History of how much memory has been installed on a system over tim

Question:
Does anyone know of a record in Windows Vista that can show a history of how
much memory was installed on a system at a particular point in time? I'm
after some sort of log that shows what changes occurred and when please.

Background:
In March went back to University to study HCI. Before I quit my full time
job I configured and purchased a new Dell PC with 4GB of RAM running Vista
Home Premium to do my study on. The system only ever found about three and a
half GB of it, but I was pretty happy with the performance of my new PC :-)

Last week I got an error message about a memory shortage, which caused me to
check the Performance tab of Windows Task Manager. It said I only had 2GB of
Physical Memory. I thought that was a bit weird; so I checked inside the box.

I found that there was only 2GB left inside (2x1GB). Two of my 1GB chips
were missing :-(

I am almost 100% sure that the chips were there when I got the PC (i.e. I
didn’t physically look back then in March, but the system said it was using
each of the installed chips).

If I could find a date stamp in a built-in log somewhere saying when my
system went from 4GB to 2GB, I could probably work out who it was that took
my RAM. Only a handful of people have been in the room with my computer over
the last few months (We have invoices from some contractors, stating the
dates that they were at our house, etc)

As you can imagine, I’d like to have the evidence required to be able to ask
whoever the culprit was to give back/replace what they took. I do a lot of
application multitasking, and it’s not always easy for a full-time student to
come up with the cash to replace 2GB of RAM.

Where I've looked so far:
I’ve looked for something that resembles a hardware config history log in
the Computer Management tool set, with no luck. I've also checked the System
Information tool. It shows the type of info I'm after, but only at the
current point in time.

I’m not super-technically minded; so I’d really appreciate it if someone
could give me some advice about something that might indicate a date where
the change occurred.

No, Windows does not log this kind of detail.

--
Richard G. Harper [MVP Shell/User] rgharper@gmail.com
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"Mark" <Mark@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:20C6CA03-C015-4F99-9377-1B979FD7C5FD@microsoft.com...
> Question:
> Does anyone know of a record in Windows Vista that can show a history of
> how
> much memory was installed on a system at a particular point in time? I'm
> after some sort of log that shows what changes occurred and when please.
>
> Background:
> In March went back to University to study HCI. Before I quit my full time
> job I configured and purchased a new Dell PC with 4GB of RAM running Vista
> Home Premium to do my study on. The system only ever found about three and
> a
> half GB of it, but I was pretty happy with the performance of my new PC
> :-)
>
> Last week I got an error message about a memory shortage, which caused me
> to
> check the Performance tab of Windows Task Manager. It said I only had 2GB
> of
> Physical Memory. I thought that was a bit weird; so I checked inside the
> box.
>
> I found that there was only 2GB left inside (2x1GB). Two of my 1GB chips
> were missing :-(
>
> I am almost 100% sure that the chips were there when I got the PC (i.e. I
> didn’t physically look back then in March, but the system said it was
> using
> each of the installed chips).
>
> If I could find a date stamp in a built-in log somewhere saying when my
> system went from 4GB to 2GB, I could probably work out who it was that
> took
> my RAM. Only a handful of people have been in the room with my computer
> over
> the last few months (We have invoices from some contractors, stating the
> dates that they were at our house, etc)
>
> As you can imagine, I’d like to have the evidence required to be able to
> ask
> whoever the culprit was to give back/replace what they took. I do a lot of
> application multitasking, and it’s not always easy for a full-time student
> to
> come up with the cash to replace 2GB of RAM.
>
> Where I've looked so far:
> I’ve looked for something that resembles a hardware config history log in
> the Computer Management tool set, with no luck. I've also checked the
> System
> Information tool. It shows the type of info I'm after, but only at the
> current point in time.
>
> I’m not super-technically minded; so I’d really appreciate it if someone
> could give me some advice about something that might indicate a date where
> the change occurred.
>

Your purchase receipt from Dell should list the amount of RAM in the
machine you bought. Obviously someone 'nicked' it when you were out!
Now you just need to ask around and find out who has recently installed
Vista and whose memory suddenly increased by 2Gig at the same time!


--
majmac

AMD64x2 4600+

You could try looking in C:\Windows\Performance\WinSAT\DataStore, opening
the .xml files by Date Created or Date Modified to look for clues. When the
file is seen in Internet Explorer, look for changes between the documents
under the <MemoryScore> entry, as well as
<Memory> <TotalPhysical><Size>1023MB</Size> , for example. This *might*
give you an approximate time as to when your memory amount changed,
depending on whether your Experience Index score was updated around the time
of the memory chips' disappearance.

"Mark" <Mark@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:20C6CA03-C015-4F99-9377-1B979FD7C5FD@microsoft.com...
> Question:
> Does anyone know of a record in Windows Vista that can show a history of
> how
> much memory was installed on a system at a particular point in time? I'm
> after some sort of log that shows what changes occurred and when please.
>
> Background:
> In March went back to University to study HCI. Before I quit my full time
> job I configured and purchased a new Dell PC with 4GB of RAM running Vista
> Home Premium to do my study on. The system only ever found about three and
> a
> half GB of it, but I was pretty happy with the performance of my new PC
> :-)
>
> Last week I got an error message about a memory shortage, which caused me
> to
> check the Performance tab of Windows Task Manager. It said I only had 2GB
> of
> Physical Memory. I thought that was a bit weird; so I checked inside the
> box.
>
> I found that there was only 2GB left inside (2x1GB). Two of my 1GB chips
> were missing :-(
>
> I am almost 100% sure that the chips were there when I got the PC (i.e. I
> didn’t physically look back then in March, but the system said it was
> using
> each of the installed chips).
>
> If I could find a date stamp in a built-in log somewhere saying when my
> system went from 4GB to 2GB, I could probably work out who it was that
> took
> my RAM. Only a handful of people have been in the room with my computer
> over
> the last few months (We have invoices from some contractors, stating the
> dates that they were at our house, etc)
>
> As you can imagine, I’d like to have the evidence required to be able to
> ask
> whoever the culprit was to give back/replace what they took. I do a lot of
> application multitasking, and it’s not always easy for a full-time student
> to
> come up with the cash to replace 2GB of RAM.
>
> Where I've looked so far:
> I’ve looked for something that resembles a hardware config history log in
> the Computer Management tool set, with no luck. I've also checked the
> System
> Information tool. It shows the type of info I'm after, but only at the
> current point in time.
>
> I’m not super-technically minded; so I’d really appreciate it if someone
> could give me some advice about something that might indicate a date where
> the change occurred.
>