Why is half my ram always in use? Sychost.exe?

Hi

Well i always noticed that under task manager, my physical memory use is always > than 50%, even when my laptop is idling. I want to know why this is and how can i fix the resource hogging.
Im running on vista home premium/ 64 bit

Specs are:
Core 2 Duo 2.0 GhZ
4 Gb ram
Ati HD 3650

Under processes i always see sychost.exe taking up alot of resources, is there any way to stop this?

 

Svchost is basically a critical process. There is an explanation here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svchost

However, there is a possiblity that it may be a virus running, as it is taking so many resources, so you may want to check. Have you also a lot of Bloatware on your laptop? That all added up can contribute a huge amount to what resources are taken up.

 

It could just be Vista, as it tends to cache a lot of things (not in a bad way).

 

Vista is SUPPOSED to use memory in that way. It is very different from Win XP, which had the memory management philosophy that the least amount of memory used is the ideal. Vista takes the approach that unused memory is WASTED memory. So it loads as much stuff as it can based on its following your usage patterns. But, and this is the IMPORTANT part, it will instantly give up that used memory should some other application need it.

There are many threads here with more discussion and detail about this.

Gary

 

You can disable services you don't need, this is a good place to find guides and name of services wich is safe to disable: http://www.blackviper.com/

This will maybe save you a little part of your RAM, but you paid for it right ? Why do you don't let your system use it ?

 

I remember having this problem a while ago.
I can't remember how I solved it but if I remember correctly it was an issue with Windows Vista.

 

SVCHOST is a generic "wrapper" for housing various services that start up on your machine. You will most likely see multiple instances of SVCHOST each housing one or more service. To find out what each instance of SVCHOST is actually housing. Get a copy of Sysinternals Process Explorer. Run it and then double click on an instance of SVCHOST. In the popup dialog switch to the services tab and you will see the list of services.

Do not assume it is safe to just get rid of services with the idea it will save you resources. You may make your system worse off by doing so. Arm yourself with knowledge about what a service does and why it might be needed before you heed any of the local tweakers advice to just start killing things.

Gary

 

I'm with Gary on this one. Unless you know what you are doing, disabling all those services could come back to haunt you.

Vista's memory management automatically takes advantage of unused memory by caching frequently used programs. Which is why disk usage seems higher under Vista than under previous OSes.

Personally, the time it took to "tweak" my OS configuration was not worth the small benefit for my use. I can see benefits if you consistently strain your hardware. ie CPU/RAM bottlenecks your applications consistently. If anything, you should read the various TechNet articles about the new way Vista handles Memory management. Many are real technical in nature but they are a recommended read if you feel you can manage your memory better than the OS.

 

If you all are against me, I didin't say that he random should disable all services
Every service has discription, read and disable if you SURE that you are not using that feature or, features wich is "connected" to it...

Good Luck !

 

No one is against you! Note that no one quoted your post when replying here. Don't take it personally! Your pointing out the BlackViper site was a very good thing. It helps folks to arm themselves with info before they act. But that sort of advice is not always the norm here. We get lots of local tweakers whose mode of operation is more along the lines of "Ready. Fire. Aim."

However more often than not, disabling some service is of marginal value when trying to improve the resource use of the machine.

Gary

 

Okay, thanks for your answer

 

Lost in translation. It is hard to discern intent in type without the clues of tone and body language.

 

Abso-freakin'-loutely!

Gary