Windows only: Free application Minimem reduces the memory usage of individual running applications on demand. Similar applications which promise to make your computer run faster by freeing up RAM are a dime a dozen, and many of them aren't all they're cracked up to be. After giving Minimen a try on my PC and reading FreewareGenius's detailed review (along with the author's comments on that post), Minimem appears to be the real deal under the right circumstances. Minimem removes unnecessary memory pages from running processes you tell it to optimise. The program isn't the most useful for applications that already have great memory management of their own, but it seems to work well on many applications—both small and large—that have a larger footprint than they should.

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Windows only: Instead of dropping cash on a new stick of RAM for that old computer, go grab a free licence for the normally $20 memory manager TweakRAM—today only. TweakRAM speeds up your machine by optimising Windows memory management, and when your computer slows to a crawl, you can use TweakRAM to manually free up memory. The developers say:

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The best way to speed up your PC is to give it more available memory—but freeing up as much of the memory you already have is cheaper and easier than cracking open your case to install a new stick of RAM. It takes a lot of memory to get a modern Windows system up and ... well, not doing anything in particular, really. Between cryptic system processes, confusing "helper" applications, and background utilities, a whole lot of who-knows-what gobbles up memory and slows down your work. While a lot of programs claim to optimse memory use and pare down processes, Windows' built-in Task Manager can do the job just fine, given the right tools and know-how. Today you'll extend and empower Windows' Task Manager to speed up your system by cutting out unnecessary memory hogs.

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Windows only: If you're trying to pull the most performance from a just passable amount of system memory, or if you're just one of those types who feels memory is always going to waste, Instant Memory Cleaner is your obsessive enabler. The free application sits in the system tray and does its job, forcing unnecessary pages to close in "virtual memory"—the fake kind that's actually written to the hard drive—and otherwise acting like a stern shepherd for your wayward memory. The program's maker states that it works better in Windows XP than Vista, and better still if you tweak your system's paging file (described on the download page). The app also provides a handy summary of system memory once you click on it, and while I can't specifically vouch for its memory management improvements, it does seem to know when the system is getting busy. Instant Memory Cleaner is a free download for Windows XP and Vista systems only.

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