Solving Memory Problems on Windoze

[DW Emory <danemory@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Win98 2E, I'm using a supplemental memory management software product 
called FreeMem Pro. Although FreeMem automatically de-allocates memory when 
it drops below a user-specified critical threshold, it is also possible 
with FreeMem to manually de-allocate a substantially larger amount of 
memory. An icon for FreeMem appears in the bottom bar in Windows, and 
indicates the amount of physical memory (in K bytes) which is currently 
available. Clicking the icon opens FreeMem, allowing you to perform various 
operations, incuding manually de-allocating a large block of memory.

I also use Norton System Doctor to monitor Mem Free, PM (physical memory) 
Free, and memory Cache Used. As would be expected, the amount of free 
memory indicated by the FreeMem icon closely tracks the amount of memory 
indicated by the Norton PM Free and Cache Used monitors.  When I finish 
using an application, close it, and then manually de-allocate a large block 
of memory with FreeMem, I often find that the Norton PM Free and Cache Used 
monitors indicate a significant drop-off in the amount of memory which is 
free, (i.e., much less memory is available than was available before 
running the application, even thought no other applications are running). 
In addition, the Norton Mem Free monitor indicates an even more precipitous 
drop-off in the amount of available memory which Windows 2E "thinks" is 
available. For example, the Norton PM free monitor might indicate that 60% 
of memory is free, but the Mem Free monitor indicates that only 12% of 
memory is free. Regardless of what the Free Mem, PM Free, and Cache Free 
monitors indicate, when the Norton Mem Free monitor approaches zero, 
computer performance begins to slow down markedly, and the only way to 
recover performance is to re-boot. This problem is particularly vexing when 
intensively modifying, printing, or outputting postscript in very large 
FrameMaker files.

So, here's the procedure I've developed which seems to solve the problem:
I use FreeMem to manually de-allocate a large block of memory in the 
following situations.
   A. Immedately after opening FrameMaker
   B. Immediately after closing a FrameMaker file and
       before opening a new file
   C. Immediately after opening a new FrameMaker file.
   D. Immediately before closing FrameMaker.

This procedure also seems to work just as well with other applications, 
and, although it is somewhat onerous, it is far less so than all the 
alternatives.

Since, I believe, FreeMem (or similar memory de-allocation products) also 
work on Win 2000 and XP platforms, the same procedure might also be useful 
on those platforms.
FrameMaker/FrameMaker+SGML Document Design & Database Publishing
DW Emory <danemory@globalcrossing.net>


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