Any techie know of an easy way to track down a memory leak?

my CPU usage in XP often leaps to 99%, back to 0%, up to 50%, etc. with only the bare minumum of apps running.

Have already checked for viruses, spyware, ad ware, etc.

Suggestions?

Seems like their should be an app you can run that finds rogue programs or leaky ones or remnants of them.

hit ctrl-alt-del(edited) select "processes" and look what applications use all the memory.

If you're actually programming: there are many tools to track leaks in your software.

I have an older computer and I am having problems with my memory also.

del (looked at my keyboard)

but not on my computer.

Had TV on when I left and when I came home in 2 hrs, not one station was the same as when I left.I figured I had reached the point that I thought I recalled what number was what and not one was the same, and I had the Reagon thing. I finally called and the whole thing had been redone at the station. Well they tell you that you forget things that just happen so it was a shock.

Memory leaks cause blue screen of death.

Sounds to me like normal activity. Is the machine bogging down when running a reasonable load?

yella

Now that I have re-read your post: yella_dawg is correct.

When you have to reboot constantly and it's starts up so slow that you don't think that it's ever going to come on then something is wrong.
I have taken off all of my programs except the necessary ones and it's still messed up.

what version of windows is running on it now?

I lost my disks but I did re-install everything less then a year ago.
I am so sick of this computer and I am sick of the pop up ads making my computer stall. Everytime I get a pop up add my computer freezes and I have to shut it down and re-start it.

...i put win2000 on it and everything cleared up. but i had the same types of problems you are describing.

Be sure you are totally up to date on them, as they fixed it a few days later. Last month sometime.

Also, sometimes Norton will do that, run a lot of resources.

Use Ad Aware or Spy Bot to check for spyware, some of which can really slow you down.

...the only process taking memory is the system idle process. This situation is DEFINITELY not normal.

Example: On message forums - if I'm reading a LONG thread, the computer bogs down and I have to strain to move the side scroll bar.

On online forms with radio buttons and check boxes - there is often a 3-4 second delay from checking the box and the box actually being filled.

My 6 year old WIN95 machine runs circles around this P4.

are you only noticing the problem when using a browser or are you having performance problems in all PC applications?

...like it's hitting rock in the road... slight hesitations... hard to explain but the box is only 12 months old and it doesn't run like it used to.

Defragged. Cleaned junk out of files. Ove half the hard drive space is free.

Often when I drag a window, it leaves a "trail" across the screen.

1. step: download spybot from security.kolla.de
2. install it
3. run it

End all tasks in the taskbar, except those you can't live without.
Download all patches from Microsoft.

is your system configuration sound?
DMA activated ? ; recent drivers for all hardware components installed ?

...I fear I'm going to have to do a clean install of XP.

what kind of computer are you running it on. i had some minor trouble with xp on an athlon 1800+ machine i built(including the trails that look like the computer is tripping), but 2000 runs fine on it. xp runs great on my p4.

...switch to mandrake linux.

ok, ok, i know that's not much help. anyways, i've seen windows get funky like that....i test software for a living so we beat up the registry and the system pretty bad at times.

i'm really not sure what's going on with your system. i think i'd back up your important files and reinstall xp. it it's still funky then it's probably a hardware problem. if it clears up, hopefully everything will be resolved, but keep an eye out for problems and make a record of what triggers anything bad.

I downloaded not just the critical, but most of the recommended. It made a huge difference. I don't know why, but it happened to my tech on his computer.

The system idle was involved.

:shrug:

...and reinstall it,

guess i can toss out that tube of silicon caulk! :)

It's a memory management tool from Analog-X. Let's you purge to varying degrees of intensity with just a click on the taskbar. My cruddy old 300 mhz couldn't run without it. It's freeware. Get it at:

http://www.analogx.com/contents/download/system/maxmem.htm

Analog-X has a LOT of cool stuff.

...it seems like it would mask the problem rather than solve it. And the issue happens all the time - not just when the box has been running a while. Perfoms identically at start-up as it does at the end of the day.

Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 130926 - A memory leak occurs when a memory pool allocates some of its memory to a process and the process does not return the memory. When this happens repeatedly, the memory pool is depleted
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=130926

Memory Leaks
http://www.labmice.net/troubleshooting/memoryleaks.htm

for redefining the term "memory leak". Arrogant bastards. Linux rules.

The real term for the condition described above is "Shitty OS memory handler" a Microsoft strong point since the 80`s.

yella

...hogging the memory.

but, yeah, i agree memory management is not one of microsoft's strong points.

and verify which tasks are being started automatically?

I have taken off all of my programs except the necessary ones and it's still messed up

If you run msconfig it'll pop up a window and if you hit the Startup tab , it'll list all the tasks that are started up automatically at bootup by the OS. It's a stab in the dark, but if you haven't already done so it wouldn't hurt to verify that the tasks that are being started by the OS are really necessary.

This URL gives a list of the normal startup items found when you run the MSCONFIG commnand and you can compare to what you find on your own PC.

http://www2.whidbey.com/djdenham/Uncheck.htm and just double

Is there a particular app that's keeping you from migrating to linux? I keep one "legacy" computer with Win XP on it because there are a couple of programs that still don't run well under any of the win/linux solutions, but not many. I also keep one dual boot machine, but the Windows partitions on that one haven't been booted in over a year. All the other computers in my lab, home, and office are linux machines. Even an old P1 is still quite usable for lots of things.

I know, this isn't really the answer to your question, but maybe it is. My students joke about how I cuss and fume whenever they force me onto a Windows machine and it crashes, or an app hangs, or it just plain sucks.

With a learning curve close to a vertical line, linux is not the answer for many users. However, from the advanced level of knowledge we've seen from the poster of this thread, it very well may be a viable option.

If only WINE worked as well as it should....

If only there were a viable option for linux gaming, some kind of emulator or compatibility layer for DirectX...

If only....

After using linux for about five or six years, I gotta say it's a helluva system. If you want to check out linux, but don't want to go about the trouble of installing it because you'd need to repartition your hard disk, try knoppix. Knoppix is a flavor of linux that can run directly from the CD-ROM, making it 100% portable. The only downside is that you can't write to the hard disk if you don't have a linux partition, and you can't use any other cd unless you have a second CD-ROM drive. Nonetheless, I use knoppix to demonstrate linux to friends that have never seen it, and believe me, I've had converts!