Can ram managers/software cause BSOD's?

[Rafael Mestdag]

I've been using a program called Mem Cleaner for the past couple of years and have never had any issues with it. It reduces the amount of memory used(apparently) by a significant percentage.

This evening though I had several windows, programs and my browser open at the same time, when I decided to run a game I got a BSOD for the first time in at least a few months.

I don't have any specific reason to suspect anything in particular but I am a bit suspicious of this little software I've been using to cut my RAM usage(Mem Cleaner) because before I fired it up my ram usage was above 60%, after, it was cut down to about 30%.

Could this software be the cause of this particular BSOD?

Thx in advance!

 

[Phillip Corcoran]

Get rid of Mem Cleaner & don't use any similar software - - you're deluding yourself.

If you need more RAM then add more RAM - the real stuff.

 

[jdog2pt0]

Well, the easiest thing to do would be to uninstall the program and try running for a while without it. I won't be the first to admit that I fell for the ol' snake oil, but the simple fact of the matter is the program is useless.

The reason your RAM usage is high is one of two things.
-Firstly, Windows caches data in the RAM to facilitate faster access. Things like programs, documents, web pages, and etc. Should the need arise for more available RAM to accommodate a running program, Windows simply discards the cached data to make room.
-The second issue however could be from too many unnecessary programs running in the background. Too many programs set to run on startup could definitely bog things down, but that can be corrected rather easily.

The memory management software actually tricks you into thinking it's doing something by generally forcing Windows to dump the cached data making it look like you have more memory available, despite the fact that it was actually available the whole time.

You can read a more thorough article here http://www.howtogeek.com/171424/why-memory-optimizers-and-ram-boosters-are-worse-than-useless/
But I definitely suggest ditching Mem Cleaner. If the BSOD continues, simply write down the stop code and any other relevant info and post it here.

 

[johnbl]

microsoft has a tool that will clear the cache for you if you want.
it is called rammap.exe you would select the empty working set, or empty standby list.
it is a free download https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/rammap.aspx

it can be useful to clear out the list of programs that get preloaded into RAM and is helpful for debugging certain problems.

I would have to look at the actual memory dump to see if your utility is actually causing the bugcheck.
(it might be unrelated to your problem, generally only drivers, and hardware problems cause bugchecks)