We've crossed swords with many RAM cleaners in the past, and we've been disappointed with almost all of them. We know well that wasting isn't using, and if there's one thing Windows has historically been terrible at, it's memory management. RAM cleaners are supposed to cover that gap and put some order into our systems, forcing the return of memory that isn't being used appropriately. However, the results suggest that cleaning the RAM is a waste of time…
Where do they come from?
Windows 95 was a strange creature: part Windows, part DOS, unstable in both (?) . But one of the most important aspects at its launch was the increase in RAM requirements. 4 megabytes in 1995 cost an arm and a leg, and users looked for all sorts of alternatives to the painful upgrade. Some of them were direct scams like SoftRAM, but the so-called RAM cleaners also emerged.
RAM cleaners are still in circulation, and we can even find new developments, but their general strategy is the same: push processes to Windows virtual memory and/or purge caches, freeing physical memory. This has two consequences: programs already loaded become slower, and the 'cleaning' lasts only a few minutes in the best case. Recently, the GitHub user 'qualcosa' published an update for his Compact RAM Cleaner, and today we'll use it as a reference.
RAM cleaners: yes or no?
Our test was very simple: we loaded an environment with Windows 11, and ordered Compact RAM Cleaner to clean the RAM. At first, the results seem promising, dropping RAM usage from 28% to 17%.
However, 90 seconds and two Edge tabs later, the consumption went from 17% to 24%, 'dirtying' the memory again.
Basically, Compact RAM Cleaner gets better results by purging the Cached category... which Windows will try to fill as quickly as possible. In other words, RAM cleaners conflict with Windows' memory management philosophy: “Unused RAM is wasted RAM.”
When does 'cleaning' RAM help?
It helps when it reaches internal aspects of Windows management that hurt performance in specific cases. Users have been tired of reporting stuttering issues in games associated with an overfilled standby list, and to control it there are two options: on one hand, the official RAMMap tool from SysInternals, and on the other we have Intelligent Standby List Cleaner, which automates the process.
In summary, the numbers show that it's not worth installing RAM cleaners. Nothing beats a hardware upgrade by adding additional modules (especially if it lets you enable dual channel), and the more economical alternative is to replace software with more efficient equivalents.
