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Forum Index : Microcontroller and PC projects : MS 365 website gobbles amazing amounts of RAM....

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Grogster

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Joined: 31/12/2012
Location: New Zealand
Posts: 10044
Posted: 06:45am 23 Sep 2026
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This is quite interesting. (...and a bit of a rant - sorry)

I now run LMDE7 as my main daily PC, and it has 16GB of RAM.
Today, when I noticed that the RAM usage was up in the 90% area of things, I started closing webpages one by one, to see which one released the most RAM use.

When I closed MS365, which I use ONLY for my business Outlook email address......wow.
I signed out of this page - which I keep open 24/7 - and when I did that, TEN GIGS of RAM was released back into the system.

I had ONE email open in MS365 online.
One.

Now that I have moved to Linux, I am looking very actively, for services OTHER then the MS ones, to handle.....well........ANYTHING.

I'm only using MS365 and Outlook email, as that is what my website builder supplies by default(go figure), so now looking for something OTHER then a MS-based email address.

Anyone got any pointers?

I DON'T want to host my own email server, I just want to be able to REUSE my existing email addresses for the company......but NOT have Outlook controlling them.

For obvious reasons of security, I won't post the email addresses I am using with Outlook here in the public forums, but I can certainly let anyone know what they are in a PM.

10-gigs of RAM for a web-based email service with one open email.......  

Outlook is the very LAST of the MS products and services I am still using, so time to dump that too I think.

EDIT: To be fair to MS365, as I keep the business email addresses open 24/7, I expect there is some serious caching that has been going on, but the fact that MS365 Outlook continues to hold-on to and gobble that much RAM, and NOT release it back to the system, is enough of a concern for me, to want to dump it.
Edited 2026-09-23 16:49 by Grogster
Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops!
 
Volhout

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Joined: 05/03/2018
Location: Netherlands
Posts: 6128
Posted: 06:54am 23 Sep 2026
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Hi Grogster,

Depends how deep outlook is embedded in your life. I simply use the web browser (i.e. firefox) to open the web page at outlook.com/gmail.com when running from linux.

For me that is sufficient. And if they cache anything, the caching is in the cloud. Their memory, not mine. Firefox will not exceed it's own cache size.

On the phone (android) I use (G)MAIL client and add all my accounts (Google, but also MS accounts). I have zero MS apps installed. Using these (tried before) is not helping me in any way. Any alternative I try is better for the task I need it for (simple-straight-forward).

Volhout

P.S. I think there are only 2 real good MS apps. Visio and Excel. And for both there are alternatives, also in linux, but (for me) these 2 are the best in their class.

P.P.S. off-topic: I really hate active edges. It lowers efficiency, and shrinks your screen size. And on some tablet android you can't turn them off. The tablet effectively is a paperweight now. No one uses it anymore.. they hate it.
Edited 2026-09-23 17:04 by Volhout
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Gizmo

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Joined: 05/06/2004
Location: Australia
Posts: 5197
Posted: 08:43am 23 Sep 2026
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I havn't used Outlook since the 1990's when I moved to Eudora email client. These days I use Thunderbird, but miss the old Eudora email client.

Its a shame Libre Office dont have a outlook clone. I've use Open Office / Libre Office as a MS Office replacement for the last 20 years. But I still need a Office 365 licence for customer enquiries where they are using my software with MS office. I find Libre Office is better at handing old and damaged files than MS, plus its faster.

Glenn
The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now.
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Andy-g0poy
Regular Member

Joined: 07/03/2023
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 86
Posted: 04:26pm 23 Sep 2026
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Providing you own the domain that your email addresses use i.e.

fred at flintstone.com then you can host your mail anywhere you please.

Two methods the first is to move the domain to a host that provided mail as well - most do. once moved the mail will appear in the inbox associated with you account.

Another method is to have the domain hosted at a domain provider and the forward all mail to whatever mail provider you chose.

I use a catch all setting to do this, but be aware that some providers do not support this method, only specific email, addresses usually with a limit of 50 or 100 forwarders. Not a problem for most people but I have well over 200 email addresses.

I create a new address for every company I do business with. This makes filtering dead easy on receipt.

There are some arguments that catch all is a bit of a security risk in that you can get mailbombs a bit more easily, but so far I've not found that an issue. (after 30 years or so)

If you only have to one ms address then the browser method mentioned would probably be the better option.

Andy
 
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