CleanMem

CleanMem asks the operating system to trim the memory of every running program, every fifteen minutes, from a scheduled task. It does not manage memory itself. It calls the system routine that empties a process’s working set, the set of pages the process has in physical memory right now.

The system then moves what it can to the standby cache or the page file. The number beside each program in the task list drops, sometimes by a lot, and the tool exits until the next run. A tray monitor shows memory use, with a right-click to run the clean by hand.

That description is also the whole controversy, and an honest article has to hold both halves. The maker’s own page says the program works no magic and that more memory is the real fix. Critics point out that a trimmed program simply pulls its pages back the next time it needs them, which takes time rather than saving anything. Both are right.

CleanMem is for a machine short of memory that swaps to a slow disk, and outside that it is a number going down in a list. RAMMap shows what the memory is actually doing, and is the place to look before deciding.

The scheduled task and what it does

Installation creates a task that runs CleanMem every fifteen minutes when the machine is idle. The interval and the idle condition are editable in the system’s task scheduler like any other task. Each run lists the processes, skips the ones on an ignore list, calls the trim routine on the rest and closes. Because the system performs the trim rather than CleanMem, nothing is written into another process, which is why it does not crash the programs it touches.

The optional file cache clean does the same to the standby list, the pages the system keeps around because they might be needed again. That is the part most likely to slow a machine rather than help it, since an emptied cache has to be refilled from disk. It is off unless you turn it on.

Ignore lists and only lists

Three modes decide the targets. All processes, which is the default. An ignore list, which trims everything except the programs you name, and is how a game or a database that should never be touched is protected.

An only list, which trims nothing except the programs you name, and is the sensible mode for the one program that leaks memory while you leave it open.

The Mini Monitor

The CleanMem Mini Monitor is a small tray readout of physical memory, the commit charge and the file cache, drawn as bars you can style. It doubles as the button for running a clean immediately, and for a fuller picture of which process holds what, a process viewer with per-process memory detail sits beside it well.

Its Pro tier adds a mode that runs the clean when memory passes a threshold rather than on the timer, and per-process rules with up to three conditions each. The standard tier carries no prompts to upgrade.

When it helps, and when it does not

The case for CleanMem is a machine with too little memory and a spinning disk, where a program that has grabbed memory it no longer touches forces others onto the page file. Trimming the idle program’s working set moves its unused pages out before the system is forced to, and the swapping that follows is a little less frantic. The effect is small and real.

The case against is every other machine. With adequate memory the system already keeps what is used and drops what is not. A forced trim only makes active programs fetch their pages back, which shows up as a brief stutter after each run. Solid state drives make the page file fast enough that the premise fades.

And the falling number in the task list measures pages moved rather than performance gained. Adding memory is the fix. This is the stopgap, and a tool that adjusts process priorities instead of memory is the other kind of stopgap.

Conclusion

CleanMem is for the owner of an older machine with little memory and a mechanical disk who has watched one program hold memory it stopped using and wants the swapping eased until more memory arrives. Used with an ignore list for the programs that matter and the file cache clean left off, it does that modestly and without harm.

Anyone with enough memory or a solid state drive should leave it alone, because the system already manages memory better than a timer can. The maker says the same, which is a good reason to trust the rest.