# Is there a "clear memory" command in Windows like there was in DOS? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 20, 2014, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-clear-memory-command-in-windows-like-there-was-in-dos/681751 "2014-02-20T00:39:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2014, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-clear-memory-command-in-windows-like-there-was-in-dos/681751/21 "2014-02-20T14:47:24Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > FWIW, the “clear screen” command in DOS is **cls**. Ha, I should have known better than to rely on decades-old memory and actually look it up. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2014, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-clear-memory-command-in-windows-like-there-was-in-dos/681751/22 "2014-02-20T15:45:45Z")
Back in the days of Windows 9x (maybe continuing into XP and beyond - I haven’t checked) there were ‘memory defrag’ utilities - these would sit in the taskbar and periodically ‘manage’ the memory. Scare quotes above because what they actually did was to unload/wipe the whole of the computer’s memory - any running programs would react to this by reloading themselves into memory (but in theory, neatly); any fragmented to leaked bits of memory would be freed up. They sort of worked, in my experience, but they became irrelevant to me when I made the transition to XP and computers with gigabytes of RAM. Not sure if they still exist, and are effective. ---
**Author:** ![AaronX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7bcc69/32.png) [@AaronX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AaronX)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2014, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-clear-memory-command-in-windows-like-there-was-in-dos/681751/23 "2014-02-20T15:51:06Z")
> [@TimeWinder](#): > > It’s almost impossible to leak memory past the end of your running process in Windows, Mac OS, iOS, or Android – it involves taking almost deliberate action to do so, and the sort of “locked system memory” code isn’t used very much. > > Sure, some apps still leak _while they’re running_, but it’s pretty easy for a developer to check for that, these days, and I haven’t seen too many egregious examples in the last few years. Doesn’t Firefox still have memory leaks? ---
**Author:** ![Lukeinva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lukeinva/32/17872_2.png) [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2014, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-clear-memory-command-in-windows-like-there-was-in-dos/681751/24 "2014-02-20T16:38:31Z")
> [@Charlie\_Wayne](#): > > At the bottom right corner of your screen, you should see a small blue rectangle. If you put your cursor on top of that blue rectangle, it should display the following “tip”: “Show Desktop” > > It may not be at the bottom right corner and may be in a diff location. > > If you click on that rectangle, it will minimize all open windows and you will see your desktop. > > That is somewhat similar to the DOS “clear command” even though it’s not quite the same thing. > > If you can be more specific as to what you need, someone may be able to help you. Or… if you are faster using keystrokes press the windows key and M (minimize). ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2014, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-clear-memory-command-in-windows-like-there-was-in-dos/681751/25 "2014-02-20T16:56:45Z")
There is a CLEARMEM command that came with the NT Server Resource Kit (it didn’t come standard with Windows). It was still available for Windows around the time of XP and 2003 Server. I don’t know if it is still available. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2014, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-clear-memory-command-in-windows-like-there-was-in-dos/681751/26 "2014-02-21T21:54:13Z")
> [@AaronX](#): > > Doesn’t Firefox still have memory leaks? The main program is not supposed to. But there’s nothing preventing one from being caused by an addon, and Mozilla can’t test every possible configuration once addons are taken into account. ---
**Author:** ![ThisUsernameIsForbidden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b4bc9f/32.png) [@ThisUsernameIsForbidden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisUsernameIsForbidden)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2014, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-clear-memory-command-in-windows-like-there-was-in-dos/681751/27 "2014-02-21T22:24:45Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > um, yeah, surely, as **charlie wayne** implies, the dos clear command was about clearing the screen, not clearing the memory. pwned [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-clear-memory-command-in-windows-like-there-was-in-dos/681751.md?page=1)