Operation

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	Normal operation of RAM Charger is automatic. All application programs are RAM Charged according to their settings whenever they are opened. RAM Charger auto-configures to each open application so they are individually RAM Charged according to their own program requirements and features. The configuration parameters for many popular programs are already known to RAM Charger prior to installation. But it also learnsthe parameters of unknown programs, as they are used, and adds them to its knowledge base. The user's interface to RAM Charger is organized into two major areas: features that provide Feedbackabout your computer's memory usage and features that allow for Customizationof RAM Charger's functions. If you would like to keep your computer under control and as trouble free as possible, or if you are trying to make the most efficient use of every last megabyte of memory, please take some time to read on. The feedback RAM Charger offers can really help you stay on top of the situation while the customization options let you adjust its operation to fit to your desires to further improve your results.
Feedback	Many of RAM Charger's features are designed to provide you with feedback as to how your computer is using its memory. These features are presented here in three parts: The RAM Charger Pull-down Menu, located near the right end of the menu bar, offers convenient access to all of RAM Charger's major features and displays. The RAM Charger Heads-upwindow is displayed on your desktop when selected from the RAM Charger Pull-down Menu(or from the Window menu of either theRAM Charger Application Settingsor More About This Mac). RAM Charger also contains features that offer additional feedback when certain conditions exist, such as low memory or blocked System memory. For even more feedback, RAM Charger now includes a free copy of More About This Mac, offering an enhanced display of memory use similar to the Finder's About This Computer window (calledAbout This Macintoshprior to MacOS 7.6). This enhanced window can be opened from the Finder's menu, in place of the Finder's standard About This Macintosh window (or from the RAM Charger Pull-down Menuor the Windowmenu of the RAM Charger Application Settings). (This is a specially customized version of the separate Jump Development Group product, More About This Mac Pro.)
Figure 1.The RAM Charger Pull-down Menu.
RAM Charger Pull-down Menu	The RAM Charger Pull-down Menu, found under the go-light near the right end of your menu bar, provides a simple and convenient way of monitoring memory usage. The top section of the menu provides easy access to all of RAM Charger's features, as well as to the Finder's About This Macintosh window. The lower sections of the RAM Charger Pull-down Menudisplay various memory usage figures. You may optionally display any of these values (continuously updated as they change) in the menu bar itself, in place of the go-light icon, by selecting one or more of them from the menu. To remove a figure from your menu bar, select it again (see Figure 1a below).
Figure 1a. RAM Charger Pull-down Menu with memory Available and memory Reserved for the active application displayed in the menu bar.
	These values will be shown in kilobyte units (a kilobyte is 1,024 bytes). They may optionally be shown in megabytes (equal to 1,024 kilobytes), if of an appropriate size. See the section on RAM Charger General Settingsto find out how to enable this option. Each value is shown with a trailing "K" or "M" to indicate the unit of measure. This unit letter also indicates whether the active front application is being RAM Charged or not: if the unit is shown as an upper case letter, the application is RAM Charged, a lower case letter means it is not.
Essential Info	The first three figures indicate how much memory is currently unused and available. The Total Unused Memoryrepresents the amount which is currently available to each RAM Charged application (or for opening new applications, as well). The Largest Unused Blockis the same as that shown in the About This Macintoshwindow. The size of the Largest Unused Block is of interest because it represents the largest starting size available for opening an application. So, this tells you how large an application can be opened, at the moment. Available To Systemis the amount of unused memory currently accessible for system operations, including display of Finder windows, control panels, and desk accessories. As described in the section on Memory used by system software, it's possible for this amount to be small enough to cause an operation to be aborted, even if the total unused memory is very large.
More Available to System	The Macintosh System Software operates best with at least a few hundred K of memory available. Selecting More Available to Systemwill display how much memory is available to the System and which application is blocking further expansion. If system memory is low, you can then close windows or quit the blocking application.
Application Memory Info	The bottom section of the RAM Charger Pull-down Menudisplays memory information specific to the application running in the foreground. Selecting <Current Application> Memory Info...opens RAM Charger's enhanced Get Info window (described in full detail in the Customizationsection), allowing quick access to file info and RAM Chargersettings.7 In addition, any of the following application memory figures may be selected and displayed in the menu bar: Availableis the amount of memory that is available to the application. This is memory that the application can take and return as needed. Reserved is the amount of memory currently allocated to the application, including any expansion beyond the application's starting size. Savedis the amount of memory that was saved by opening the application into a smaller starting partition size. Expandedis the amount of dynamically available memory which the application currently has allocated. To remove a figure from your menu bar, select it again. If an application doesn't release memory when no longer needed, try the Squeeze <Current Application> menu item. RAM Charger will then use additional methods to release memory. To automatically set a specific application to be Squeezedwhen switching between applications, check the Squeeze check-box found in its RAM Charger Application Settings.
Heads-up information window	An alternative to using the RAM Charger Pull-down menuand More About This Macwindow is to open the RAM Charger Heads-upcontrol panel on the desktop, where you can see it continually update the display of essential information. The RAM Charger Heads-upwindow displays information about current use of memory in your computer. It is designed to use very little in computer resources (screen space, memory, and processing time) so that you can keep it open on your desktop most of the time. The Heads-upinformation lets you stay on top of the situation in order to avoid the speed-bumps of "Not Enough Memory" and to quickly recover when you do run out. Since some people like to keep the RAM Charger Heads-upwindow open, on their desktop, RAM Charger can open it for you automatically, whenever the computer restarts. There is an option in the System tab panel of the RAM Charger General Settings window that allows you to disable or enable automatic opening at startup.
Figure 2.The RAM Charger Heads-up Window (Essentials-Only).	The Heads-up window may be displayed in either an essentials-only view or an expanded view. You can quickly switch between the two views by clicking on the triangle disclosure button (similar to expanding the view of a folder's contents in a Finder window). In either view, the window's "title" bar (that is used to relocate the window or close it) is on the left side instead of the top so that it takes the smallest possible amount of space. There are two other buttons here. Click the RAM Charger logo button to open the RAM Charger Application Settings Window, described in the Customization section. Click the Help button when you want concise descriptions of any displayed items. The two numbers displayed in the essentials-only view indicate how much memory is currently unused and available. The Largest (Unused) Blockis the same as that shown in the Finder's About This Macintosh window. The size of the Largest Unused Block is of interest because it represents the largest starting size available for opening an application. So, this tells you how large an application can be opened, at the moment. On the other hand, the Total Unused (Memory)figure represents the total amount of unused memory in the machine which is currently available to each RAM Charged application (or for opening new applications, as well).
Additional Feedback	RAM Charger also has methods for notifying you that a certain condition exists with your computer's memory.
Notification When System/Finder Memory is Blocked	The System operates best with at least a few hundred K of memory available. If its expansion becomes blocked, RAM Charger will notify you (if this option is enabled in the RAM Charger General Settings window). See the above section Blocking expansion of system memoryfor background information.
Low memory early warning	RAM Charger allows you to do more with the memory you have, but there will always be an ultimate limit to your memory capacity. So RAM Charger provides an early warning alert to let you know when free memory is running low.
Figure 4. The RAM Charger low memory caution signal with stop sign rising as free memory drops to zero.	When the amount of unused memory (shown as Total Unused Memory in the RAM Charger Pull-down Menu) falls below the specified reserve level , RAM Charger flashes the yellow caution traffic signal over the menu. This gives you time to plan your actions accordingly, minimize disruptions, and keep on working. As the amount of free memory continues to drop below the reserve level, a red stop sign slides up over the yellow signal light to give you a dynamic reading of the level of memory available as you continue to work. As memory is freed up, the stop sign drops down again. When the level of free memory is above the reserve level, the yellow caution light is removed altogether. The size of the free memory reserve, which triggers the caution signal, is set during installation to an amount based on the size of your computer's memory. You may adjust it according to your requirements (or disable it altogether) within the Feedbacktab panel of RAM Charger General Settingswindow.