RAMpage - Freeware memory monitor FAQs

The "Installation" and "Getting Started" sections of the User Guide should get you up and running: http://www.jfitz.com/software/RAMpage/RAMpageUserGuide.html

Once you have RAMpage installed and running, you can browse these FAQs from time to time to answer any other specific questions you might have.

If you can't find an answer to your question here, email me: fitz@jfitz.com

What versions of Windows will RAMpage run on?

RAMpage has been tested on Windows 95, 98, 2000, ME and NT 4.0. It should run on any 32 bit version of Windows, (including XP), though the setup program may not recognize new/unusual versions, (like XP). If the setup program does not run, you can download a version without the setup. Details are in the User Guide.

Note that NT, 2000 and XP are all based on the NT kernel. There is no compelling evidence to suggest that freeing memory does anything to improve performance or reliability on these systems, (in fact it will generally have a minor negative impact on performance). These versions also include memory monitoring screens in the Task Manager, so I don't think there is much point running RAMpage on these systems.

Why does RAV tell me that GkDeReg.exe is infected with Trojan:Keylog.SSKC?

Older versions of RAV's antivirus definitions generate this "false positive".

RAV (finally!) corrected this problem in May 2004. RAV have informed me that newer versions of their antivirus definitions will not generate this warning.

If you are seeing this warning when you download RAMpage from http://www.jfitz.com/RAMpage/, then you should update your antivirus definitions.

What are the known bugs with RAMpage?

The majority of "bugs" reported to me are in fact problems with installation, or misunderstandings about how to use the program. The following is a list of all reported problems that are genuine problems, or that I haven't yet been able to get to the bottom of:

Machines that have more than 2G of memory may report figures of 2G or less of free memory. The original version of RAMpage was written before Windows had proper support for more than 2G of memory, so the system calls it makes to check available memory do not take the newer functionality into account.
Some users report that the setup program fails on certain Windows versions, particularly Windows ME. If the setup program does not run, you can download RAMpage without the setup. Details are in the User Guide
A number of users report that the numbers in the tray icon appear "fuzzy". This is a result of Windows resizing icons when the default height of the tray is changed. You can reset the height as follows: Right-click on the desktop. Select "Properties", then "Appearance". Click on the text "Active Window". Reset the "Size" field to 18 and click "OK".
A few users have reported problems using RAMpage when power-saving mode kicks in, or when shutting down Windows 98. This is a Windows problem that can be fixed by installing the power-saving/shutdown patches from Microsoft. You can download them from the "Product Updates" section at: http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com. The problems reported could occur with any background process, and the results can be nasty, so its well worth installing the patches. If RAMpage doesn't stumble upon the problem, its likely that some other program eventually will.
The Page File figures are inaccurate on NT and Windows 2000. This is a bug in Windows with the function call used to retrieve this information. I have tried other memory monitoring software, and they report the same (incorrect) information. Its no wonder that Application Developers have problems managing memory when core functions like this return inaccurate information. (Note to developers: the API call is "GlobalMemoryStatus".)
One user commented on download.com: "RAMpage screwed up my PC". Unfortunately, they never contacted me, so I have no further details to work with. I guess with tens of thousands of downloads there are bound to be some that just don't work out.

How do I make RAMpage run when an application finishes running?

The "Run and Release" utility was added in version 1.6 to allow automated memory freeing when an application exits.

Details on how to set it up are included in the User Guide.

Is the source code available?

Despite the fact that RAMpage is advertised as open source, with several links to the source, this is still a FAQ. Yes, the source is available. The download link is in the "Installation" section of the User Guide: http://www.jfitz.com/software/RAMpage/RAMpageUserGuide.html

Will RAMpage mess up scandisk or disk defragmenter?

RAMpage only accesses your hard drive when it is freeing memory.

So, provided you have closed all your big memory-hogging applications, (and therefore there is no need for RAMpage to free memory), RAMpage will not interfere with scandisk or defrag.

If RAMpage does start freeing memory while you have scandisk or defrag running, just right-click on the tray icon and select Exit - this won't mess up defrag or scandisk, (though the disk access would slow them down). If you do notice that RAMpage is freeing memory while scandisk or defrag is running, and you have no other applications running, then you have some seriously memory-intensive background application running, (which you should try to get rid of), or you have RAMpage's threshold for freeing memory set to high.

The numbers in the tray are hard to read or "fuzzy". Why?

If you have version 1.5 or greater, and still notice this problem, it is probably because Windows is resizing the tray icons. This happens when the height of the tray is changed from its default value. You can reset the height as follows: Right-click on the desktop. Select "Properties", then "Appearance". Click on the text "Active Window". Reset the "Size" field to 18 and click "OK".

How come the tray icon disappears when I click "OK" in the settings screen?

This is a bug in the configuration screen in version 1.5. The best solution is to upgrade to version 1.6. However, if you really want to stick with version 1.5, you can download a fix for the faulty screen here: http://www.jfitz.com/software/RAMpage/rampg151.zip

Note: This patch file replaces the configuration screen only. You still need to install version 1.5 if you haven't already done so.

I'm running version 1.x of RAMpage. What's changed? Should I upgrade?

Version 1.3 and up have all been pretty stable, so if the version you have is working for you, then there is no compelling reason to upgrade. If you have version 1.2 or earlier I would advise upgrading, though even in these versions the bugs are unlikely to cause problems for most users. Of course, if you find a problem with any of the earlier versions, it does make sense to get the latest version -- a number of minor problems that affect certain Windows configurations have been fixed.

If you want the smallest possible executable size and memory footprint, then you should get 1.6. It halves the executable size, and knocks about 10K off the memory footprint.

The most significant changes since version 1.3 are the addition of the memory defragmentation options, (version 1.4), the option to free memory even if the last attempt failed, (version 1.5), and the "Run and Release" utility, (version 1.6). 1.3 always defragmented freed memory into a single chunk, and it tried to free memory less frequently if memory remained consistently low. The "Run and Release" utility allows you to trigger memory freeing automatically when an application exits.

The defragmentation options were added to speed up the memory freeing operation -- there is generally no need to defragment memory if there is a sufficiently large amount of free memory available. The option to free memory even if the last attempt failed was added because some really buggy applications will run longer if RAMpage constantly keeps memory above a threshold, (though the constant struggle to free memory does decrease performance).

A full list of changes with each version of RAMpage is included in the User Guide.

Windows keeps crashing or runs really slowly. Will RAMpage solve my problems?

Probably not, but many users claim it helps.

RAMpage monitors and frees memory. That's it. End of story. A buggy application that eats graphic resources will still be a buggy application that eats graphics resources after you've loaded RAMpage. There are claims that some applications seem less prone to crashing if available physical memory doesn't drop too low. If this is the case, running RAMpage with a low threshold, (or running it from a batch file from time to time), might help keep a system up and running.

RAMpage can help a lot if you're trying to identify a memory-hogging application, or if you're working to improve your system's settings and want to keep an eye on free memory as you go.

I have seen posts on newsgroups where someone wildly praises RAMpage as the solution to all their resource-related problems one day, only to post again the next day to say that it doesn't work. Neither of these posts are accurate -- RAMpage works exactly as described, but it is not a Windows cure-all.

I'm a hardcore gamer. Should I use RAMpage?

The answer to this question was so long, I gave it a page all to itself. You'll only need to read it if you're into high-action/graphic-intense games like Quake. The Gamer FAQ page is here.

I installed RAMpage. My free memory is 5M on a 128M machine. Why? What can I do about it?

Some possible problems:

Poor file cache settings
Unnecessary programs loaded when Windows starts
Bad swap file settings/Not enough free hard disk space
Other bad Windows settings, (i.e. Microsoft default settings)

Some solutions:
Note: DO a backup. DON'T blame me if you mess up.

Cacheman
http://www.outertech.com/english/index.html
For optimizing your disk cache settings this is undoubtedly the easiest tool to use, and does a great job too. From the "Settings" menu, Cacheman lists a set of "typical" users, (Standard User, Power User, Multimedia, etc). Simply select the setting that best describes how you use your machine and Cacheman picks the appropriate settings. Experienced users can specify their own settings.

Startup Changer 2000
[Link Broken]
This is a great tool that shows everything that runs automatically at startup. Also, you can remove/restore items from the start sequence. The program backs up entries rather than removing them, so its safe and easy to use. What I did: Deselect EVERYTHING that's listed, see what stops working and add things back as needed. Note: Windows does not require any of the items listed by Startup Changer, so you will not "damage" Windows by deselecting everything. You will probably find that some of your applications and peripherals, (printers, virus checkers, network, etc), stop working. If this happens, its then a question of guesswork and trial and error to put back the startup items that are required.

Windows 98 also comes with a tool MSCONFIG for changing system.ini and win.ini settings, (Select "Run" from the start menu, then enter "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MSCONFIG.EXE"). Changing system.ini settings to remove unnecessary drivers can be useful, but this is definitely something that only an advanced user should try - bad settings can crash Windows.

Permanent Swap File, (Virtual Memory Settings)
http://www.rojakpot.com/Speed_Demonz.htm
The swap file is used to temporarily store information held in memory. Creating a correctly sized permanent swap file can improve memory usage. Unfortunately, the physical location of the swap file has a big impact on performance, (it should be on the outer edge of the disk), and getting it set up in the best location is difficult to do without reinstalling Windows. The site listed gives a lot of information about the swap file and memory usage in general.

My personal feeling is that it is better to use a permanent swap file, even if you can't get it on the outer edge of the disk. This is something that can be tried, then changed later if you find its not working out.

Note: if you do not have a permanent swap file, you should never allow your hard disk to become too full, and you should defragment regularly. This is because Windows will be forced to use memory unnecessarily if it cannot create a big enough swap file. Generally speaking, if you don't have a permanent swap file, I would recommend keeping at least 512M free on the disk partition that holds the windows directory, (usually the "C" drive).

Other Windows Tweaks
http://members.aol.com/axcel216/
This is a great site with Windows tweaking information. You can download a zipped version of the tweaks if you want to work on them offline.

What's the significance of the color of the graph, or the bar below the reading?

If your computer has less than 1000M of total RAM:

A green graph, or bar below the reading, indicates more than 20% of total RAM is free.
A yellow graph or bar indicates between 5% and 20% free RAM.
A red graph or bar indicates that less than 5% of total RAM is free.

For machines with over 1000M of total RAM, with one of the numeric display types chosen, a green bar indicates 1000M or more free RAM and yellow indicates less than 1000M. This is to allow for the fact that only three digits will fit in the display. A reading of "400" with a green bar would indicate 1400M free, while "400" with a yellow bar would actually mean 400M free. The graphic display types are not affected.

The color-coding is informational only. Having less than 5% of RAM free is not unusual, or necessarily a bad thing.

What do the readings in the "Details" box mean?

Total RAM = Total RAM in your machine, (cryptic, eh?)
Free RAM = Current available RAM
Total Page = Total size of your current swap file
Free Page = Current available space in the swap file
Total Virtual = Total address space
Free Virtual = Current available address space

Windows literature often refers to the swap file settings as "virtual memory settings", (I even do it myself on this web site). Strictly speaking, this is not correct. "Virtual Memory" refers, (more or less), to the full memory range that your CPU could access if you had unlimited RAM and/or swap file space. Unless you have a huge amount of memory and swap space, and are running enormous applications, its unlikely that you'll ever run low on address space. "Low virtual memory" error messages that you may see from time to time would probably be more accurate if they read "Low swap space".

How come the "Total RAM" figure doesn't exactly match the amount of RAM in my PC?

The "Total" RAM shown is the figure Windows believes is available in the machine. It doesn't include memory that was allocated for DOS drivers before Windows was loaded. Note: If the figure you see is significantly lower than you expected, you should investigate to see if there are DOS drivers you can remove, (in CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT).

How does RAMpage free memory? Is Swap Space being used? Is it defragmenting memory?

RAMpage frees memory by grabbing it and releasing it.

For example, say you have 20M free and you have RAMpage set to free 10M. When you double-click, the program requests 30M from Windows and then frees that memory. What exactly Windows is doing is a closely guarded secret out of Redmond WA. My best educated guess is that Windows does some "garbage collection", (that is it frees memory that has been discarded by processes but not yet added back to the free memory pool), unloads any unnecessary dlls, and moves current applications out to the swap file.

The "Defragmentation" options in version 1.4 and up simply determine whether RAMpage will request a single large block of memory, (Defrag=Yes), or multiple smaller blocks, (Defrag=No). The default operation, (Defrag=When Low), is to request a single block of memory if the total free memory after the freeing operation is less than one third of the total installed memory. Otherwise, multiple blocks are requested. It may seem like requesting a single block would result in defragmentation of the physical memory, while requesting multiple blocks would leave memory fragmented. In fact, because of the way Windows manages memory, both methods should leave physical memory defragmented, so my use of the term "defragmentation options" is actually misleading. I considered removing these options, but have found that there are (slight) material differences in the time spent freeing memory, and the resulting amount of free memory, using the two methods. My only advice would be to try each method and see if they make any difference for your setup.

So what good is RAMpage? Surely any application that requests memory will cause Windows to make the memory available by pushing data out to the swap file? The only difference I can see is that RAMpage initializes the allocated memory as soon as it gets it. This forces Windows to really get the memory and do any necessary memory "housekeeping". As to whether this makes any difference to Windows is debatable -- but if you believe a memory freeing tool is useful, you may as well use a small, efficient, free one.

Can I change the sound RAMpage makes when freeing memory?

RAMpage uses the default Windows "exclamation" sound. To change it, select "Settings" then "Control Panel" then "Sounds". From the "Sounds" window, you can select a different wave file for the "Exclamation" sound.

Changing it does mean that all applications that use the exclamation sound will also be changed. RAMpage uses a "system" sound like this because its more efficient than loading a sound specifically for RAMpage.

Yes. Later versions have additional options for defragmenting memory. The default option is to defragment only when memory is low. Choosing the "Always" option will cause the program to behave like version 1.3. I should warn you that if you are noticing this difference between the various versions, you are probably trying to free too much memory.

Can I double-click the icon as often as I want to? Can that cause problems?

The short answer(s): Yes you can, no it doesn't, and you'd be stupid to try it.

Each time you double-click the program tries to free the amount of memory you specified in the configuration screen.

You can continue attempting to free memory until the system can't free any more. However, there isn't much point doing this unless you have an application running that is complaining that it needs more memory. Freeing RAM just for the heck of it will cause Windows to read and write the swap file, which slows things down. Attempting to free large amounts of memory does not do any damage, (except for slowing things down), though you may get "out of memory" messages from applications or from Windows while RAMpage is trying to free memory.

Does the menu option "Free Memory" work the same as double-clicking the icon?

Exactly.

How do I turn off the automatic memory freeing feature?

Setting a threshold of zero in the Configuration Screen turns off automatic freeing.

I set the threshold to zero but RAMpage 1.3 still frees memory from time to time. Why?

This is a bug in version 1.3 -- the automatic freeing will kick in if you actually reach zero bytes of free memory. This problem is fixed in later versions so that a setting of zero does effectively turn off automatic freeing.

Why won't RAMpage start when Windows starts?

There is a bug in version 1.4 which affects some users depending on what other software is installed -- even though they check the "Start RAMpage when Windows starts" box, nothing happens at Windows start-up.

This bug is fixed in version 1.5

If you need a workaround for version 1.4 try this:

Run regedit, (select "Run" from the Start menu and enter "regedit")
In regedit, drill down to the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE->SOFTWARE->Microsoft->Windows->CurrentVersion->Run
Double click on the value named "RAMpage" in the right hand window
Place quotes around the executable file name and path. For example:
C:\Program Files\RAMpage v1.4\RAMpage.exe M=16 T=4 etc...
would become:
"C:\Program Files\RAMpage v1.4\RAMpage.exe" M=16 T=4 etc...
Click OK to save the change, then exit regedit

The tray icon is upside down. Why?

This appears to be a Windows bug that affects a small number of users who have version 1.3 or earlier. The bug is fixed in version 1.4 and up. (Note to developers: The bug was caused by the use of a top-down bitmap. Changing the code to use a bottom-up bitmap fixed the problem.)

On NT, the tray icon numbers are gray instead of white. Why?

This appears to be an NT bug handling the highly compressed bitmaps that RAMpage uses. With version 1.3 or earlier, NT always displays white as gray. With version 1.4 the display is correct if you have selected more than 256 colors in the Windows display properties box. I think I finally have the problem licked in version 1.5.

Since I installed RAMpage I'm getting "extremely low resources" messages. Why?

RAMpage frees memory by acquiring it and then releasing it. When it grabs memory, Windows may pop up a "low resources" message. This is usually the result of having an insufficiently large swap file.

Frankly, if you don't currently have memory problems, you may wish to leave well enough alone, and just stop using RAMpage. Or you might like to keep it just to monitor memory usage. In this case, set the threshold for freeing memory automatically to zero. If you do have other memory problems, you should try adjusting your swap file settings. You'll find links to information on how to do this elsewhere in these FAQs.

RAMpage seems to use the default values each time I restart Windows even though the configuration screen shows the values I selected. Why?

You've probably put a shortcut to RAMpage in the Startup folder without adding command line parameters. You do not need a Startup shortcut if you are using the configuration screen.

The configuration screen pops up each time I restart Windows. Why?

You've probably put a shortcut to RAMpageConfig in the Startup folder. You do not need a Startup folder shortcut if you are using the configuration screen.

Why does RAMpage not include...
...a setting to free memory periodically?
...a higher threshold for freeing memory?
...a time limit for how long to spend freeing memory?
...a limit for the number of times to retry freeing memory?

I don't buy into the idea of trying to maintain a fixed, (large), amount of free memory, or freeing memory every so often. Trying to maintain, say, 32M of free RAM on a machine with 128M is effectively wasting 32M of RAM. In general, Windows uses memory intelligently, (never thought I'd hear myself say that). By "intelligent" I mean that it tries to keep as much useful information in memory as possible. Freeing lots of memory generates unnecessary swap file activity and rarely does anything to improve the performance of the applications that are left behind.

Freeing memory does seem to be useful when memory has leaked over time, or a large number of simultaneous applications are running and a new application is struggling to find more memory. This will not occur until you are down to your last few MBs of RAM. In this situation RAMpage can do a pretty good job. Set the threshold to say 5M and set the amount of memory to free to say 15 - 20M on a 128M machine, (lower if you have less RAM), and you should rarely have to double click the icon. Keeping the amount of memory to free low will also mean that when you do double click, RAMpage should be able to free memory pretty quickly, (assuming you're not double clicking when you already have lots of free RAM).

If you are setting an "amount of memory to free" value that causes a lot of swap file (hard disk) activity, or that takes a long time for RAMpage to free, the chances are one of the following applies: (1) the figure you have set is too high, (2) you need to tweak file cache and/or virtual memory settings, (3) you have a badly "leaking" application, or (4) you genuinely need more memory.

Since the program is not intended to be used to free large amounts of memory, features like a timer, or a time limit and number of times to retry just increase the program size without adding useful functionality.

If you are absolutely convinced that maintaining a lot of free RAM improves performance, I would suggest trying RamBooster. It has target and retry limit functionality, and, from my own tests, it has a reasonably low memory footprint and performs well. However, I should warn you that I have contacted the author and he has confirmed to me that he does not intend his program to be used in this way any more than I do mine.

If you really want to use RAMpage to free a big chunk of memory on a regular basis, you can use the Windows System Agent to schedule the command line version to run with the "Run Once" parameter, and as high a threshold and amount of memory to free as you wish. I very strongly believe that whatever problem you have that you think this will resolve can probably be solved with other far more effective tweaks.

By the way, RAMpage was originally written just to monitor memory while I tried various tweaks to improve the performance of my own machine. My ultimate goal was to tweak my system enough that memory optimizers became redundant, (and its very questionable as to whether they would ever have been useful in the first place). I'm now running Windows 98 SE with 80M of RAM, (and a bunch of tweaks). I run lots of heavy-duty apps, my free memory is regularly at zero, I do not use any memory-freeing tool, and my system is very stable, apart from one or two hardware/software bugs that are completely unrelated to memory or resource usage.

What's the difference between RAMpage.exe, RAMpageH.exe and RAMpageConfig.exe?

RAMpage.exe is the "core" program that runs in the System Tray.

RAMpageH.exe is the "hidden" version of RAMpage -- it runs without the tray icon.

RAMpageConfig.exe displays the configuration screen. This is the program that actually runs when you select RAMpage from the Programs Menu. When you click "OK" in the configuration screen RAMpageConfig.exe runs RAMpage.exe, (or RAMpageH.exe). If you have chosen to start RAMpage when Windows starts, RAMpageConfig.exe will also place an entry in your Registry to run RAMpage.exe or RAMpageH.exe with the selected parameters when Windows starts.

As with previous versions, advanced users can bypass RAMpageConfig.exe and call RAMpage.exe, (or RAMpageH.exe), directly, with appropriate command line parameters.

The available command line parameters are listed in the User Guide: http://www.jfitz.com/software/RAMpage/RAMpageUserGuide.html

This "three program" arrangement sounds awkward. Why not put the lot in one program?

Memory - its all about memory. RAMpage.exe uses about 150K of memory, (on Windows 95, 188K on Windows 98), while its sitting in your System Tray, (RAMpageH.exe uses even less -- about 90K). If the program included the configuration screen, that figure would be, (at least), about 400 - 500K.

The current arrangement means the System Tray program uses the minimum possible memory, but configuring the program is still relatively easy.

RAMpage.exe only takes up 11K on my hard disk, why does it use 150K of memory?

This is because both the program and Windows allocate additional resources when the program starts. This happens for all applications, so do not be mislead by the size of ".exe" or ".dll" files. Its not unusual for a Windows application to occupy several times the total file size after its been loaded -- and that's before it starts grabbing memory to do work!

What's GKDeReg.exe used for?

GKDeReg.exe is a program that is called during uninstalls to remove Registry entries.

What's the advantage of using RAMpage instead of the VB scripting trick?

Note: If you don't know what the "VB scripting trick" is, look for the "FREE MORE MEMORY" trick here: http://members.aol.com/axcel216/newtip.htm

If you run RAMpage when Windows starts it grabs 150K of memory. As a result, even if you have almost 0 bytes of free memory, its very likely that you will still be able to double click the tray icon and get RAMpage to do its job, (and this case has been "tested" by a number of unfortunate users). If you have the VB script lying about somewhere, its very UN-likely that you will even be able to load the necessary VB DLLs when you reach this sorry state of affairs -- in other words, time to think "Ctrl-Alt-Delete".

If you run the VB script on a schedule using the System Agent, you are wasting valuable resources (a) running the System Agent, and (b) running the script even if your free memory is high. RAMpage does use some resources, but it will only free memory when your free RAM falls below a threshold. Also, it becomes "less persistent" if it is not freeing memory successfully, so even long-running jobs that genuinely use a lot of memory will not be heavily impacted. (Though it does make sense not to use the automatic freeing feature, or to lower the threshold, if you are running heavy-duty apps.)

RAMpage says lots of free memory. Windows says "Out of memory", or runs really slowly. What's up with that?

If you're still having "memory" problems even though RAMpage reports plenty of free RAM, chances are you've filled your User or GDI heaps. For more information on these resources, look here: http://www.windows-help.net/techfiles/win-resources.html. (Note: The original link to the more detailed technical description appears to be dead. It was at: http://www.geocities.com/Pipeline/5748/opmem13.htm). The User and GDI heaps can get run down for two reasons: 1) You're running too many simultaneous applications -- the size of these heaps is ridiculously small, (particularly on Windows 95), or 2) An application is not releasing GDI resources when it finishes. Its absolutely criminal the number of applications that don't bother to clean up their GDI mess before they go, and the problem is made worse by the fact that there doesn't seem to be an easy way to tell the valid GDI objects from the invalid ones, (on Win 95 at least). I've been looking at a couple of ways to free unused GDI space, but so far I've only succeeded in creating an extremely efficient "bluescreening" device :-(

I have RAM set at 32M, but the icon says 28M and never refreshes to 32M. Why?

Best guess #1: You've set the "Amount of memory to free" option to 32 and left the "Free RAM when memory drops to or below" option set at 0. RAMpage does not free memory automatically unless you set a threshold that triggers the program. For example, if you set "Amount of memory to free" to 20 and "Free RAM when memory drops to or below" to 10, then RAMpage will try to free 20M of RAM whenever free memory drops to, or below, 10M.

Best guess #2: You've put a shortcut to RAMpage in the Startup folder without adding command line parameters. This will run RAMpage with its default values, so it won't behave as you might expect. You do not need a Startup folder shortcut if you are using the configuration screen.

Note: A threshold of 32M is way too high. I would recommend a threshold below 5M. Setting a high threshold just wastes memory.

What's all this "command line" stuff about?

Early versions of RAMpage, (before 1.3), did not have a configuration screen, so command line parameters were required to make the program do what was required. With 1.3 and higher you don't need to change the command line any more. The RAMpage configuration screen, (displayed when you select RAMpage from the Programs Menu under the Start Menu), allows you to change parameters, and to choose to start the program automatically when Windows starts.

The ability to call RAMpage with command lines parameters has been retained, since it is useful for users who want to call RAMpage from custom scripts or programs.

If you really have a good reason for not using the installation and configuration programs you should already know how to create a shortcut and/or specify a command line, but just in case:

To add "command line" parameters to a Windows program you must first create a shortcut to the program. The steps are:

1. Open Windows Explorer
2. Find the file you downloaded: RAMpage.exe
3. Right click on the file
4. Select "Create Shortcut" from the popup menu -- this creates a file called "Shortcut to RAMpage.exe" in the current folder
5. Right click on the Shortcut.
6. Select "Properties"
7. Select the "Shortcut" tab from the popup properties dialog box.
8. The "Target" field contains the "command line". It will look something like: "C:\Program Files\Accessories\RAMpage.exe" Add the parameters you require and click "OK".
For example: "C:\Program Files\Accessories\RAMpage.exe U=10 M=20" causes the program to update the memory status every 10 seconds (default is 5) and it attempts to free 20MBytes each time you double-click, (default is 10MBytes).
9. Now run the Shortcut instead of the actual program.

Note: If you wish, you can drag the shortcut onto the desktop to access it easily. Also, you can select the "Rename" option from the right-click menu to change the name from "Shortcut to RAMpage.exe" to something shorter, (like just "RAMpage" maybe).

The full list of available parameters is given in the User Guide: http://www.jfitz.com/software/RAMpage/RAMpageUserGuide.html

Where's the best place to get Freeware?

In short, I don't know -- but you can check out where people are coming from to get my software on my Top 50 Referring Sites page, (though this page is way out of date at this stage). I've tried to eliminate the major search engines, and I've grouped any obvious mirror sites under their main site's URL. What's left are mainly freeware sites, and I assume the better ones will appear towards the top of the list. Do bear in mind that this list may not include sites that allow users to download directly without going through my site, particularly if they use mailing lists to announce new software. (The Simtel.Net archive is an obvious example.)

Whats a "FAQ"?

"What's a FAQ?" is a FAQ, (pronounced "fak"). Its a "Frequently Asked Question".

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