How can I get rid of some of my background processes to try and free up a little memory.

[Voidseeker]

I have 16GB 2667 and with nothing open I'm using about 6gb of memory and I feel like I have a lot of background processes that I don't need that I could get rid of to free up a little memory (In the screenshot I do have OperaGX open with like 7 tabs but without it open I'm using about 50%)).

[kirashi]

9 minutes ago, Voidseeker said:

I have 16GB 2667 and with nothing open I'm using about 6gb of memory and I feel like I have a lot of background processes that I don't need that I could get rid of to free up a little memory (In the screenshot I do have OperaGX open with like 7 tabs but without it open I'm using about 50%)).

Unused memory is wasted memory. Windows does a poor job displaying exactly how your memory is being used. Anywho... You needn't close things unless your system runs out of memory when running a memory intensive application like say... a game like Cities Skylines: II for example.

[Voidseeker]

7 minutes ago, kirashi said:

Unused memory is wasted memory. Windows does a poor job displaying exactly how your memory is being used. Anywho... You needn't close things unless your system runs out of memory when running a memory intensive application like say... a game like Cities Skylines: II for example.

That's good to know. I can't open Beamng.Drive with my browser open (even if its only 3 tabs) because it uses more memory than what's available. I'm debating on buying my exact same ram kit to get up to 32gb but I'm also thinking about just going with 32gb when I upgrade my CPU and motherboard and go DDR5. 

[Mark Kaine]

45 minutes ago, kirashi said:

Unused memory is wasted memory. Windows does a poor job displaying exactly how your memory is being used. Anywho... You needn't close things unless your system runs out of memory when running a memory intensive application like say... a game like Cities Skylines: II for example.

while i would generally agree, to me it really does look a bit like there's an issue with OP's PC... there's a gazillion background processes using up quite a lot of system resources, especially CPU as well, Defender using 12% and "high power"... ive never seen that, Defender is extremely lightweight especially when just running in background. With "nothing open" my PC usually uses 0-1% CPU (and that's with Steam, Afterburner and icue "open" at minimum typically)

 

Idk maybe they have a rootkit style anticheat running,  maybe all those AMD processes are buggy or running unnecessarily - i know for sure AMD crash defender made my PC lag as hell (and can't even be uninstalled,  i had to disable the process since i don't even have an AMD GPU...)

Maybe it's just something like MSI center or NZXT CAM (or similar) 

 

 

32 minutes ago, Voidseeker said:

I can't open Beamng.Drive with my browser open (even if its only 3 tabs)

 

Any other games or programs with issues (any issues)?

 

Cause honestly just using 50% RAM isn't unusual or should be harmful, although as said above i find 50% CPU "with nothing open" highly concerning... something must actually run that uses tons of resources or you have a gazillion bloatware apps installed, or maybe a mix of those things?

 

here's my PC "with nothing open" for comparison:

 

 

also if you wanna find out more regarding your RAM situation,  i always found resource monitor helpful...

 

 

you see all those 30% usage? well it's not really a problem as long standby memory works and effectively most RAM is "available" (again i find high CPU usage on an idle system more concerning) 

 

[Voidseeker]

1 hour ago, Mark Kaine said:

while i would generally agree, to me it really does look a bit like there's an issue with OP's PC... there's a gazillion background processes using up quite a lot of system resources, especially CPU as well, Defender using 12% and "high power"... ive never seen that, Defender is extremely lightweight especially when just running in background. With "nothing open" my PC usually uses 0-1% CPU (and that's with Steam, Afterburner and icue "open" at minimum typically)

 

Idk maybe they have a rootkit style anticheat running,  maybe all those AMD processes are buggy or running unnecessarily - i know for sure AMD crash defender made my PC lag as hell (and can't even be uninstalled,  i had to disable the process since i don't even have an AMD GPU...)

Maybe it's just something like MSI center or NZXT CAM (or similar) 

 

 

 

Any other games or programs with issues (any issues)?

 

Cause honestly just using 50% RAM isn't unusual or should be harmful, although as said above i find 50% CPU "with nothing open" highly concerning... something must actually run that uses tons of resources or you have a gazillion bloatware apps installed, or maybe a mix of those things?

 

here's my PC "with nothing open" for comparison:

 

 

also if you wanna find out more regarding your RAM situation,  i always found resource monitor helpful...

 

 

you see all those 30% usage? well it's not really a problem as long standby memory works and effectively most RAM is "available" (again i find high CPU usage on an idle system more concerning) 

 

I'm trying to figure out if I can get rid of some of my background processes because I have a lot. I have an RX6600 8GB so I have AMD software Adrenalin edition and when its not open on my PC the host app still runs in the background and sometimes I need to end the task to get my software to open but other than that I have no  issues with it and the only game I have with an anticheat is Fortnite and with other games I don't really have any issues and I'm gonna look at resource monitor. With nothing open I'm using about 15% CPU and 50% ram

[Mark Kaine]

Well the general answer to how to reduce background processes seems obvious?  uninstall a bunch of stuff that's typically running, basically you have to rethink what programs you *really* need.

 

the other thing you should probably know, if you buy more ram without changing anything else, windows will probably just use more ram, because that's how windows is designed "unused ram is wasted ram" mantra (not a fan personally but that's what it literally is and does)

[xAcid9]

8 hours ago, Voidseeker said:

I'm trying to figure out if I can get rid of some of my background processes because I have a lot. I have an RX6600 8GB so I have AMD software Adrenalin edition and when its not open on my PC the host app still runs in the background and sometimes I need to end the task to get my software to open but other than that I have no  issues with it and the only game I have with an anticheat is Fortnite and with other games I don't really have any issues and I'm gonna look at resource monitor. With nothing open I'm using about 15% CPU and 50% ram

Post your startup list, msconfig w/o microsoft service and task scheduler.

[Mark Kaine]

And a screenshot of memory tab in resource monitor *when the "issue" occurs* please. 

[Kisai]

12 hours ago, Voidseeker said:

I have 16GB 2667 and with nothing open I'm using about 6gb of memory and I feel like I have a lot of background processes that I don't need that I could get rid of to free up a little memory (In the screenshot I do have OperaGX open with like 7 tabs but without it open I'm using about 50%)).

First of all, you need a program that actually tells you the memory (Task Manager is okay to get an idea what is being used, but poor at telling you what's launching it): 

Eg process lasso

Why is EpicGamesLauncher such a memory pig despite sitting in the background doing nothing?

 

This is what made me uninstall Asus Armory crate too, because it somehow was consuming 1 CPU core all the time polling the WMI process via network sockets every second, creating a stupid amount of load, and the program itself lagged unless I dragged it between monitors.

 

Which is also what Epic games launcher, and also steam does. It takes literately minutes for the Epic store to load all the crap it needs just to display the library or the store. At least Steam doesn't do this when going through the library (store on the other hand, almost as bad as Epic Game Store.)

 

Once you identify what's launching it, run 'msconfig' or go to the task manager and and look at startup and start turning off stuff from there that you've identified as being unwanted processes. If you aren't even using it, then consider uninstall.

 

[Doobeedoo]

28 minutes ago, Kisai said:

Why is EpicGamesLauncher such a memory pig despite sitting in the background doing nothing?

Shouldn't be, something is wrong probably, should be like half a gig used.

[Voidseeker]

5 hours ago, Mark Kaine said:

Well the general answer to how to reduce background processes seems obvious?  uninstall a bunch of stuff that's typically running, basically you have to rethink what programs you *really* need.

 

the other thing you should probably know, if you buy more ram without changing anything else, windows will probably just use more ram, because that's how windows is designed "unused ram is wasted ram" mantra (not a fan personally but that's what it literally is and does)

I don't go through my installed apps often enough 

[Voidseeker]

3 hours ago, Kisai said:

First of all, you need a program that actually tells you the memory (Task Manager is okay to get an idea what is being used, but poor at telling you what's launching it): 

Eg process lasso

Why is EpicGamesLauncher such a memory pig despite sitting in the background doing nothing?

 

This is what made me uninstall Asus Armory crate too, because it somehow was consuming 1 CPU core all the time polling the WMI process via network sockets every second, creating a stupid amount of load, and the program itself lagged unless I dragged it between monitors.

 

Which is also what Epic games launcher, and also steam does. It takes literately minutes for the Epic store to load all the crap it needs just to display the library or the store. At least Steam doesn't do this when going through the library (store on the other hand, almost as bad as Epic Game Store.)

 

Once you identify what's launching it, run 'msconfig' or go to the task manager and and look at startup and start turning off stuff from there that you've identified as being unwanted processes. If you aren't even using it, then consider uninstall.

 

I have Epic Games for Fortnite, PC building simulator, and Star Rail but that's it and I've personally never really had issues with it. I've pretty much disabled all my unnecessary apps on startup  

[Lurking]

De-install all the bloatware. Re-consider what you really NEED. And software you actually need, make sure to check in startup, group policy editir and task scheduler if you NEED to start them all the time.

 

My home PC with W11 starts using under 4GB. At work W10 uses 10GB at startup because of all the crap IT installed. 

 

If you decide you NEED all that, double your RAM. 

[Voidseeker]

3 hours ago, Lurking said:

De-install all the bloatware. Re-consider what you really NEED. And software you actually need, make sure to check in startup, group policy editir and task scheduler if you NEED to start them all the time.

 

My home PC with W11 starts using under 4GB. At work W10 uses 10GB at startup because of all the crap IT installed. 

 

If you decide you NEED all that, double your RAM. 

I could double my ram but I'm planning on doing that in the future when I upgrade to DDR5

[Kisai]

5 hours ago, Voidseeker said:

I have Epic Games for Fortnite, PC building simulator, and Star Rail but that's it and I've personally never really had issues with it. I've pretty much disabled all my unnecessary apps on startup  

Let me show you something else:

Tell me ASUS, why the hell is the "fan control" service and the "charge notification" using 20,000 handles? What the hell is it doing? Sure it's not using that much memory, but you know what 'handles' are? Pointers. Why does a fan control program need 20000 of them. After just ripping into EpicGamesLauncher for using 3.5GB of RAM how does this program use handles more than it?

 

Anyway, my solution to the Epic Games Store is to just shut it down and not buy stuff on Epic, ever.

[Voidseeker]

On 2/9/2025 at 5:17 PM, Kisai said:

Let me show you something else:

Tell me ASUS, why the hell is the "fan control" service and the "charge notification" using 20,000 handles? What the hell is it doing? Sure it's not using that much memory, but you know what 'handles' are? Pointers. Why does a fan control program need 20000 of them. After just ripping into EpicGamesLauncher for using 3.5GB of RAM how does this program use handles more than it?

 

Anyway, my solution to the Epic Games Store is to just shut it down and not buy stuff on Epic, ever.

I could