Configuring MemTurbo's Options

Selecting your Target and Alarm levels

If you opt to enable the low-memory alarm, a good starting point for the Alarm level is 1 or 2 Megabytes.  If you have a large amount of RAM (64M, 128M, etc), you may wish to be more proactive and select a level of 4 or 6 Megabytes.

Selecting a Target level is a more subjective choice.   Realistically, for normal operation you'd like about 1/8 to 1/2 of your physical RAM free for sudden demands.  So, on a 16M machine, even 4M would be helpful, and 8M would be a good choice.  On a 32M machine, 12M would be a good starting point.

How much RAM you opt to recover should take into account what you are using your machine for.  Before starting a game, for instance, you might want to be very aggressive.  When switching from a Word Publishing to a Paint program, however, you really just want to make room for the paint program, which might only be 4 Megabytes.

Avoid the common pitfall of reclaiming too much RAM:  once the novelty of trying to recover 120 Megabytes on your 128 Megabyte machine wears off, keep in mind that free RAM that you don't need free would be just as well off in your desk drawer!  What you want is enough RAM to meet the needs of applications and games you are about to run.

Other Options

On the Options page of the MemTurbo window, you may configure the various options to best suit your needs:

	Run Automatically at Windows Startup When enabled, this will place MemTurbo in your Startup group so that it runs automatically each time you start Windows (after you press Apply).  Clearing this checkbox and pressing Apply will remove any shortcut to MemTurbo from your Startup group.
	Recover RAM Automatically When Alarm Level is Reached When enabled, MemTurbo will monitor your available RAM, and if it dips below the alarm setting on the main page (the dashed red line on the graph), MemTurbo will kick in automatically and try to recover RAM up to the Target level setting (the dashed white line).
	Recover RAM Automatically every N minutes When enabled, MemTurbo will automatically kick in every N minutes (by default, N=30 but you may change it) and try to recover RAM up to the target level.
	Enable MemTurbo Guide Normally, the MemTurbo guide character will pop up occasionally to give you helpful information.  If you'd rather he not, you can uncheck this box to disable the guide.
	Changing the HotKey When the "Use Recover Now Hotkey" checkbox is enabled, MemTurbo will perform a memory recovery whenever you press the specified key combination regardless of what application you are in (assuming MemTurbo is currently running).  To change the hotkey, which by default is CTRL-ALT-M, enable the checkbox and click in the text control to the right.  You may then press the key combination you wish to use.  Note that for safety reasons, the key combination must include CTRL  and ALT.

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