little or no available RAM (out of 2GB)

What happened to all of my RAM? I am running Windows Vista Home Premium on a Gateway NX860XL with 2GB of RAM. The task manager shows 59% memory usage and only 29 MB free. Why doesn't that add up, and what can I do to get more memory available again? How do I diagnose the memory usage and decide what applications need to be running and what applications can be disabled? It looks like there are about 100 memory management applications on the website, but do I need one and if so which ones are worth having? Thanks for your help.

 

Hi BigShark123: Couldn't have said it better myself. Only difference, I'm on Ultimate at 50%. Curious no replies.

In hopes they'll come, please be so kind as to email me so I can come back to learn from them.

roduke41

 

Vista normally uses up more RAM as part of its philosophy of unused RAM=wasted RAM. The figure of %60 is perfectly normal. Also, Vista releases that memory very quickly when needed. There are articles out there that really explain it better than I can.

 

Appreciate prompt helpful response.
Not meaning to bother you unecessarily, but if you have specific sites in mind it will be helpful to have them.
I've spent quite some time looking!

Cordially,

 

http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000688.html

 

Many thanks. Looks very helpful. RO