I have a Dell Inspiron 3501 with 12GB of RAM (11.7GB usable) and an 11th Gen Intel Core i7 processor. I'm trying to clean up my laptop, but I notice that the Task Manager says my memory usage is always between 50-75%, even when not much is running. A lot of the usage seems to come from the 'Antimalware Service Executable' and several instances of the search bar, but that only accounts for about 250-300MB. Shouldn't my RAM usage be lower than that? Is there a possibility that my computer has a virus, or could this be happening for some other reason? I've already tried ending unnecessary tasks, rebooting, and updating drivers.
3 Answers
It sounds like your laptop is just doing what Windows does best—preloading apps into memory that you use frequently to speed things up. This won't show in Task Manager, but it can be a factor. Generally, having 50-60% memory usage while idle is considered normal, as Windows will clear memory as needed. If you have an integrated GPU, that can also use some of your RAM as VRAM, adding to the overall usage. So unless you're experiencing performance issues, you're likely in the clear!
It might seem a bit off having that high of usage without obvious culprits, but it's usually just Windows managing resources. They aim to keep memory usage between 50-60% to optimize performance. If it’s consistently around 70% or more and you’re not running many applications, consider cleaning up your startup programs or uninstalling apps you don’t use. But overall, high RAM usage alone isn’t an infection indicator.
Yeah, Windows tends to cache parts of applications to make them load faster, which can result in higher memory usage. You don't have to worry too much unless it's affecting performance. Just remember that unused RAM is wasted RAM, and a good amount of it being utilized is normal. If you're seeing consistent high usage and it’s not slowing down your computer, it’s probably nothing to stress over.
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