This wikiHow teaches you how to monitor both your device's random access memory (RAM) usage and the free space of your computer's hard drive.
Steps
Method 1 of 6: Check Windows RAM usage
Step 1. Hold Alt+Ctrl and then press Delete.
This will open your computer's Windows task manager menu.
Step 2. Click on Device Manager
This is the last option on this page.
Step 3. Click on the Performance tab
You can find this at the top of the 'Task Manager' window.
Step 4. Click on the Memory tab at the top left of the 'Task Manager' window
Here you can see your computer's RAM usage in graphical format at the top of the page, or by looking at the number under the "In Use (Compressed)" heading.
Method 2 of 6: Check hard drive storage space Windows
Step 1. Double click on the 'This PC' icon
This is a computer monitor icon and is likely to be found on your desktop.
- On some versions of Windows, it's called "My Computer" instead of "This PC."
- If you can't find 'This PC' on your desktop, search this PC using the search bar in the Start menu and click the computer monitor icon when it appears.
Step 2. Right click on the C icon:
from the hard drive. You can find it under the "Device Manager" heading, in the middle of the "My Computer" page.
Some versions of Windows have "OS" above the hard drive
Step #3. Click Properties
This option is at the bottom of the right-click menu.
Step 4. Click the General tab
This option is at the top of the "Properties" window. This will open your hard drive's "General" page, where properties such as total storage space will be displayed.
Step 5. Check your hard drive's storage space
Under 'Used' you can see how many gigabytes on your hard drive are currently in use, 'Remaining' indicates how many gigabytes of space are still available on your hard drive.
You may notice that there is a difference between the total number of gigabytes of your hard drive and the number of gigabytes advertised when you bought the computer. This is because a certain portion of your computer's hard drive is used to store the operating system. This space is therefore always in use and does not fall under available space
Method 3 of 6: Check Mac RAM usage
Step 1. Click on the 'Spotlight' button
This is the magnifying glass icon in the top right corner of the computer screen.
Step 2. Type 'Activity View' in the search bar
This will open the Activity View app.
Step #3. Click on Activity Monitor
Now the Activity Monitor program opens, allowing you to view your Mac's current RAM usage.
Step 4. Click Memory
This is a tab at the top of the Activity Monitor window.
Step 5. Look at the "Memory Usage" figure
You will find this option at the bottom of the page. The number for "Physical Memory" refers to how much RAM is installed on your Mac, while "Memory Usage" indicates how much RAM is currently in use.
Method 4 of 6: Check Mac Hard Drive Storage Space
Step 1. Click on the Apple menu
This is an icon in the shape of an apple in the top left of your screen.
Step #2. Click About This Mac
You will find this option somewhere at the top of the drop-down menu.
Step #3. Click on Storage
You'll find this option at the top of the About This Mac page. At the 'Storage' tab you will find a color coded overview of which type of files are taking up storage space.
It is also possible to view the available storage space on your hard drive in the top right-hand corner of the page, under the heading 'X GB available from Y GB', where 'X' is the available space and 'Y' is the total storage capacity of your Mac
Method 5 of 6: Check iPhone hard drive storage space
Step 1. On your iPhone, open the 'Settings'
This is a gray-colored icon of a gear and is most likely on the Home screen.
Due to operating system restrictions, it is not possible to view the RAM usage of your iPhone
Step #2. Tap on General
You will find this option at the bottom of the screen.
Step #3. Tap on Manage Storage in the 'Storage' section
This section is at the top of the page. This will open a list of all the apps on your device, in order from largest consuming storage space to the app that takes up the least space. You will also find the 'Used' and 'Available' sections at the top of this page, which respectively show the used and available storage space of your iPhone.
By tapping the second Manage storage space on this page, you open the iCloud page: here you can view the remaining storage space in your iCloud Drive
Method 6 of 6: Check Android hard drive storage space and RAM usage
Step 1. Open your Android device's Settings
This is a gray-colored icon of a gear that you can most likely find in the App drawer.
Step #2. Scroll down and tap on Apps
This option can be found in the 'Device' section.
On some Android phones (such as the Samsung Galaxy), you must first tap Device before you get to Apps
Step 3. Swipe left on the 'Apps' page
This will open the 'SD card' page, at the bottom left of the screen you can see how much space is currently in use on your hard drive, at the bottom right the total storage capacity.
Step 4. Swipe left on the 'SD card' page
This opens the 'Active' tab where you can view which programs are currently active.
Step 5. Check out the different categories
At the top of the page you will find three values that indicate the RAM usage of your Android:
- System – The number of gigabytes currently used by your Android's operating system.
- Apps – The number of gigabytes currently used by running apps.
- Available – The number of gigabytes of available RAM.
Tips
RAM is the memory allocated to various running processes (for example, apps or programs). Storage space on your hard drive, on the other hand, is intended for storing documents, folders or programs that you put on your computer – regardless of whether they are active or not
Warnings
- If a suspicious process is taking up a lot of space, try running an antivirus scan.
- Only terminate processes that you are sure are not critical to the system's functioning. It is easily done and could cause irreparable damage to files and data necessary for the functioning of the operating system.