Tuesday, April 11, 2006
Details of The "NeverDorkMemory" Registry Key Revealed
Posted by Raphael Salgado in "THOUGHT" @ 05:00 PM
What started out as a quick forum post spread across other boards and spawned discussions on what the ominous "NeverDorkMemory" registry entry was really all about. Due to the lack of explanation (or an overly-technical one at that), the near timing of April Fools' Day, and the funny-sounding name, many thought it was a joke, while others swore that it helped out as an automatic memory defragmenter on their Pocket PCs. Initially Googling the term "NeverDorkMemory" when it first surfaced only revealed that same initial forum post and some other obscure link of a page in another language. I decided to get as close to the source as possible to find out the meaning of "NeverDorkMemory" and got a detailed response from none other than Mike Calligaro of the popular Windows Mobile Team Blog.
Mike responds, "I'm a bit embarrassed that we actually have a registry key with the word 'Dork' in it. I don't know what that developer was thinking. That key should have no effect on WM5. It was used on pre-WM5 PocketPCs that had a memory slider. The memory slider allowed you to determine how much memory was used as RAM and how much was used as Storage. However, as storage and RAM were consumed, the OS used to adjust the slider on its own (it basically tried to keep the amount of free RAM equal to the amount of free storage). In the vernacular of some dev who thought he was being clever, this was called 'Dorking' the memory. NeverDorkMemory disabled that automatic adjustment to the memory slider. It was generally believed that automatically adjusting the slider was the right thing to do, so we didn't make the key something configurable through the UI. Persistent storage means that we don't spend RAM on storage anymore, so there's no longer a need for the slider. With the slider gone, NeverDorkMemory shouldn't have any effect. I've had a few people ask where the slider went, so I was planning to write an entry explaining why it's gone..."
So, there you have it. What turned out to be a pre-Windows Mobile 5.0 registry entry became the "placebo effect" for those who claimed better handling of their device's RAM. At least it has no detrimental effects, so don't feel like a dork ;), since this is how we've usually find out many little goodies that Microsoft or the ODM inadvertently (or intentionally) hides from us. Of course, if you have a Windows Mobile 2003SE or previous version and wish to take advantage of this registry entry to control memory management on your own, then follow the instructions in the link provided above.
Mike responds, "I'm a bit embarrassed that we actually have a registry key with the word 'Dork' in it. I don't know what that developer was thinking. That key should have no effect on WM5. It was used on pre-WM5 PocketPCs that had a memory slider. The memory slider allowed you to determine how much memory was used as RAM and how much was used as Storage. However, as storage and RAM were consumed, the OS used to adjust the slider on its own (it basically tried to keep the amount of free RAM equal to the amount of free storage). In the vernacular of some dev who thought he was being clever, this was called 'Dorking' the memory. NeverDorkMemory disabled that automatic adjustment to the memory slider. It was generally believed that automatically adjusting the slider was the right thing to do, so we didn't make the key something configurable through the UI. Persistent storage means that we don't spend RAM on storage anymore, so there's no longer a need for the slider. With the slider gone, NeverDorkMemory shouldn't have any effect. I've had a few people ask where the slider went, so I was planning to write an entry explaining why it's gone..."
So, there you have it. What turned out to be a pre-Windows Mobile 5.0 registry entry became the "placebo effect" for those who claimed better handling of their device's RAM. At least it has no detrimental effects, so don't feel like a dork ;), since this is how we've usually find out many little goodies that Microsoft or the ODM inadvertently (or intentionally) hides from us. Of course, if you have a Windows Mobile 2003SE or previous version and wish to take advantage of this registry entry to control memory management on your own, then follow the instructions in the link provided above.
