After booting Windows 11, my memory usage gradually climbs to around 80–95% of my 12 GB of RAM, even when almost nothing is open. Task Manager and Resource Monitor do not show any normal application using enough memory to explain it. I have run offline and regular malware scans with several security tools, and they found nothing. The computer also feels noticeably slower than before, and sometimes I cannot even open another Chrome tab. I am using mixed 8 GB and 4 GB memory sticks, though this setup previously worked normally and performed better in my tests than using only the 8 GB stick. What could be consuming the memory, and how can I identify it?
4 Answers
The 8 GB plus 4 GB configuration may affect memory-channel performance, but it does not normally explain Windows gradually consuming nearly all available RAM. Since the setup worked previously, focus first on the memory breakdown and look for a non-paged-pool or driver leak instead of treating the mixed sticks as the primary cause.
Windows can use otherwise-free RAM for caching files and frequently used applications, but cached memory should normally be released when another program needs it. If the cache is small while usage keeps climbing and the system becomes sluggish, that points more toward a memory leak or another system-level issue. Tools such as RAMMap or PoolMon can help identify unusually large driver or kernel allocations.
A screenshot of Task Manager’s Memory tab would help, especially the breakdown for In use, Available, Cached, Paged pool, Non-paged pool, and Hardware reserved. If the normal processes do not add up to the reported usage, a driver or kernel memory leak is worth investigating rather than assuming malware.
Knowing that the system is running Windows 11 is useful, but the total percentage alone is not enough to diagnose this. Check whether the missing memory appears under a process, compressed memory, paged/non-paged pool, or hardware-reserved memory. If the non-paged pool grows continuously after boot, updating or removing recently installed drivers and peripherals would be a sensible next step.
That matches what I am seeing: the computer slows down and sometimes cannot open another Chrome tab, so it does not seem like ordinary harmless caching.