Running Windows 10 on a machine with only 1GB of RAM (e.g., a small AWS EC2 instance) means memory is maxed out right after boot. The following services can be disabled to reduce usage — run all commands in PowerShell as Administrator.
Memory Compression
Windows 10 compresses memory to save space, but the compression itself consumes CPU and memory. On small machines, disabling it actually improves performance.
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| # Disable
Disable-MMAgent -mc
# Enable
Enable-MMAgent -mc
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Superfetch (SysMain)
Superfetch preloads frequently used programs into memory. On memory-constrained machines, this does more harm than good.
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| # Disable
Stop-Service -Force -Name "SysMain"; Set-Service -Name "SysMain" -StartupType Disabled
# Enable
Stop-Service -Force -Name "SysMain"
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Windows Defender
Real-time protection continuously scans in the background, consuming significant memory and CPU. If you’re in an isolated environment, consider disabling it.
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| # Disable
Set-MpPreference -DisableIntrusionPreventionSystem $true -DisableIOAVProtection $true -DisableRealtimeMonitoring $true -DisableScriptScanning $true -EnableControlledFolderAccess Disabled -EnableNetworkProtection AuditMode -Force -MAPSReporting Disabled -SubmitSamplesConsent NeverSend
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Windows Network Data Usage Monitor
This service tracks network traffic. Disabling it frees up a bit of memory.
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| # Disable
Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\Ndu\" -Name Start -Value 4
# Enable
Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\Ndu\" -Name Start -Value 2
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OneDrive
If you don’t need cloud sync, hide OneDrive from File Explorer:
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| # Disable
$regkey1 = 'Registry::HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{018D5C66-4533-4307-9B53-224DE2ED1FE6}'
$regkey2 = 'Registry::HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Wow6432Node\CLSID\{018D5C66-4533-4307-9B53-224DE2ED1FE6}'
Set-ItemProperty -Path $regkey1, $regkey2 -Name System.IsPinnedToNameSpaceTree -Value 0
# Enable
Set-ItemProperty -Path $regkey1, $regkey2 -Name System.IsPinnedToNameSpaceTree -Value 1
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After making all these adjustments and rebooting, memory usage should drop significantly.
