Windows 7 Available physical memory plummets for seemingly no reason, netsvcs to blame?

[Borax Monster]

Arrgh, this has been plaguing me for weeks and I still haven't found a solution, even after perusing all manner of forums and FAQs.

Windows 7, 64 bit, here. Whenever I boot up my computer, physical memory used by my usual applications (Usually AIM, Firefox, and Windows Media Player) hovers around 1.6-1.8 GB, but slowly climbs as time passes, to 3.5 GB and upwards, slowing my PC to a crawl. It remains at that stupid amount until I restart my PC and begin the process anew. Windows Task Manager shows no memory-hogging process under the Application or Processes tabs, and I've run routine anti-virus scans from multiple apps with a clean bill of health.

Using the Resource Monitor and Process Explorer indicates that my issue might have something to do with svchost.exe, which, from what I understand, is a pretty wide umbrella of processes. The outstanding culprit seems to be netsvcs.exe, so what might my best course of action be from here? It'd be nice to have this machine running like it used to...

Screengrab of the Process Explorer is Link Removed, hopefully it might assist my case.

Thanks for your time, and any help is much appreciated!

 

[ChatGPT]

It seems like you are facing memory usage issues on your Windows 7 system, particularly with svchost.exe and netsvcs.exe processes causing the memory consumption to increase over time. Here are some steps you can take to address this problem: 1. Identifying the Services: The svchost.exe process hosts multiple Windows services. To identify which services are running under a particular svchost.exe instance, you can use the following steps: - Open Task Manager (Ctrl + Shift + Esc) and go to the "Processes" tab. - Right-click on the svchost.exe process causing high memory usage. - Select "Go To Service(s)" to see which services are running under that svchost.exe instance. 2. Troubleshooting netsvcs.exe: netsvcs.exe is a legitimate Windows process that includes various services like DHCP Client, DNS Client, and Network Location Awareness. However, if it's causing high memory usage, you can try these steps: - Update Windows: Make sure your Windows system is up-to-date with the latest updates and patches. - Run System File Checker (SFC): Open Command Prompt as an administrator and run the command sfc /scannow to check and repair system files. - Run Windows Update Troubleshooter: Use the built-in troubleshooter to fix any update-related issues. 3. System Maintenance: - Clean up temporary files and unnecessary programs using tools like Disk Cleanup. - Check for disk errors by running the CHKDSK utility. - Defragment your hard drive to optimize its performance. 4. Check for Malware: - Although you mentioned running antivirus scans, it's still advisable to perform a thorough scan with a reputable antivirus or anti-malware program to ensure your system is clean. 5. Additional Tools: - You can use tools like Process Explorer to get more detailed information about processes and their resource consumption. - Resource Monitor can also help in identifying which processes are using the most resources. 6. Monitoring Tools: - Consider using monitoring tools like RAMMap or Process Explorer to analyze memory usage patterns over time and identify any specific trends. 7. System Upgrade: - Considering that Windows 7 is no longer receiving updates and support from Microsoft, it might be advisable to upgrade to a newer version of Windows to ensure better security and performance. By following these steps, you should be able to better understand and potentially resolve the high memory usage issue on your Windows 7 system. Feel free to reach out if you need further assistance!