Memory gets full when running Google earth 6

Memory gets full when running Google earth 6

Hi Sherman,

It seems Google Earth 6 has a bug causing high memory usage after a period of time. Their developers are aware of the memory leak and maybe while we wait for a version fix for it, trying out several remedies should do the trick for you.

• Confirm if you are using the latest Google Earth 6 build here http://www.google.com/earth/index.html as a test. Test to see if you experience the memory leak.
• If you wish to stick with the current version, there are a couple of apps you can try to fix the memory leak by refreshing usage. One is minimum http://main.kerkia.com/products/Minimem/description.aspx, an application that recovers used memory by lowering usage when an application has reached a certain value or level. Originally made for Firefox, it works best by picking out a list of applications that use up too much memory and optimize them at regular intervals (30 sec default). Another app worth mentioning is “Memory Cleaner” https://www.koshyjohn.com/software/memclean/ an application that optimizes RAM usage by monitoring system cache.
• A possible fix involves starting Google Earth with all additional information like streets, borders, and ocean to reproduce the memory leak. Then proceed to identify what causes the leak. On Google ocean, switch off the 7th point (Marine Protective Areas) inside the menu. Check to see if it lowers memory usage.
• A downgrade to version 5 is also an alternative to those who can’t seem to get around the memory leak bug on version 6.  Navigate to this page https://www.google.com/earth/download/gep/agree.html and click on “Advanced Setup” to choose previous version “5.2”. Click to “Agree” and install. An alternate direct download page is here http://dl.google.com/earth/client/GE5/release_5_1_0/googleearth-Win-5.1.3506.3999.exe

Tune Google Earth Performance by following the guide below:

1. Start Google Earth, select "Edit" and then "Preferences".

2. Click on the "Cache" tab to set the disk cache to a large size preferably 512MB. Set the memory cache to a reasonable size that is no larger than your computer’s available RAM (Memory). As a measure start with one half of your RAM and feel the performance if suitable enough. The disk cache holds data from previous uses of Google Earth and the memory cache holds current data. Both are important for key performance issues on Google Earth.

3. Click on the "View" tab, and take a look at “Detail Area”. A smaller detail area size allows quick viewing, but it also makes shows blurry points at the edge of the screen. Try to use the smallest size that will give you the best performance.

4. And lastly in the "View" tab is "Texture Colors". Change this to 16-bit mode if you have old computer style setups or onboard graphics cards. It might make your display worse, but should make it faster as a result. However if you have the latest AGP-style graphics the 32-bit setting is for you.