Clear RAM Windows 10
Are you looking to clear RAM on a Windows 10 computer? If yes, we are going to show you the best ways of doing it. Random Access Memory (RAM), or Memory, is one of the most important component’s determining performance on a computer. Working on a computer that does not have enough RAM, even if it has the fastest processor, can be frustrating. That’s why so many people are looking for a RAM cleaner for their computers. The idea is that if you can clear your computer’s Memory; that will speed up things a bit. So, how do you do it? How do you clear RAM on Windows 10? This article is divided into the following sections;
What is RAM?
RAM is a form of memory that can be found on a computer. Unlike the hard drive, RAM is volatile. What this means is that the moment your computer loses power, everything that’s on your computer’s RAM gets wiped off. In that sense, RAM is temporary storage on a computer.
So, what’s the use of RAM if that is the case? Well, RAM is, as already noted, an integral component in the performance of every computer that’s out there. Its strength lies in the fact that it can be accessed by a computer’s processor way faster than the non-volatile hard drive. That significantly speeds up computers.
How does it work?
The moment you open a program on your computer, its files get shunted from the hard drive to RAM. So, as you work on whatever it is that you are working on, things happen very fast. As you open more programs, the amount of Memory that’s in use increases.
If you don’t have enough RAM, you will begin to notice a significant performance degradation at some point. That’s because after exhausting the RAM, your processor will now need to access some of the programs that you have opened straight from the hard drive.
Fact is, the hard drive is rather slow when compared to RAM. So, if you work on heavy weight programs such as games and image manipulation programs, you need as much RAM as you can get. And you can never have too much RAM!
Which Programs Are Using Up RAM On My Computer?
Before showing you how to clear RAM on Windows 10, we first need to show you how you can see which programs are using up what amounts of Memory on your PC. Having this knowledge will allow you to determine whether or not RAM is actually the cause of your computer slowing down. Sometimes people blame Memory for the slowness of their PCs when the problem is actually elsewhere. The following is how to see the amounts of RAM being used by programs on your computer;
- Right click on the Task Bar on your computer and click on Task Manager.
- You can see the percentage RAM being used by your computer on the Memory section. Our computer is currently using up 78%, as you can see in the above screenshot.
- To see which program is using the most RAM, click on Memory. Make sure that the figures are displayed from biggest to smallest.
Is 78% bad?
We have previously written an article in which we ask how much RAM should be in use at any given point in time. The computer that we used for writing this article had 3GHz RAM. So, what it meant was that our computer was using up around 2.340GHz RAM at the time when the screenshot above was taken.
So, is that bad? The answer is, no! We weren’t actually doing anything spectacular that demanded lot’s of RAM. Fact of the matter is, the Memory that’s on your computer is meant to be used. It’s not there for show.
If your computer is slow, yet it’s not using up all the RAM that’s available, then it means that things are rather inefficient. Of course, there should be something always in reserve, but generally speaking, you want to use as much RAM as is possible. That way, your computer wont have a hard time when it comes to opening the programs that you are using.
Memory is meant to be used
The reason why people set out to clear RAM Windows 10 is due to the fact that they look at the amount of RAM that their computers are a using and they get scared. If someone sees a computer using 78% RAM, as ours was doing, they start to worry. They imagine that the world is coming to an end or something. And the only way to prevent the calamity is to look for a RAM cleaner for Windows 10.
However, that is hardly the case. The memory that’s on your computer is meant to be used. We explained what RAM is for above. Just to sum up, RAM is a form of memory that the processor can access way quicker when compared to the hard drive. So, the more RAM you have, the more programs are going to be stored there for your immediate access.
It means your computer’s processor won’t have to shunt programs that you are working on on and off the Hard Drive, which can be rather inefficient. So, you should not worry that your computer is using too much RAM. RAM is there to be made use of. If your computer is not doing this, then there is something fundamentally wrong that needs further investigation.
How to clear RAM on Windows 10 without using a third party utility
We come back to the object of this article. We have already noted that people see the percentage of RAM in use on their computers and they automatically start looking for information on how to clear RAM Windows 10. What we can say is that you shouldn’t clear Windows 10 RAM unless your computer has become rather slow. If your programs are using up 90% of RAM yet your PC is breezing along just fine, there is no need to look for RAM cleaner for Windows 10. Having said that, there are a number of things that you can do to clear RAM on Windows 10 computers;
1. Close programs that you are not using
One way in which you can clear RAM on Windows 10 computers without the use of a RAM cleaner is by closing the programs on which you are not working. What usually happens when people are surfing online is that people open so many programs and they forget all about them.
Typically, you may start by opening one web page. From there, you keep opening new tabs till you have up to 10 tabs open in your browsers. Thing is, we page tend to be real RAM hogs. They are usually the worst culprits when it comes to slowing down computers.
How many you are going to be able to open without affecting the performance of your computer depends on the amount of memory that you have. On our laptop which has 3GHz of RAM, we start seeing things slowing down when we have opened about 4 or 5 web pages at once. It depends on how heavy the pages are, of course. But you get the idea.
You can clear Windows 10 RAM by simply closing those tabs that you no longer need. Also close all the other programs that you are done with. It’s not only about the browser. Even your media player or Word can slow down a computer. The point is, don’t open too many programs on your computer.
Close some programs. Once you have done this, you will see your computer beginning to breathe a little. That’s because the processor will no longer need to send items to the rather slow Virtual Memory on your hard drive.
2. Close RAM hogging programs in Task Manager
This is another step that you can take to clear RAM in Windows 10. Remember we noted that you can see which programs are using what amounts of Memory via Task Manager. Right click on the Task Bar and open Task Manager. In Task Manager, click on Memory to view programs according to RAM use.
Now, if there are some programs in there are using all of your RAM, you can close them to free up additional Memory. That’s assuming that you are not using the programs, of course. In most instances, RAM is used up by programs that you are working on. So, this tip is probably limited as far as clearing Windows 10 RAM is concerned.
3. Restart your computer
The reason why you have set out to clear RAM Windows 10 is probably because your computer has suddenly become rather slow. This happens if you don’t have enough Memory on your PC. As such, your computer struggles to shunt programs between the processor and the hard drive. We mention elsewhere in this article that the hard drive is rather slow.
One way of clearing RAM on Windows 10 is by simply restarting your computer. RAM is volatile as noted at the top. By switching your computer on and off, you essentially wipe everything that’s on your PC’s Memory. So, you are starting from a clean slate. This tends to significantly boost a computer’s performance, at least till you open RAM hogging programs one more time.
4. Clear Page Files When Shutting down you computer
Remember what we mentioned about Memory being volatile? We noted that it means that the moment you turn off your computer, everything that’s on your RAM modules gets wiped off. That’s great in that you will be starting with a clean slate. It’s the major reason why restarting a computer is often the solution when things start getting slow whenever you are doing whatever you do on your PC.
However, Windows also has what is known as the Page File. It is also sometimes called Virtual Memory. The Page File is on the hard drive. It’s used as backup for your RAM. So, when things start getting full on your computer’s Memory, some of the data that you are working on is transferred to the Page File.
The Page File is rather slow, when compared to RAM. However, it’s better than nothing. Sometimes when reopening programs that have been minimized for a long time, you will notice that it takes a long time for the programs to come up. That’s because data for these programs will have been transferred to the Page File.
When you click on the program, the processor starts transferring this data from the Page File to your PC’s RAM, which can take a few seconds. It can be useful to set things up that the Page File is cleared each time you shut down your computer. That way you will be starting over on a clean slate. The following is to how to set Windows 10 to automatically clear the Page Files upon shut down;
- Simultaneously click on the Windows + R keys on your computer’s keyboard.
- In the Run widget, type regedit and press on the OK button.
- You will be asked whether you wish to allow Registry Editor to make changes on your computer. Click Yes to proceed.
- In the Registry Editor, click on HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
- Then click on SYSTEM
- From there, click on CurrentControlSet
- Then click on Control
- You then need to click on Session Manager
- Next, click on Memory Management
- In the right page, double click on ClearPageFileAtShutdown and set the value at 1.
- Click on OK to save your changes.
5. Add RAM Modules
One of the best things about RAM is that it is one of the easiest upgrades that you can do on a computer that will have an immediate impact on performance. So, before you even start researching how to clear RAM Windows 10, you first need to see what you can do about buying more RAM modules.
How much RAM should a Windows 10 computer have? Well, how about as much as possible? To be fair, you are probably going to encounter some impediments along the way. As an example, 32 bit computers can only take up to 4GHz in RAM. So, that’s your limit if you have a 32 bit computer.
64 bit computers, on the other hand, can, in theory, take up to up to 16.8 million terabytes in RAM. That’s an immense amount. However, that’s hardly going to be practical. On our 64 bit Windows 10 computer, we can only upgrade to 8GHz. It all depends on the version of Windows 10 that you have. The following are the RAM limitations for Windows 10 computers;
| Windows 10 Version | Maximum Amount of RAM |
|---|---|
| Starter | 8GB |
| Home Basic | 8GB |
| Home Premium | 16GB |
| Professional | 192GB |
| Enterprise | 192GB |
| Ultimate | 192GB |
Windows 10 RAM Limits
6. Keep all your programs updated
Improvements are constantly being made to software that runs on our computers. These improvements include better RAM usage. What it means is that you need to make sure that your computer gets updates as soon as they get released. That’s how to clear RAM on Windows 10; by ensuring that you are running the most up to date programs that are designed for better RAM usage.
7. Disable Startup Programs
This tips works not only if you wish to clear RAM on Windows 10. It also works for generally speeding up your computer. On all Windows computers, there are a number of programs that automatically start up each time you turn on your computer. Most of these programs are not really needed.
As an example, you don’t really need to have Skype run automatically each time you turn on your computer. Unless you are a heavy Skype user, that is. Anyway, you can clear RAM Windows 10 by disabling some programs from Startup. To do so, you need to take the following steps;
- Right click on the Taskbar and open Task Manager.
- In Task Manager, click on Startup.
- You will see all the programs that automatically get turned on when you switch on your computer.
- Under Status, you will see whether they are enable or disabled.
- Under Startup impact, you will see the effect that they have on the performance of your computer when you switch it on. Some of these programs can negatively affect your boot times.
- To stop a program from starting up when you turn on your computer, simply right click on the program and click on Disable. You can see in the above screenshot that some programs are disabled while others are enabled.
How does this clear Windows 10 Memory?
This works for those looking at how to clear RAM on Windows 10 because once you disable programs from starting up, they will no longer be using any Memory. So, the fewer programs you have in use at any one point in time, the better. It means you will have that much more free RAM to play around with.
Use a RAM Cleaner for Windows 10
The first method of how to clear RAM in Windows 10 involved the use of build in utilities on your computer without needing to install third party software. However, the demand to clean Windows 10 RAM is such that there are actually lot’s of tools out there that have been specifically designed to accomplish the task. Most people out there are looking for a RAM cleaner Windows 10.
There are many RAM cleaners on the market today. Examples include the Avira System Speed up utility. Other RAM cleaners include Minimen, Super Memory Cleaner and much more.
Should I use a RAM cleaner for Windows 10?
Is it necessary to go hunting for a RAM cleaner in order to clear RAM on a Windows 10 computer? To be fair, you will find mixed view about this issue. There are some who content that RAM does not need to be cleaned.
Then there are others who say a RAM cleaner is the way to go since it automates the process of clearing RAM on your computer. They say a RAM cleaner is the way to go as far as how to free RAM in Windows 10 is concerned. So, which side of the puzzle has it right?
To be fair, RAM cleaners can be great. They clear RAM cache on Windows 10 computers, thus ensuring that your computer runs smoothly. So, it you would rather not worry about RAM every now and again, a Memory cleaner is the way to go as far as how to clear RAM Windows 10 is concerned. We have already given you a number of examples. Find the best RAM cleaner for Windows 10 and use it on your computer.
Having said that, you don’t necessarily need to jump straight to this option. Before opting for a RAM cleaner for your Windows 10 computer, why don’t you try out the methods given in the first section of this article? By disabling Startup programs and closing unused programs, you will be able to free RAM on Windows 10.
This can be done without the need to buy a third party utility. If you are still not satisfied with the results, you can then look for a RAM cleaner for Windows 10. A number of these tools are free. However, you will find some that you need to pay for.
Summary
Random Access Memory (RAM) or simply Memory is an important component on any computer. It’s one of the things that determine the performance of your PC. You can check the amount of RAM in use on your computer in Task Manager. If your computer has begun to slow down, you may wish to clear RAM Windows 10.
There are a couple of methods that can be used to achieve this aim. You can try to optimize the programs on your computer. This includes by disabling startup programs and only having a few programs open at any given point in time.
You can also use a Windows 10 RAM cleaner. This automates the process of clearing Memory on your PC. Finally, you should consider buying additional RAM modules. By adding RAM, you give your computer some breathing space. It’s important, in any case, to free RAM on Windows 10 as a way of boosting a computer’s performance.