WiseCleaner Think Tank
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All about maintenance and optimization of your Windows System.
Mar 9, 2020
The Standby list in Windows, typically shown in blue within tools like Resource Monitor, plays a crucial role in efficient memory management. It contains memory pages that have been removed from a process’s working set but are still associated with that process. In essence, the Standby list acts as a cache of recently used memory pages, ready to be quickly reused if needed.
Unlike completely free memory, pages on the Standby list retain their data and are prioritized based on their importance. Each page is assigned a priority level ranging from 0 to 7, with 7 being the highest priority. This priority system ensures that memory pages related to critical or shareable processes are less likely to be discarded and can be rapidly reclaimed.
For example, processes marked as shareable, such as those that share code libraries or data, are given higher priority. Pages associated with these shareable processes receive the highest priority within the Standby list, ensuring they remain in memory longer for quick access.
When a process requires a memory page that is already in the Standby list and linked to it, the Windows memory manager immediately returns that page to the process’s working set without having to read it from disk again. This mechanism significantly speeds up application responsiveness by reducing disk I/O and leveraging cached data.
However, the Standby list also serves as a pool of memory pages available to all processes. If a process requests additional memory and there isn’t enough free memory available, the memory manager scans the Standby list for pages with lower priority. It then recycles these lower-priority pages, clearing their contents if necessary, and allocates them to the requesting process.
Grasping how the Standby list works helps explain why Windows often shows a large amount of “used” memory even when your system isn’t under heavy load. This memory isn’t wasted; it’s actively caching data to speed up your system. Additionally, knowing about page prioritization sheds light on how Windows balances performance with efficient memory use.
Standby memory is automatically managed and reclaimed by Windows, so under normal conditions, you don’t need to clear it manually. Because of this, Windows does not offer a built-in feature to clear standby memory directly. That’s where third-party tools like Wise Memory Optimizer come in, a free and easy-to-use program to free up and optimize your PC’s RAM.
Follow these simple steps to clear standby memory with Wise Memory Optimizer:
1. Open Wise Memory Optimizer.
2. Click the drop-down menu and select Empty Standby RAM.
3. Click the Optimize button.
Within seconds, you’ll notice that standby memory has been freed and your available RAM has increased, helping your PC run smoother and faster.
Investigate memory usage with Windows 7 Resource Monitor by Greg Shultz
