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Door staff@engadget.com (Filipe Espósito) - 03 Oct 2026
Despite this smart management, excessive RAM usage can still sometimes be a problem. If you've noticed your computer running slowly or apps crashing, or you're getting alerts that your computer is "low on memory," there might be something else going on.
In that case, check the Processes tab in Task Manager to see which apps are using the most RAM, and close any you don't need. Restart your PC if it's been a while, too. This will fix memory leaks (an issue where a program doesn't return memory it's done using to the available pool). Be sure to disable startup apps you don't use so they aren't hogging memory in the background.
Some third-party "memory cleaner" apps claim to help reduce RAM usage, but there are generally not worth using. While they might reduce the percentage of memory in use, having apps switch to the page file (part of your storage drive Windows uses as backup, pretend RAM) makes them slower. These apps also aren't a long-term solution, since the system will eventually reload everything again.
Some people choose to disable SysMain entirely and revert to the old RAM management system. While we wouldn't recommend this in most cases, on an older PC with a mechanical hard drive, the constant preloading can keep the disk busy and make the system sluggish. If that's the case for you, press Win + R, type services.msc and look for SysMain. Open its Properties, click Stop and set the startup type to Disabled. This will prevent Windows from preloading files and apps into your RAM.
But again, we don't recommend this unless you're on an old system with an HDD that's starved for RAM. If you're still stuck with 8GB of RAM (or less), the proper solution is upgrading to 16GB or more — even though RAM is more expensive than ever. In the meantime, you can also try changing a few settings to improve your experience on Windows 11 PCs.
In that case, check the Processes tab in Task Manager to see which apps are using the most RAM, and close any you don't need. Restart your PC if it's been a while, too. This will fix memory leaks (an issue where a program doesn't return memory it's done using to the available pool). Be sure to disable startup apps you don't use so they aren't hogging memory in the background.
Some third-party "memory cleaner" apps claim to help reduce RAM usage, but there are generally not worth using. While they might reduce the percentage of memory in use, having apps switch to the page file (part of your storage drive Windows uses as backup, pretend RAM) makes them slower. These apps also aren't a long-term solution, since the system will eventually reload everything again.
Some people choose to disable SysMain entirely and revert to the old RAM management system. While we wouldn't recommend this in most cases, on an older PC with a mechanical hard drive, the constant preloading can keep the disk busy and make the system sluggish. If that's the case for you, press Win + R, type services.msc and look for SysMain. Open its Properties, click Stop and set the startup type to Disabled. This will prevent Windows from preloading files and apps into your RAM.
But again, we don't recommend this unless you're on an old system with an HDD that's starved for RAM. If you're still stuck with 8GB of RAM (or less), the proper solution is upgrading to 16GB or more — even though RAM is more expensive than ever. In the meantime, you can also try changing a few settings to improve your experience on Windows 11 PCs.