The columns that matter get misread
Available
memory Windows can give a new allocation right now — includes cached-but-reclaimable
Cached
file data kept hot, instantly dropped under pressure — a feature, not a leak
Compressed
in-RAM compression saving I/O; costs CPU, saves disk
Commit charge
the real ceiling: physical + pagefile promised; hitting it is the crash signal, not “% used”
Symptoms decoded
- “90% used, PC slow” — check Hard faults/sec (Resource Monitor): real memory pressure shows as hard-fault storms, availability zero under pressure. Idle-at-high-% is fine.
- “Reboot nightly to clear leaks” — one pageable-misbehaving driver is a known pathology; global tooling tickets belong to the driver vendor, not your habits.
- “Add more RAM to fix everything” — helps I/O caching; doesn't help app logic latency. Buy it when hard-faults say so, not before.
Storage and memory tuning are two halves of the same user feeling: if a per-user tool could fix it, it's probably one of the twelve documented values — if not, RAM (or an RMA report) is the fix, not a registry spelunk.
ProofTune ProjectEngineering notes — every claim here names the bytes a real tool touches. Verify first, install second.