Available physical memory, XP

I installed a Windows XP x86 on my PC. But when I open the system information window in the System Summary tab, in the right-hand pane and at bottom the following are written:

Total Physical memory 768.00 MB Available Physical memory 270.41 MB !!

Why Available Physical memory is 270.41 MB please?

PS: My system is very slow and also very slower when start up. Isn't that less Available Physical memory the source of that slowness?

user3724662

Posted 2014-07-09T08:20:03.050

Reputation: 107

Please update your question with detailed information (make, model) of your CPU, GPU and motherboard. – Daniel B – 2014-07-09T10:42:15.600

OK but please wait some while. I'm installing new XP on that machine right now. – user3724662 – 2014-07-09T10:43:40.757

Answers

The Operating System will always consume some amount of memory to do it's work and reserve some for caching data.

Furthermore, any programs that you might have installed and have components that load on startup will consume memory. Eg: Antivirus.

Memory is also consumed by the inbuilt graphics capabilities of your processor/motherboard.

The total amount consumed can also vary depending on how much RAM is currently available.

Finally, for a good example, I have a desktop system at home with 512 MB RAM but only 448MB is available as 64MB goes for inbuilt graphics. After booting, I have only about 80MB available and this gets used up really quickly once I open a browser, leading to slowdowns.

To boost performance significantly, perhaps you should consider upgrading your RAM.

ValarMorghulis

Posted 2014-07-09T08:20:03.050

Reputation: 96

Thank you for the answer. So it's normal situation and I can't do anything (without adding more RAM) to increase the amount of available memory, yes? – user3724662 – 2014-07-09T10:38:04.080

I'm afraid so. As a temporary measure however, you could try running CCleaner to remove junk files. Also it might be a good idea to optimize your startup. Just open Start->Run->msconfig and there, in the startup tab, sort by manufacturer and you will find unnecessary third-party programs like Adobe Reader Updater or Java Updater. Uncheck those and you will be prompted for a restart. These are just examples. Google the name of the programs and use your judgement to disable those that you don't need. One last thing that might help is regular defragmentation of your hard disk. – ValarMorghulis – 2014-07-09T10:45:49.120

OW. Thank you very much. I'm now installing a new XP on that. I do what you said. And please wait some while, after that I give your answer an answer vote. – user3724662 – 2014-07-09T10:49:25.893

You're welcome. Keep us updated on your progress. – ValarMorghulis – 2014-07-09T10:50:52.203

After first start up of that new XP. the available RAM increased to 560 MB :)))). – user3724662 – 2014-07-09T11:30:10.677

That is very good to know. Now as far as speed in concerned, regular maintenance is a must. Cheers :) – ValarMorghulis – 2014-07-10T06:01:07.840

Like regular Disk Defragment. Thank you dear mate :) – user3724662 – 2014-07-10T06:08:08.487

The motherboard might be using some of that memory as well as the onboard video card if there is any solded onto the motherboard

user330063

Posted 2014-07-09T08:20:03.050

Reputation: 61

So isn't it manipulatable to being able to increase that Available Physical memory? – user3724662 – 2014-07-09T10:08:16.550

I assume your harddisk is working overtime as well ?
You can reduce memory usage. Firstly, install a program called CLEANMEM (from PcWinTech) and let the program also collapse the filecache. Reduced memory usage also means that Win XP doesn't need to access the harddisk that often. It improves overall system performance.
The best way is to add more memory. I assume you must remove the existing memory modules (3x 256 MB) and install 2 512 MB or 2 1 GB modules. GOOGLE it, to find out how much memory can be installed on your system.

Willy2

Posted 2014-07-09T08:20:03.050

Reputation: 17