My Windows 11 PC is using about 89% of its 32 GB of RAM immediately after startup, even with no programs open besides a VPN. Once I launch Firefox with only one tab, memory usage rises to roughly 97%. Firefox itself uses around 2 GB, although I have two extensions that may add to that. RAMMap also shows approximately 10 GB associated with svchost.exe.
This wasn't happening a couple of months ago, when I could run Firefox with about 10 tabs, including video, while playing a game. Windows is updated whenever I install updates during shutdown. What could cause this sudden increase in memory usage, and how can I determine whether the RAM is actually being consumed or just cached?
3 Answers
A full power cycle brought my memory usage down from nearly 100% to about 20%. That suggests something failed to release memory during the previous sessions, possibly because Fast Startup was enabled. Fast Startup uses a partial hibernation instead of fully reinitializing everything after shutdown. Try using Restart, or disable Fast Startup in the power settings, and see whether the problem returns.
Check Resource Monitor rather than relying only on the overall percentage in Task Manager. It can show whether the memory is actively being used by processes or is mostly standby/cache memory that Windows can reclaim when another program needs it. If the usage stays high indefinitely, sort the processes by working set and look for a service or driver that keeps growing.
Windows sometimes fills unused RAM with cached data, so a high percentage by itself isn't necessarily a problem. The important questions are whether the computer becomes slow, whether the committed memory is close to its limit, and whether usage remains high after opening other applications. Also verify that virtual memory is enabled and set to be managed automatically unless you have a specific reason to change it.
If the memory keeps increasing over time or drops only after a restart, that points more toward a memory leak in a background service or device driver than normal caching.
A normal Restart fully reloads Windows, while shutting down with Fast Startup enabled can preserve part of the system state. If the high usage comes back after several days, monitor which service or driver is growing so the underlying leak can be identified.