it supposed to be like this. Linux handles memory differently to windows and considers free memory as wasted memory, it will release memory as requested by other programs etc.
the main thing is dont fill it up with plugin after plugin unnecessarily.
This is a post from else where so i take no credit for it.
Linux uses the term 'free' differently to the average person. In other words if you want to know how much memory is free consider the example below:
$ free
total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 2050768 1965940 84828 0 16456 429872
-/+ buffers/cache: 1519612 531156
Swap: 975868 684856 291012
You would assume my 'free' memory is 84828 (about 4%) but it's not, the ACTUAL 'free' memory is closer to:
(Used - (Buffers + Cached)) + Free = 1604440 (about 78%).
This is about 'normal'. While it's true that there can be a memory 'cock-up' from time to time, 99.9% of the time if you mess with memory management you'll simply detract from overall performance of a Linux system. If you add memory to a Linux system it will usually simply be gobbled up straight-away leaving an apparent ~5% free.
This NOT how Windows works and free memory in the two systems have different meanings and different impacts.
However, if you're a developer or need to manage memory more effectively you should probably look at kernel commit parameters in the first instance followed by the process 'kill' configuration - the so-called OOM-killer.
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