LW is a ram hungry program. And the more incomplete downloads & shared files you have, the more ram LW uses. The longer you have LW running the more it may use. The more search tabs you have open, the more ram it uses, and the more LW windows you have open then probably also adds to ram use. Java is not super efficient at ram management. And there is a known issue with Java having problems releasing memory. This is more so a problem on the mac OS platform, but also applies in a lesser way to Windows users. Generally speaking the later the version of Java, the better it manages RAM. Such things as not using or disabling the media player may or may not also help reduce ram use. The busier LW becomes, potentially the more ram it may use. Oh .. and setting LW to clear downloads & uploads after completing can also assist in reducing ram use. Running in Ultrapeer mode may add a small % more use as well. Included in that list is most of the performance options (under advanced settings) & OOB (under speed settings.) Using the Find Sources or Resume function is a known way of increasing stress on LW.