Cleanmem memory manager

Computer Help and Discussions Software
61

To prevent that interference I disabled autorun in Task Scheduler and run CM 151 manually during idle. Simple and easy to use -- I'm contented without GUI and monitor. :)

I have a single core Celeron 440 with 2GB RAM.

:-)

Just so you know, cleanmem.exe in 1.6.5 is still the same from 1.5.1

Only the monitor was added, and the monitor is separate. So for any reason you lose 1.5.1 you can still get what you want with the new version :-)

I make a strong effort to keep both types of users happy. The users who love cleanmem as set it and forget it (No gui) and the ones you wanted a gui for so long.

Shane

62

Hi Shane

I think that it would be a nice idea that whenever you are out with a new version that you`ll announce here

[of course if it is not too much of an inconvenience to you].

Thanks

63

Hi Shane

I think that it would be a nice idea that whenever you are out with a new version that you`ll announce here

[of course if it is not too much of an inconvenience to you].

Thanks

I sure will :-)

Once I jack my self up full of caffeine I will be starting work on it today after I finish today's batch of routers for the simple port forwarding program. Having a wife and 4 kids makes me pay the price for staying up late programming. Little sleep :-)

Shane

64

I know I should post this in my cleanmem forum, But I need the feedback :-P

I am revamping how cleanmem handles the settings for v1.7.0. And in turn I am making a gui for the settings.

I have attached some screen shots of the first run of it.

How does it look so far?

Shane

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65

I know I should post this in my cleanmem forum, But I need the feedback :-P

I am revamping how cleanmem handles the settings for v1.7.0. And in turn I am making a gui for the settings.

I have attached some screen shots of the first run of it.

How does it look so far?

Shane

It looks very good Shane.

66

The system file cache explanation could be a little hard for non-techies to follow. Maybe allow novices to skip the wizard altogether (eg use default settings) and allow users to manually enter the "advanced settings" section.

67

The system file cache explanation could be a little hard for non-techies to follow. Maybe allow novices to skip the wizard altogether (eg use default settings) and allow users to manually enter the "advanced settings" section.

The wizard wont be a automatic thing. it will be stored as CleanMem_Settings.exe

Instead of txt files I will make them into dat files, still editable in notepad. And cleanmem.exe will have a settings.ini file to tell it what needs to be used and which dat file to use if any.

The default will still be to install it and forget it. But if a user wants to change the settings will run CleanMem_Settings.exe

Shane

68

I know I should post this in my cleanmem forum, But I need the feedback :-P

Perhaps I was a bit too harsh by saying the discussion should take place on the PcWinTech.com forum. Because I violate my own opinion.

Concerning the upcoming CM 1.7.0:

-- About the System File Cache (SFC):

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa364218(v=vs.85).aspx

Perhaps you can suffice by simply stating something like ""Clearing the SFC will make memory available as well, for use by other programs. That includes the System File Cache itself when it needs more memory again"". Again: K.I.S.S.

-- During installation CM asks whether a shortcut should be made available for all users or the current user only. That's - IMO - the best spot to ask the user whether CM should always run once upon startup of Windows. Then the wizard knows where to place the startup shortcut to CM.

69

Perhaps I was a bit too harsh by saying the discussion should take place on the PcWinTech.com forum. Because I violate my own opinion.

To me it would be disrespectful for me to come onto this forum and try to have others come to my forum. Just not the person I am. So for me posting here, where I can get feedback and make CleanMem better seems the best thing to do and not try to get more traffic to my site, I would rather earn that :-)

I made the clearing of the file cache from the same api as CacheSet http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897561

The reason behind this was from my own reasons.

Every time I had my data backup to my external hard drive (Talking 300+GB of data) by system would go to a crawl (8GB of memory and WD black edition hard drives, in Raid 1). This might have been on XP at the time, can't remember if it was XP or 7.

When the system would slow down like that, anything I tried to do would take forever, and I would see my hard drive fully lit up.

Then I took a look at CacheSet and seen my file cache being huge!

And doing anything was causing tons of hard drive thrashing. (Dont know 100% why, perhaps the file cache was partially in the page file?)

Then I used CacheSet to clear it, and bang! my system was back to normal without the reboot!

So I decided I wanted this to happen regularly and I went did the research and added it to CleanMem.

Want to know a nice trick I do on my system now? Even with CleanMem clearing it, after a large backup my system still gets slow, with CleanMem it doesn't get any where near as slow as it use to before the file cache clearing.

I have 8 GB of ram, and though to my self, I never use more than 2 GB, why have the curse of the page file? So I disable the page file.

Now after a large backup my system doesn't even hiccup. Seems to me the file cache does use the page file at times.

So clearing the file cache does help.

Concerning the upcoming CM 1.7.0:

-- About the System File Cache (SFC):

http://msdn.microsof...8(v=vs.85).aspx

Perhaps you can suffice by simply stating something like ""Clearing the SFC will make memory available as well, for use by other programs. That includes the System File Cache itself when it needs more memory again"". Again: K.I.S.S.

-- During installation CM asks whether a shortcut should be made available for all users or the current user only. That's - IMO - the best spot to ask the user whether CM should always run once upon startup of Windows. Then the wizard knows where to place the startup shortcut to CM.

I have added that to my to do list :-)

Shane

70

Just a thought.

If you disable the page file on the system drive, this will stop the ability of Windows to produce minidumps.

71

Just a thought.

If you disable the page file on the system drive, this will stop the ability of Windows to produce minidumps.

Correct, but the only time I would need that is if I get a blue screen. If my system becomes unstable I will re-enable the page file to get the mini dump. But then again I never use the mini dump in the first place :-)

Pro and cons to everything, for me the pros out weigh the cons when it comes to not having a page file.

But this is based on my system with my needs. Hard to tell what is right for other users.

Shane

72

Comes down to personal choice I guess and technical ability. It's good to have a minidump after a BSOD to analize. Of course you don't need a very big page file to produce one :)

If a member is having blue screens you can just ask them to download 'Who crashed' to give some clues. I favour WinDbg myself but it can be a bit daunting for new users.

73

Comes down to personal choice I guess and technical ability. It's good to have a minidump after a BSOD to analize. Of course you don't need a very big page file to produce one :)

If a member is having blue screens you can just ask them to download 'Who crashed' to give some clues. I favour WinDbg myself but it can be a bit daunting for new users.

Your right. I have 15 years in computers and own an computer repair company now for 8 years. So for me I can get away with no page file.

And if for some reason I do start getting blue screens I can always re-enable the page file.

Again though, this is simply fitting my needs. I would only recommend getting rid of the page file if the user has enough ram, and knows how to turn the page file on & off. Granted I haven't had a blue screen or infection for over 5 years. My opinion is a little biased on this.

For me, getting rid of the page file eliminated the hard drive thrashing after very large (in size and in count) files during the backup process, or when backing up a customers machine to my hard drive across the network.

Cleanmem however helps keeps this under control with clearing the file cache. I don't need to disable my page file thanks to cleanmem. This is more for me wanting to push a little more out of my system. Mainly when I am in the middle of programming or working I hate it when the system starts to become sluggish because I have a customers machine backing up to my system while I work. :-)

Also thanks for letting me know about those tools. I always used the event viewer and recent changes to a system to find the cause of blue screens. I will be adding those tools to my toolbox :-)

Shane

74

CleanMem v1.7.0 is ready for testing :-)

Feedback would be great! I need to know if you like the changes, likes, dislikes, if the new version is good, all that good stuff.

This version isn't released yet as I want people to try it out first.

Here is the download link

http://www.pcwintech.com/files/setups/cleanmem_v1.7.0_setup.exe

And here is the Change log:

v1.7.0

Major update. Make sure to uninstall any old versions of CleanMem first.

CleanMem is now 3.5x faster. CleanMem use to take 3.5 sec to do its job and close. It now takes 1 sec.

Update to the mini monitor to show actual percentage of memory use. This shows up in the tooltip text of the system tray icon. Since the tray icon can only fit 2 chars the percentage is rounded. But in the tooltip it will show the current. Example: 35.635%

The system tray icon only changes when the percentage changes. When a user would update the colors of the try icon the change wouldn't happen till then. Now when a user changes anything for the system tray icon it will update immediately.

Added global hotkey support to the mini monitor. The user can now set what keys to hit to run CleanMem.

Added a GUI for the settings of CleanMem. CleanMem now stores all settings in one ini file instead of multiple text files.

Minor tweaks and fine tuning to the mini monitor.

CleanMem setup now auto detects if a system is 32 or 64 bit and selects the correct install option during setup.

CleanMem setup support silent installs.

Shane

75

Please copy paste the url presented above, also to our less skilled readers, this should be considered a beta and not for general download.

Shane can I delete old files from system32 (cleanmem_ignore_list.txt, cleanmem_log_settings.txt cleanmem_only_list.txt) as they are now stored in CleanMem.ini? Also, what is "CleanMem.exe.manifest" and do I need it?

76

Please copy paste the url presented above, also to our less skilled readers, this should be considered a beta and not for general download.

Shane can I delete old files from system32 (cleanmem_ignore_list.txt, cleanmem_log_settings.txt cleanmem_only_list.txt) as they are now stored in CleanMem.ini? Also, what is "CleanMem.exe.manifest" and do I need it?

Yes those text files are no longer needed. they can be deleted. This version is the release candidate. No one finds any problems then this is the version to go out :-)

The manifest file tells vista and windows 7 to run cleanmem with admin rights.

Shane

77

Ok Leaving Manifest removing txt files and after a day's usage this version is working great :)

Thanks :)

78

Ok Leaving Manifest removing txt files and after a day's usage this version is working great :)

Thanks :)

Good to hear :-)

New settings gui is working good for you?

I have it set to do two things when you click finish.

1st. it saves all the settings to the CleanMem.ini file in the same dir.

2nd. it checks the system 32 dir for CleanMem.exe, if it is there it copies the CleanMem.ini to the system32 dir.

The system32 dir is used for the task scheduler (The task scheduler runs cleanmem from there). There are people who use cleanmem on a thumb drive, or who don't use the task scheduler. By checking for cleanmem.exe in the system 32 dir it avoids copying the ini file when it isn't needed :-)

Shane

79

Setting gui I great (though no way to import old ignore list so be sure to let your users know)

80

I'll bet you had no idea what you were starting when you came here Shane. :)

It's a great thread with a lot of readers over a relatively short time. (2238 and counting)