The RAM memory of a computer is a type of memory necessary so that the PC can store the information generated by the programs and exchange it quickly with the CPU to process it. Unlike hard drives, this type of memory is volatile, that is, it is completely erased when we turn off the computer. Nowadays it is rare to find computers with less than 4 GB of RAM , and less considering that this is going to be the minimum recommended for Windows 11. However, depending on the programs we use, it is possible that our PC will run out of RAM. And this can give us problems.
All the programs that we run on the computer need RAM memory . More or less to be able to work, but they need to have space. Windows has memory control systems that automatically erase everything that is no longer necessary, and even compress data when space begins to run low.
That Windows consumes more RAM is not bad, quite the opposite. This memory is to be used, and the more memory we have available (for example, if we have a PC with 32 GB), the more space Windows and programs will use by not having to compress the data to process information faster. The use of programs to free up RAM is discouraged. But what we must do is watch some programs, like the ones we are going to see next, to avoid running out of memory.
Google Chrome: the black hole of RAM
The first program that we are going to talk about is, of course, Google Chrome . The most popular browser of all is also the one that uses the most memory. This is because, in addition to its own ecosystem, it saves all the data from the websites that we open in each of the tabs in RAM. The more tabs we open, the more memory the browser will consume, and since it is a 64-bit program, it has no consumption limit.
We can reduce the memory consumption of this program by controlling the tabs that we have open at the same time, and avoiding using unnecessary extensions that, of course, add up to hundreds by hundreds of megabytes.
Photoshop (and other editing programs)
Another quite common program on any PC that usually consumes more resources is Photoshop . Adobe‘s popular photo editing program needs to use a lot of RAM to load all the tools and functions of the program. In addition, each change we make to the images is saved in a history, so the more modifications we make, the more memory the program will consume.
This applies to any other similar program. Adobe Lightroom , for example, is also another of the programs that consumes the most memory. And GIMP , the popular alternative to Photoshop, is also not far behind.
We can reduce the use of RAM by restarting the program from time to time, or simply by lowering the number of changes that are saved in the history. But there are not many more possibilities to reduce this expense.
Java-based programs: a well for RAM
Java programs can give users and developers many benefits (such as ease of programming, or being able to run on any operating system), but enjoying these benefits comes at a price: memory. To execute a program written in Java, we must load the environment of this language on which the program will be executed on the PC. This environment consumes a lot of memory, in addition to CPU, which usually causes our PC to go slow.
Programs written in Java? There are many, but surely there is one that sounds familiar to all of us: jDownloader. And there are even games programmed in this language, like Minecreaft . And this brings us to the next point.
Any video game
If you use your computer to play games, it is likely that you have had your PC’s RAM memory about to run out on more than one occasion. Games, especially modern ones, process a large amount of information at once. And, although thanks to SSDs and NVMe it has been possible to streamline the process of all this data, the RAM memory is still the main protagonist, since its speed is much higher than that of any other storage unit.
And not just games. Clients (such as Steam, uPlay or GOG, for example) also consume large amounts of memory on our PC. Therefore, when we are not using them, it is better to keep them closed.
