmented despite the availability of contiguous memory." - Source

2) Memory Optimizers

I’ve long railed against these things. The only thing that these programs can do is harm real system performance. My advice, stay away from any “memory optimizer” programs. Don’t believe me? How about taking renowned Windows guru Mark Russinovich’s word for it? In his article entitled “The Memory-Optimization Hoax, RAM optimizers make false promises” he lays out the argument better than I ever could. (I can’t reprint the article because of copyright.) His conclusion is that these programs are “fraudware” and he has “yet to see a RAM optimizer that lives up to any of its claims.”…’Nuff said!

Cheers.

[Toppack]

Thanks enoskype!

As usual, you provided very Useful Information.

I've tried other Ram optimizer software and have not been too happy with their performance when running in background,
so thought I'd try Smart-RAM, and so far I like it.

[Toppack]

I see that Smart-RAM displays Both Page/Swap-file memory and Virtual memory, (as well as physical memory).
I'm still not sure what the difference in Page/Swap-file memory and Virtual memory are, since to me they are Both Virtual memory, located on the hard-drive.
But that's Not my main question.

Does the Smart-RAM utility continuiously modify data in the Physical-RAM, as well as Virtual-RAM, or is it Only Virtual&Page-RAM, on the Hard-drive, that it clears

I'm trying to figure out what is actually happening, since the Free-space numbers don't always go the direction that I expect when running it manually versus automatic?

[enoskype]

Hi Toppack,

Your questions are getting way beyond my knowledge.

They are very valid questions and I will try to guide you where you can find the answers.

Pushing the Limits of Windows: Virtual Memory is a great article by markrussinovich on the subject.

Also see the post by JimLewandowski in Windows 7 - Pushing the Limits: Virtual Memory thread which partially quoted below:

Page File

The Page File is neither virtual nor physical memory. It is simply a secondary place to store REAL physical memory pages that have been backed on behalf of an address spaces VIRTUAL memory usage AND since Windows needs more physical memory since ALL 4K pages are in use, he must write SOME portion of the physical memory somewhere. The Page File is an extension of PHYSICAL memory, not of "virtual" addressing memory. Physical memory is the BACKING for virtual memory requests (loading a program exe or dlls AND/OR user data).

You may have noticed that IObit has taken out the Virtual Memory part from Smart RAM GUI in IObit Tools, where as you said it exists in Smart RAM in ASC. Perhaps thinking that it is confusing.

Please find below the image of both shot at the same time for Windows 7 Professional with 2 GB of RAM.



You may notice that Maximum size is 4096 MB in Windows' Virtual memory page, but shown as 5110 MB in Smart RAM GUI.
That difference and Free Virtual beeing 1974 MB out of 2047 MB are beyond my knowledge.

The rest of the figures are self explaining.

As an answer to the question of Smart RAM, my understanding simply is that, smart clean (and automatic cleaning) is dropping the unallocated (unreleased) memory from RAM (CPU is monitored at the mean time) and deep clean is swapping the program allocated but not used (at the moment) memory to page file.

Cheers.

[Toppack]

Ah yes, I've been using Smart-RAM that comes with ASC.
I did not realize that there is a version 2.0 in the Tools Pack.
2.0 appears to be much simplyfied and more Logical in the way Virtual memory (page-file) is monitored.
But, Is the older ASC version More accurate? Since it shows real Numbers, instead of what appears to be a rounded off Average in 2.0.
It appears it would be if the Numbers are Accurate?

Thanks for all the Great Info and the Links!

I still don't understand the statement quoted about the Page-file memory not being considered Virtual memory, tho.
To me, any data temporarily transfered to and from the hard-drive is Virtual memory.
I think they're just trying to Confuse Us.

I found this definition that agrees with me:

"We have two types of memory; random access memory (RAM) and virtual memory, or the page file. The page file is created during the Windows installation and resides on the hard drive. Page files are measured in megabytes. The size of the page file is based on how much RAM is installed in the computer. By default, the OS creates a page file which is 1.5 times the amount of installed RAM and places it on the hard drive where the OS is installed. Other than plugging the RAM into the motherboard, there is little that can be done to alter its performance characteristics. The page file is a different story. Because it's located on a hard drive, it's subject to a number of factors that can hinder its performance."

[enoskype]

Toppack, I believe their accuracy are nearly the same. (Smart RAM 2 beeing a bit more accurate in showing values)

Smart RAM ASC:
Free PageFile: 3465 of 5110MB
Used PageFile: 5110-3465 = 1645MB => 1645MB/1024MB per 1GB = 1.606GB => ~1.61GB

Free Physical : 1372 of 2038 MB
Used RAM: 2083-1372 = 666 MB


Smart RAM IObit Toolbox:
Used PageFile: 1.61GB
(When the PageFile usage is less than 1GB, it shows used PageFile in MB units with 2 digits after decimal point.)(More accurate.)

Used RAM: 665.84MB => ~666MB (In fact, more accurate with 2 digits after decimal point.)
(When RAM usage is more than 1GB, it shows used RAM in GB units.)

BTW, I wonder the source of that definition, it seemed to me too simplified.

Cheers.

[Toppack]

Thanks for the Numbers Comparison,
Yes I agree, they are very close to same.
I must have been rushing the ol' Built-In Calculator again.

I suppose I now need to get the 2.0 version and try it.
Is it still in Beta status?

The quote is from 'theeldergeek.com' website, when I did a search for 'what is pagefile memory'. He was talking about XP OS at the time but it would be true for all Windows OSs, that create a page-file on hard-drive.
It seems perfectly Logical and Correct, since he agrees with Me.