MemInfo

I like nothing better than a useful program that doesn't get in your way. Good thing the free download that I have for you today is exactly that. This program is called meminfo; it's simple, as well as incredibly useful.

Have you ever noticed that throughout the day, you computer tends to get slower and slower? This type of problem is usually caused by what's called “memory leakage”. A memory leak is what happens when a program uses your memory for temporary storage, but doesn't clear it out when its done. When this happens, the memory can't be used by other programs that need it and all of a sudden your computer is just crawling!

Being able to keep an eye on your memory usage can help to find programs that are memory hogs. You can then simply close and re-open the program to free up the memory and get your computer back to normal.

"How do I keep track of my memory?" you ask? Well, that's what Meminfo will do for you. Here is what it looks like:

You see the little "65" on that picture above? That is my current memory usage percentage. 65% of my system memory is in use. Now, your number might vary, but what is important to watch is whether this number steadily climbs and doesnt go back down when closing programs. For instance, if you open Internet explorer you will see that this number will go up. If you use IE all day and that number gets higher and higher but never goes down, you might want to close IE and re-open. it will clear the memory it was using.

I hope this little programs works for you as well as it works for me. I really like it's simplicity. If you would like to download meminfo, you can get it here: http://download.cnet.com/MemInfo/3000-2248_4-67969.html

One quick note: When you first install this program, it will not show the percentage like mine does, but its easy to change. Right click on the icon by the clock and choose settings. Change the settings to look like this:

Now your Meminfo box will look just like mine. Feel free to change these settings for whatever works best for you.

Enjoy!

~Gary

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