Windows 7 Memory Doesn't Get Freed; System Functionality Decreases

[Kyre]

Hello,

I have 8GB of memory in my computer.
When I power it up, the memory usage starts out at somewhere between 10%-20%, which I think is OK.
After a while of using the computer and opening & closing programs, the amount of memory being used steadily increases, until it escalates to around 89%, upon which things start to work poorly.

The most prominent effect is loss of internet connection.
Network stops working entirely, and running ipconfig shows nothing, as if I don't even have a network adapter.
I tried opening the Network and Sharing Center and the Device Manager when this happened, but they wouldn't open.
Also, it is difficult to restart the computer after this starts happening.
The computer seems to be working swiftly, but certain actions seem to be problematic (e.g. opening Task Manager or any Explorer window, or reaching the Ctrl+Alt+Delete screen). Other things might still work, though (for example, opening Command Prompt).

There is no error message of any sort, nor a BSOD.

I can somehow understand why this might happen, if no memory is available to the OS, but what I don't understand is this:

1. Even at 90% usage, with 8 GB of RAM there should still be enough for the system to operate normally.
2. Why does closing programs have no effect on the situation?
3. I summed up the memory taken by all open processes when the memory was at about 75% usage, and it doesn't even add up to 2GB. Adding an exaggerated 2GB extra for the OS itself, it shouldn't even reach 50%.
4. How does this come to be in the first place? It looks like closing applications does not free the memory they were using.

I performed a full virus scan using ESET's online scanner (in case my own antivirus was compromised), as well as a malware scan using Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware, but everything seems to be clean.
I've had this computer for around 3 weeks, and have installed mostly games on it so far.

Basic System Information:

Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium
OS Version: 6.1.7600 Build 7600
System Type: x64
RAM: 8 GB (2 x 4GB)
Antivirus: NOD32
​

I've attached a few files with some more information:

• System Information.txt - Exported from msinfo32.
• Resource Monitor Numbers.txt - A summary of the information in the Resource Monitor when my memory was at around 75% usage, before the functionality issues start to occur.
  It contains an exaggerated sum (rounded each value up to the nearest whole MB) of all the process memory values in the Processes table.
• IPConfig.Bad.txt - What running ipconfig looks like after the functionality issues start to occur.

Other than this problem, the computer works like a charm and has no problems whatsoever.

I would very much appreciate it if anyone could help me figure out what's wrong and how to repair it.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Saltgrass]

If you open Task Manager, and go to the Performance Tab, then open resource monitor-memory tab, it should show what is using the memory. Do you see anything that looks a little strange? From you attached files, I would think the "In Use" number is quite high.

You might attach a picture of that dialog box using the snipping tool.

 

[Kyre]

Like I said before, I took all the figures in the entire Processes table of the Resource Monitor (Memory tab), summed it up and got the results shown in the "Resource Monitor Numbers" text file I attached.

I've added screenshots of the Resource Monitor when my memory is at around 75% usage.

What you say is true; the "In Use" was on 6022 MB, but I couldn't see what was taking up that much memory.
Again, the total memory consumption shown by the Resource Monitor at the time were:
Private 847 MB
Shareable 584 MB
Commit 1473 MB
Working 1407 MB

I'm not familiar with what these terms mean. If I want to know how much physical memory a certain process takes, what kind of memory should I look at?
Am I supposed to add up all the private, shareable, commit and working memory for that process?

 

[Saltgrass]

The type of things I would look for are for instance, you show Firefox.exe as using 383,000 or so. Mine uses 75,000 or so. Do you know why yours is so much higher? Are you running several open pages or doing something else needing memory? You are running an SQL server?

If you click the top of the columns, it will arrange the numbers so you can see what is taking the most memory at the top of the page. But it looks like you have the Private column set up that way.

I have not gone through all of your usage numbers, but I will compare any we have in common to see if I see anything else that seems excessive.

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It looks like you are really using quite a bit of memory. If you find something taking more than it should, like firefox, maybe you could fix that. Anti-virus programs might be taking computer time and slowing down your system, but maybe it is something else.

If a program is misbehaving and not releasing the memory when not in use, you might need an update to it.

If you need to run all the utilities you show, maybe the best idea would be for you to get more memory.

The only other thing I might suggest is to look into system properties and adjust the performance to allow background processes to get more time.

 

[Kyre]

Firefox takes a lot of memory because it's been running for a while with many windows and tabs open.

I don't think the problem is any single program, nor is it having insufficient memory.
Even if Firefox has a problem and takes too much memory, closing it should free whatever resources it was using.
In theory, if I close all the programs that I have opened since the last time I restarted my computer, the memory usage should drop to be the same as when the OS started, shouldn't it?
Since that doesn't happen, I think we can rule out specific programs as the problem for the high usage numbers.
And since my memory usage rises steadily over time without ever receding by any significant amount, I reckon having more memory would only delay when the functionality problems begin to occur, for it would take more time to reach 90% memory usage.

How do I adjust the performance the way you suggested?
And how would it affect things?