MemManager 0.2.0

Both platforms

• Friendly values, on by default.
  • The dashboard and icon lead with memory that's ready for apps (free plus cache), show the
    cache as a "speed-up cache", and use calm state names.
  • Settings → Values returns to the OS's own terms: Task Manager on Windows, Activity
    Monitor on macOS.
• The cache earning its keep:
  • "Cache made room for 1.2 GB of app memory in the last 10 minutes."
  • On Windows: how often apps got data back from cache instead of disk.
• Honest manual cleaning: while memory is comfortable, "Optimize now" (Windows) and "Nudge"
  (macOS) first explain what they would cost.
• Idle apps holding real memory are called out in the app list.
• One-time explainer link: docs/understanding-memory.md.
• In-app updates:
  • Daily automatic check (can be turned off) or "Check now".
  • The download is verified against its published SHA-256, then installed in place.
    • Windows: a silent setup upgrade, or an exe swap for portable copies.
    • macOS: a bundle swap.
  • The app restarts with your settings.
• Releases also publish raw MemManager-<ver>-windows-<arch>.exe assets for portable updates.

Upgrading from 0.1.0

• 0.1.0 has no updater, so install this version once by hand: run the new setup, or drag the new
  app over the old one. Your settings are kept. Later versions update from inside the app.

Known limitations

• Unsigned builds:
  • Windows SmartScreen may warn.
  • On macOS, right-click → Open the first time.
• Not yet hand-tested: the dashboards are verified headless in CI only.
• macOS cache-hit counter: macOS has no system-wide cache-hit counter, so the "data back from
  cache" line is Windows-only.

Install

• Windows 10/11 (x64 or ARM64): run MemManager-0.2.0-windows-setup.exe. Keep "Start at login with memory-cleaning privileges" checked so MemManager can manage memory without asking for admin each time. Uninstall from Settings → Apps.
• macOS 13+: open MemManager-0.2.0-macos-universal.dmg and drag MemManager to Applications. On first launch, right-click → Open (the build is not notarized yet).
• Portable Windows zips and a macOS zip are attached as well.

Measured memory reduction

Each row creates real bloat on a GitHub-hosted runner, runs the action through the same code path the app uses, and measures memory freed plus the cost afterwards. Numbers vary by machine and workload.

Windows (CI runner, 15.99 GiB RAM, build 26100)

Bloat	Action	Freed	% of RAM	Cost afterwards
Idle apps holding private memory	Selective trim of idle apps (tier 4)	2.02 GiB	12.6%	re-touch 514 ms vs 16 ms warm; 1 hard page faults
Modified (dirty) pages from trimmed apps	Flush modified list (tier 4)	1.57 GiB	9.8%	pagefile writes; pages become reusable cache
File cache after reading a large file	Clear low-priority cache (tier 2)	0.00 GiB	0.0%	none: only cache Windows was about to discard
File cache after reading a large file	Clear standby cache (tier 3)	5.81 GiB	36.3%	re-reading the file took 4915 ms vs 265 ms from cache
All of the above at once	Deep clean (manual)	5.21 GiB	32.6%	624111 hard faults in the next 10 s (baseline 454); apps re-touch 19509 ms
Identical pages across the system	Combine pages (tier 5)	0.02 GiB	0.1%	CPU scan only

macOS (CI runner, 7.00 GiB RAM)

Bloat	Action	Freed	% of RAM	Cost afterwards
Volatile purgeable memory (app caches)	Nudge (helper)	0.70 GiB	10.0%	apps regenerate purged caches on next use
App holding a cache, cooperative	Nudge (helper)	0.70 GiB	10.0%	the app rebuilds its cache when needed
File cache after reading a large file	Purge disk cache (manual, helper)	2.85 GiB	40.8%	re-reading the file took 563 ms vs 86 ms from cache
Idle app holding memory	Quit idle app (suggestion / allowlist)	0.70 GiB	10.0%	the app must be reopened

Checksums (SHA-256)

8a1389d178bee09e2e948697e4059426a63bf91082866391bdade45f4cd80e7b  MemManager-0.2.0-macos-universal.dmg
b117d0d303bfd32b1740177e32875af283a4e5ecf8c717cb13942ddd728d77df  MemManager-0.2.0-macos-universal.zip
35e890ac5ec90265b751425d2e152ca7df97ce7f0428cc0da557f9e00b79fd62  MemManager-0.2.0-windows-arm64-portable.zip
603293ba55ce34a0e795be9b328ce1c6c8ae831e869996efde258d68eb38574d  MemManager-0.2.0-windows-arm64.exe
116c0f7c98cb5b97298debad6d1021ba5890a0f7049d1effa86b63d7a56079e1  MemManager-0.2.0-windows-setup.exe
94efd6460f6ec66b06e2f48e2d66a972c89c4f0a76f42e56c1624e6033f58a41  MemManager-0.2.0-windows-x64-portable.zip
2d6c736abd605aefc18accdd2c08fe71f11100b6e9d07c3520e10fe4b5b157cd  MemManager-0.2.0-windows-x64.exe