Overview
CleanMem is a tiny freeware memory optimizer. It doesn’t run in the background, you just have to run it whenever you want to clear some RAM.

Review
I was using SweepRAM as a memory optimizer since the beginning of the Freeware Mission and I was pretty satisfied with it so far. I decided to try CleanMem because some readers suggested it to me saying that it was surely better than SweepRAM. So I planned a little test. First of all I chose the program that runs almost all the time in the background in my PC for the test, and that program is Launchy. I started my PC and looked at the amount of memory that Launchy used. The result was around 14 MB.

Launchy Memory Usage Before CleanMem

After running CleanMem the result is quite impressive: Launchy takes only 156 kb. If I press alt+Space to bring Launchy into action it will take 5 to 7 MB.

Launchy Memory Usage After CleanMem

Now let’s do the same thing using SweepRAM. Launchy takes around 14 MB right after starting the PC.

Launchy Memory Usage Before SweepRAM

Now let’s run SweepRAM and see what we get.

Launchy Memory Usage After SweepRAM

160 kb, almost equal to CleanMem’s 156. Again, after pressing alt+Space Launchy will behave normally taking 5 to 7 MB.

As far as I can tell the only real difference between the two programs is that SweepRAM displays some sort of a confirmation message after completing the RAM cleanout, while CleanMem is totally silent. 

Version Tested

1.3.0

Author

PCWinTech

Operating System

Windows 2000, XP, 2003, Vista, & 2008 (32bit & 64bit)

Download link

Summary

Lightweight and effective.

Doesn’t display a confirmation message, so you have to check the task manager to know if you actually launched it or not.

Rating

Verdict

As you can see from the test there isn’t too much difference between SweepRAM and CleanMem, so I couldn’t really recommend one of them before the other. Both seem to be really useful freeware memory optimizers that really free RAM. Overall SweepRAM might get a tiny plus because of the confirmation message but that’s not essential. The conclusion: you can go for any of the two, no major differences between them.

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If you have any trouble with this software just leave a comment, I’ll help you out! If you know better free programs in the same category, please let me know!