slowdown after sitting idle

[vipergtsr1736]

I've noticed that for as long as I can remember, if I leave my computer sitting idle in windows for an extended period of time (45+ mins) and then open a window or program, the computer seems to go VERY slow. For instance, opening up Mozilla usually happens instantly, but if I let my computer sit (45+ mins) it can take more than 10 seconds. If I close and reopen it, it goes back to the normal instant time. Does the ram and cache unload over time? Ive upgraded basically everything on my computer over time, and its always done this. Is this normal?

[JTanczos]

This backup computer im running off of did that. When I had only 128meg in it run slower than a snail going uphill. Every program would be writen to the swap file. The ram would be rewritten and the program would start responding. Add any more than one program at a time and the thing slowed down even worse.

With 256 or even the 512 on my old computer I noticed this alot less often but it still happened. Idle programs just seem to have to be refreshed into memory. I dunno how to explain it but netscape always took at least 10-30 seconds to load if I had more than 5 windows up.

JT