14 DAY TRIAL // How many times have you experienced slow response from your computer or applications? This is because of the Random Access Memory that is locked in useless process. The RAM gets stuck with some applications and when you are trying to launch another process it crawls as it does not have enough memory allocated.
But no more! A new machine will always move faster than an older one. There is no memory allocated in wrong places, there are little processes to handle and the system partition is in tip top shape. There are several tricks to make it move almost as fast as the day you bought it.
Memory tweaking is the result of too many slow performance computers and operating system crashes. FreeMem Professional is a very small and low on resources memory tweaking utility that unlocks the RAM and contributes to improving the speed of your computer and the system stability.
Despite the fact that this version was released a long time ago (about the time Windows XP was released) it did not cease to do its best in freeing up the memory and stabilizing the performance of your computer. The price is $19.95 and the trial version allows full testing of the software for a period of 30 days.
The interface is not much, but it is interesting. The options available in the main panel slide from below and from the right side just like a console. The first panel in view the moment you launch the application is a monitor displaying the memory resource available on your computer. It also records the fluctuations of RAM use in a graphic.
From the beginning I noticed that instead of one system tray icon as I expected, there were three (one for memory, one for CPU and one for the actual program). Obviously, this can be categorized as a pitfall of the application, but you will see later how you can do away with them.
In the lower part of the panel, there are the six menus of the program. You can manually free up memory by selecting the amount of RAM you want to liberate. There are three presets available here, each one being set for a different RAM value and being assigned a keyboard shortcut. The slider allows you to manually adjust the amount of memory to free up and assign it to one of the three presets.
Regular Activity is more complicated in options as a right side panel will be available this time. Here you can set an automatic memory free-up job at a certain time interval. In the space below the control panel you can set the amount of RAM to be unlocked and the time interval the job to take place at. In the right side panel the user can configure the amount of CPU power to be used during the process and the Idle Search Time (maximum is 60 seconds).
This option is rarely encountered among memory tweakers and I must say that I am impressed. Its purpose is to ensure a smooth computer response during the memory re-allocation process. The program waits for your CPU idle time and the CPU value specified by you will not permit the software to use more during the memory free-up, thus avoiding a performance drop in a bad time (when you work on something). By checking the "Enforce free-up" box you command the application to proceed to action even if no idle time is found.
Critical Activity menu is similar to Regular Activity with minor differences like the time the action is triggered. Here the user can set the amount of memory usage that should activate the cleaning. Thus FreeMem will start its job when that critical memory level is reached. The same idle options are available and they function in the same way.
Startup lets you specify the memory you want to make available at Windows startup. The bottom sliders are for defining the wait time after Windows loads all the startup processes and the RAM to be liberated.
As I said before, the main control panel presents a graphical display of the used memory. In Monitor options, you can control the icons displayed in system tray and the display mode. I felt a certain discomfort when I saw my system tray so crowded (I already had about 15 icons in there) and adding three more instead of one was a no-no for me. Here you can turn them off and change the display mode from "used memory" to "free memory".
The last of the menus available deals with changing the skin (if you can find one) and restore all the settings to the default values.
The Good
The interface and its functionality is the living proof that FreeMem has resisted time and is stubborn enough to work in Vista.
The application supports up to 2GB so it is not obsolete yet. It does a very good job with freeing up the computer memory and increasing its performance.
The Idle Options are not too popular with other softwares despite the fact that it is a good option to have as it ensures that you are not disrupted in your work (with "Enforce free-up" off, of course).
The Bad
I wish there was some other skin available and maybe increasing the RAM support level would not be such a bad idea.
The Truth
Despite its age, it is a perfectly valid application that still does its job well and it has more options than many other contemporary similar softwares.
Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
