If you're just reading that RAM usage from the on screen Conky it may not be accurate. When I first tried Bookworm in it's early days I also thought the RAM usage when in an idle state was excessive, so I queried it.
See this post here https://www.forum.puppylinux.com/viewtopic.php?t=9027
@dancytron
Yes I already have a couple of frugal installed Puppies, but I think you've misunderstood my question. So let me put it this way.
Imagine I've got a hard drive with nothing on it. Then I want to put, for example, MX Linux and Fossapup both on the same drive. Where do I start?
Just had another thought about this issue. Looks to me as though we're trying to solve the problem? Wouldn't it be better to try and establish the root cause of the problem? That is, why on earth is GRUB4DOS recognising it as a full install in the first place?
@mikewalsh
Sorry Mike but I'm not familiar with all the terminology. 
What exactly do you mean by "boot stanza", and where do I find it?
I've been using Mike's portable Freetube in Fossa for quite a while. Not had any problems with it so would recommend.
@pp4mnklinux There is of course one drawback with Freetube, it's 64bit only. SMTube still supports 32bit though.
I have a simple solution to this, I don't use YouTube! There are plenty of alternatives, Freetube and SMTube are two that I use.