Web User - UK (2019-08-07)

64 7 - 20August 2019

Web browserswith multiple tabs, photo

editorswith large imagesandother

resource-hungry programs may need

gigabytes ofmemory tofunction.

If there isinsufficient RAMinthe

computer, Windowstemporarily saves

chunksof the databeing heldthere to

the hard drive.This iscalledvirtual

memory.While it keeps things running

andpreventsyourPCfromcrashingor

losinginformation,the datahas tobe

reloaded fromthe hard drive whenit’s

neededagain.Todothis, anotherchunk

ofRAMmay needtobewrittentothe

hard drive tomake space for it. Using

the hard drive asanextension ofRAMis

therefore veryslow, particularlyif you

havea mechanicalmodelratherthan an

SSD(solid-statedrive).

For acomputer torunatmaximum

speed, it shouldn’t beusing the diskas

virtualmemory.Upgradethe PC’s RAM

soit doesn’t runshort ofmemory.These

days, 8GB isconsideredthe minimum

amountofRAMrequiredfor acomputer

torunsmoothly.

Close browser tabs

It’s easy toget carried awaywith the

numberoftabsyou haveopeninyour

web browser andend upwith adozen

or more.APCwith 4GB ofmemory

can runout ofRAMwith just 10 tabs

open, atwhich point it startsmoving

RAMtothe virtualmemory onthe

hard drive,thereby slowing

everythingdown.

Toavoidthis, keepthe tabsyou’re

using toa minimumandclose any you

aren’t using.Tosee howmuch

memory isbeing usedbyopentabs in

Chrome,clickthe three-doticonto

openthe menu and select‘More

tools’, followed by‘Task manager’.

Click the ‘Memory footprint’ column

headertosortthe listbymemory

usage andsee which tabsare

consumingthe most.

Chrome’s memory usage

sometimes justkeeps growing andwe

haveseena single tab end up using

over 2GB ofmemory –it would have

usedevenmore if wehadn’t closedit.

E

xtensions inweb browsersuse

a lot ofmemory,sometimes as

muchas 50 MBeach. Ina

worst-case scenario,a dozen

extensionsfor Chromecould require

over half a gigabyteofmemory,and

thatdoesn’t evenincludethe memory

usedbythe browser itself orany tabs

containingopenweb pages. This

hoggingofresources isa problemwith

web browsers onPCs thathavelimited

memory,soit’s worth checking how

mucheachextension isusing.

Openthe Chrome menu andselect

‘More tools’, then‘Task manager’.

Lookfor the names ofextensions

thatare running. Any extensionsnot

being usedcan betemporarily

disabled,then enabled again later

if you needthem. Gotothe Chrome

menu and click‘More tools’,

Extensions, thenuse the switches

todisableextensions.

Limit browser extensions to save memory

Checkmemory usage
Tosee howmuchmemory isbeing used
andwhethermore isneeded, right-click
anempty partof the taskbar andselect
TaskManager. Click ‘More details’ if
necessary,thenselectthe Performance
tab andclickMemory onthe left. Open
a dozen browser tabsandwatch the
memory usage rise. If thishas usedup
mostof the memory,yourcomputer will
benefit froma memory upgrade.

Real memory vs virtual
memory
Programs use memory whenthey’re
runningandsomerequire alot of it.

Extensionsconsume memory, so don’t use too many at once

If you seewords thatlook like

they’ve been typed in a

typewriter, follow the instructions

and type themexactly as they

appear, paying closeattentionto

spaces and punctuation.

Web User Masterclass

Maximise your PC’s performance by

optimising RAM and virtual memory