[SOLVED] Memory cleaning apps - Are they ever actually helpful?

[ShangWang]

Is it ever useful to use programs like "Advanced System Optimizer" or "Razer Cortex" to clean memory? Will cortex actually slow down programs rather than do nothing sometimes?

I noticed for the first time I had a sort of memory leak that occurred from opening too many tabs and a game, and even though I closed the game and some tabs about 4GB was "leaked" which showed it was being used but no programs were using it.

Although this usually never happens, I was thinking maybe razor cortex can help with "cleaning" memory or prevent memory leaks. What is the general consensus? For those who used it has it actually ever helped you?

 

[USAFRet]

Is it ever useful to use programs like "Advanced System Optimizer" or "Razer Cortex" to clean memory?

No, not even a little bit. Not ever.

Particularly the "optimizer" things. They can often do far more harm than good.

 

[hotaru.hino]

No application can clean up after another application leaking memory. This is of the purview of the OS and if an app actually does this, it should be immediately uninstalled as it's a huge, effing, security risk.

If you have something that's leaking memory, identify it, then either update it, limit its use, or find an alternative.

 

[TerryLaze]

The idea is that you use it before opening a game or app so that the OS doesn't have to use the pagefile and the app has all the real mem available.
Since most people today expect to run dozens of things at the same time it doesn't do anything because all the background stuff is going to fill up the mem again very fast.

 

[Endre]

Is it ever useful to use programs like "Advanced System Optimizer" or "Razer Cortex" to clean memory? Will cortex actually slow down programs rather than do nothing sometimes?

I noticed for the first time I had a sort of memory leak that occurred from opening too many tabs and a game, and even though I closed the game and some tabs about 4GB was "leaked" which showed it was being used but no programs were using it.

Although this usually never happens, I was thinking maybe razor cortex can help with "cleaning" memory or prevent memory leaks. What is the general consensus? For those who used it has it actually ever helped you?

If you want to clean up the memory just right-click on Start, open Run and type the following commands:

1. “temp” / Enter / select all files (Ctrl-A), then hit Shift+Delete.

2. “%temp%” / Enter / select all files (Ctrl-A), then hit Shift+Delete.

3. “prefetch” / Enter / select all files (Ctrl-A), then hit Shift+Delete.

Restart the PC.

That’s it.

 

[USAFRet]

If you want to clean up the memory just right-click on Start, open Run and type the following commands:

1. “temp” / Enter / select all files (Ctrl-A), then hit Shift+Delete.

2. “%temp%” / Enter / select all files (Ctrl-A), then hit Shift+Delete.

3. “prefetch” / Enter / select all files (Ctrl-A), then hit Shift+Delete.

Restart the PC.

That’s it.

I think that could be condensed to - "Restart the PC"

 

[hotaru.hino]

The idea is that you use it before opening a game or app so that the OS doesn't have to use the pagefile and the app has all the real mem available.
Since most people today expect to run dozens of things at the same time it doesn't do anything because all the background stuff is going to fill up the mem again very fast.

All this would be doing is shoving all of the memory the other apps are using into the pagefile. Not only would this slow down the response time in bringing those apps back up, but if the OS is on an SSD (I don't see why it wouldn't be), then you're incurring a lot more writes to it. And if the user set the page file to automatically be managed, it's going to also increase in size.

Just let the OS do its thing. If you're running out of memory, the only proper courses of action are:

• Close things you aren't using
• Get more memory

 

[Endre]

I think that could be condensed to - "Restart the PC"

That is true about “temp” and “%temp%” files, but files stored by “prefetch” do not get deleted at PC restart.

Prefetch is speeding up the loading time of certain applications.
If you no longer use many of those applications, stored in the Prefetch folder, then it’s better to delete them.

 

[TerryLaze]

All this would be doing is shoving all of the memory the other apps are using into the pagefile. Not only would this slow down the response time in bringing those apps back up, but if the OS is on an SSD (I don't see why it wouldn't be), then you're incurring a lot more writes to it.

Yes it will slow down the response of doing an alt tab to other apps, for the writes it's very debatable, if the OS has to swap around the main and the background mem anyway all the time because there isn't enough real mem then cleaning up once before could prevent that.
There isn't really one single catch all answer here, yes it's always better to just leave the OS to do whatever it thinks is best but the question was theoretical in part at least.

 

[hotaru.hino]

Yes it will slow down the response of doing an alt tab to other apps, for the writes it's very debatable, if the OS has to swap around the main and the background mem anyway all the time because there isn't enough real mem then cleaning up once before could prevent that.
There isn't really one single catch all answer here, yes it's always better to just leave the OS to do whatever it thinks is best but the question was theoretical in part at least.

If you're in a situation where the OS has to constantly swap data in and out of the page file, you're basically in a situation where you either need to:

• Close unused apps to free up enough memory so swapping doesn't happen as much
• Get more memory

There is no "cleaning up" real memory. The only clean up you can safely do is clear out the cached contents, but the OS does that anyway. You cannot clean up memory leaks (how can you verify with absolutely 100% certainty that something is a leak?) and shrinking memory commits is a bad idea.

 

[TerryLaze]

There is no "cleaning up" real memory. The only clean up you can safely do is clear out the cached contents, but the OS does that anyway. You cannot clean up memory leaks (how can you verify with absolutely 100% certainty that something is a leak?) and shrinking memory commits is a bad idea.

Tools can send all the mem pages that allow it to the pagefile that's what freeing up real mem.
And as I said already, I do not disagree with you on the other stuff and yes it is pretty useless on a modern OS that fills up the mem and with tons of background stuff that do the same.