program memory

[twmiller]

I have a question, I have been wanting to ask for a while.

How come my program memory on my PPC keeps filling up (I know - today plug-in's can be part of the cause)?

How do I free up the memory other then a soft reset?

[SteveHoward999]

The same area of memory is used as RAM ... current processing memory space for running programs. Also when you 'close' a program on PocketPC the default behaviour is to 'minimise' or 'hide' the program, but NOT to close it. Running applications eat RAM.

If you want to close the application go to

Start > Settings > System > Memory

Choose the Running Programs tab and stop whatever application you want to stop. Alternatively get something like Wisebar Advanced which will enable you to close programs instead of minimising them when you hit the 'close' button.

[twmiller]

That is very good point.

I should have mentioned that I have Wisebar, set up to close all programs. I have been using it for some time. It is working.

I also have batmem time (monitor storage card, memory and power), Pocket Breeze and Pocket weather.

Eventhough I have the programs set to close automatticly, the program memory still stacks up. I have plenty of RAM for the programms to run on (60% +).

So why is the memory not freeing up when I close all the programs? I can go into the memory 'settings' and see that the programs are closed, verifing batmeme time.

Is there a task manager for the PPC that I can use to shut down unused threads?

BTW - this has been an issue before. I have hard reset the PPC and reloaded programs before. This current load is the best I had so far.

[yankeejeep]

The WM OS still does not have the best memory management and is in a similar situation to what we have experienced with desktop Win9x - memory leakage. Apps do not clean up well after themselves when they close and the OS doesn't really do the job well either. Whether or not WM5 is actually better at this I think we will learn as it gets put through its paces in day-to-day function. Given that the OS itself does not close apps by default, the development paradigm is clearly for users to keep a few apps open all the time and in the background for quick access. In that situation, memory leak doesn't have a big impact. Since that isn't the way many users actually work, maybe we can hope for the OS to gain better clean-up functions so that threads are closed and the memory is released fully when an app closes. At the moment, though, a soft reset is about the only way to clean the program area of RAM out completely.

[Patrick Y.]

I have a question, I have been wanting to ask for a while.

How come my program memory on my PPC keeps filling up (I know - today plug-in's can be part of the cause)?

How do I free up the memory other then a soft reset?

Try ITaskMgr+NetMgr. This software shows information about the memory usage of processes and programs.

[PocketPC Addict]

I just started taking a real close look at this. When I soft reset my device I have some 22MB of free space, but as time goes on, I launch and close (ala wisbar) the programs, when suddenly I look at the memory meter on Pocket Plus and I am down to 5 MB! :?

seems there needs to be better cleanup somewhere, somehow.

[twmiller]

Yep.