Missing memory...

[Javasnob]

Ok, so I'm going about my standard routine of computer usage, and I noticed that my memory monitor is reporting +90% usage. So I look at top and free, and it seems like the memory monitor is correct; however, when I look at ps aux and top's output for individual programs, the memory usage only adds up to at most 20%. Also, all I'm doing is browsing the internet and playing music.

Can anyone help me find out what's going on? Thanks!

[deltaflyer]

thats just linux being itself, i get the same when i'm browsing etc. linux tends to load as much as it can into physical ram to keep things fairly speedy

andy

[dark_lord_kodd]

its a good thing. I often saw in windows i would have 300mb free ram, but an active page file of 200mb...

[josolanes]

as someone else said, it's a good thing. it frees the ram when it's needed but stores everything it can in it in the meantime. i believe it's used as a program cache of sorts (the extra ram you couldn't account for).