FreeMem

[JimJr]

I was just looking at FreeMem trial on Sysopt software page anyone tried this and have any input?

[Comtech]

Not worth the download.
You can get back some of the memory available to Windows 9x, which after working/playing for a while, decreases, even if you have closed all open apps/games, and is not the same as right after bootup, before you started your first program/game.
This is due in part to poor programming skills, because a lot of software does not release ALL the memory it has used back to the system, and in part to the Win9x GUI inability of managing memory very well. http://www.sysopt.com/forum/frown.gif
You can test this "annoyance" by running SysMon, a cool tool included with Win9x, located in your Windows folder. Start System Monitor right after you loaded Windows, and before opening any program. Configure it this way: click Edit -> select Add Item... -> click Memory Manager -> select "Unused physical memory" -> hit OK. Now remember the number it shows before you start your first program/game, and then after a while, take a peek at SysMon's chart again, and compare the current value with the initial one. The latter will be undoubtedly smaller than the former.
But there is something you can do, you can free some of this memory and return it to the system.
The easier (and doesn't eat up ANY CPU cycles or "precious" GDI resources) option is to create a small text file (in Notepad) with this single line:

FreeMem = Space(24000000)

Save it as FREEMEM.VBS (Visual Basic Script file) and place it on the Desktop. The filename is of no importance, but the extension must be kept.

Now whenever you want to regain a little more RAM, especially after long periods of time, when system memory depletion might start impairing overall Win9x performance, just (double)-click on FREEMEM.VBS, and your system's available RAM will increase with the amount specified in parenthesis (see above), in this case 24 Mb.

[Fingers]

Does Windows Scripting Host have to be installed for this to work?

[JimJr]

Thank you for the tip. I tried it and I'm very happy with it.I did download the program but don't think I'll need it.

[Comtech]

Yes, you need windows scripting host.
To simplify things, if you run the Task Scheduler, just put it in there, set to run once every hour or so.
FYI, if you have:
64 meg of RAM, set it to 24000000
96 " " " " " " 50000000
128 " " " " " " 90000000
>128 " " " " " " 128000000 (or even more)
Don't worry about setting it too high, an error will happen if you set it higher than your total RAM, and windows simply won't allow too much to be freed up, as it needs a few things in RAM. So if you have 128 meg, and you set it to 120000000, it won't actually free up 120 meg, but as close to that as possible, still leaving the basic windows kernel in memory.
It's best if you run this with no other applications open, however I have run it with IE, Outlook, ZA, and a couple others open, with no ill effects.

[Fingers]

Thanks http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

[Brangwen]

Comtech:

Great solution! Thx. I was getting ready to bash FreeMem and saw your post. Very good.

Brangwen http://www.sysopt.com/forum/wink.gif

[Imperion1]

I quit using Rambooster after trying out Comtech's solution. Works great.
Thanks Comtech.

Actually works better than Rambooster.