RAMOpt

Download and run

Download latest release

1. Open link above and download RAMOpt release archive from Assets.
2. Extract downloaded archive to folder where you want to keep app.
3. Open extracted RAMOpt folder and run RAMOpt.exe.

RAMOpt is a Windows memory-maintenance app built with Tauri v2, Rust, and a local Vite frontend. Cleanup runs at most one operation at a time.

What it does

During cleanup, RAMOpt runs three backend optimization phases:

• Phase 1: measures physical memory and requests a system working-set trim; Windows may include RAMOpt and other eligible processes.
• Phase 2: trims system file cache, flushes modified pages, and purges the standby list.
• Phase 3: combines physical pages, reconciles the registry cache, and flushes modified file cache on fixed volumes.
• Each memory area runs independently; failures are logged and later areas still run.
• Optionally removes stale regular files older than 24 hours from current user's %TEMP% and C:\Windows\Temp (files that cannot be accessed are skipped); directories and symbolic links are skipped.
• Optionally closes selected user applications gracefully and force-cleans only narrowly identified orphan helper processes. Hardware drivers, security processes, network processes, active application trees, and running service-owned processes are excluded.
• Reports estimated physical-memory delta, successful/skipped area counts, removed temp-file count, closed-app count, and orphan-process cleanup count. The delta is system-wide and can include normal Windows workload changes.

Cleanup runs on demand, on configured schedule, or from global hotkey. Tray menu can show the app, open App settings, run cleanup, toggle scheduled cleanup, temp cleanup, background-app cleanup, Windows startup, or exit.

App interface and usage

1. Automatic cleanup offers one mode at a time: Off, Scheduled (cleans every 1–1440 minutes; changing the interval restarts the timer without cleaning) or RAM high (checks every minute and cleans while usage is at or above the threshold, 1–100%, default 75%). Only the settings of the selected mode are shown, and the window keeps the same height in every mode.

2. Clean temp files removes stale files from the user temp folder and also attempts C:\Windows\Temp; files RAMOpt cannot access are skipped.

3. Close background apps is disabled by default. It sends graceful close requests to matching processes in the current user session, including OneDrive, Teams, and Adobe helper apps. It force-cleans only stale, parentless, childless, network-idle helper processes that match exact allowlisted paths and command lines. It skips active application trees, running service-owned processes, hardware drivers, security/network processes, and ambiguous processes.

4. Quick-clean hotkey (default Ctrl + Alt + R) runs a cleanup from any app while RAMOpt is running, including when it is hidden in the tray; the RAMOpt window is brought to the front when the hotkey is pressed. If you pick a hotkey that cannot be registered, the previously working one stays active and stays saved (the selection returns to it), and the failure is shown in Recent activity (for example "Ctrl + Alt + R is in use by another program · still using Ctrl + Shift + M"). If the saved hotkey cannot be registered at startup because another program owns it, RAMOpt reports it once, marks the hotkey row Not active (key in use) and retries every 10 seconds; the selector keeps showing the saved key.

5. Click the gear icon in the header, or choose App settings… from the tray menu, to open App settings: Start with Windows, Close to tray (hides the window instead of exiting) and Dark mode.

   

6. Click Clean RAM now for immediate cleanup. Recent activity shows the current status and the latest cleanup result. Restore defaults resets all settings; if the default hotkey (Ctrl + Alt + R) is in use by another program, the hotkey that was working stays active and stays saved, and Recent activity says so (for example "Default hotkey Ctrl + Alt + R is in use by another program · still using Alt + M"). Once a hotkey that was not active registers successfully, Recent activity shows "Alt + M is now active".

7. RAMOpt checks GitHub Releases every 15 minutes. When a newer release exists, an Update available banner appears and Update now is added to the tray menu (it is not shown otherwise). Install update downloads the release archive, verifies its SHA-256 checksum, replaces the app files and restarts RAMOpt.

The window has a fixed width and cannot be resized or maximized; its height adapts only when the update banner appears (Recent activity always reserves room for three rows).

What it does not do

• Does not overclock RAM, create physical memory, or guarantee free-RAM increase.
• Does not disable, stop, configure, or modify Windows Update.
• Does not bypass Windows protection or access controls.

Windows decides when trimmed memory becomes available. Free RAM may not rise immediately because Windows uses standby cache to improve performance. Native cache and page-list operations can increase page faults or disk I/O; RAMOpt logs each area separately and skips only the failed area.

Requirements

• Windows 10 or Windows 11.
• RAMOpt requests administrator privileges because phases 1–3 use system memory APIs and volume cache operations. Launching RAMOpt or its Windows startup entry may show a UAC prompt.
• Rust toolchain with MSVC target.
• Node.js and npm for the Vite frontend.
• Microsoft WebView2 Runtime (the Tauri installer can bootstrap it).
• Visual Studio Build Tools with Desktop development with C++ workload, if Rust setup did not install MSVC linker.
• PowerShell, included with Windows.

Build from source

1. Clone repository:

   git clone https://github.com/thnonl/RAMOpt.git
   cd RAMOpt

2. Confirm Rust installation:

   rustc --version
   cargo --version

3. Install frontend dependencies and run the Tauri application:

   npm install
   npm run tauri dev

4. Build a release bundle:

   npm run tauri build

   Tauri bundles are created under target\release\bundle\; executable is target\release\ramopt-tauri.exe. package-release.ps1 runs the Tauri build, stages the app as RAMOpt.exe with updater, license and README, then writes release\RAMOpt-Windows-x64.zip and release\SHA256SUMS.txt. Pushing a vX.Y.Z tag runs the same script in GitHub Actions and publishes the release.

Notes

• RAMOpt allows one running instance. Starting it again restores the existing window.
• Some protected processes cannot be trimmed even with elevated privileges. RAMOpt skips failed areas/processes and records native error codes in %LOCALAPPDATA%\RAMOpt\ramopt.log.
• Startup toggle uses the Tauri autostart plugin. The application manifest requests Administrator privileges, so Windows may show UAC at launch and startup.
• Settings and ramopt.log are stored in %LOCALAPPDATA%\RAMOpt. An existing settings.json beside RAMOpt.exe is migrated on first launch.
• The native working-set operation is system-wide; Windows may include RAMOpt and other eligible processes. RAMOpt does not explicitly open or target its own process.
• OneDrive.Sync.Service.exe is eligible only under strict orphan checks: exact OneDrive path, current user session, no running OneDrive companion, no parent or child, and no service ownership. Otherwise it is skipped.
• The updater verifies a SHA256SUMS.txt checksum before replacing files, and restarts the previous install if the update fails.