Windows 7 RAM variable Usage problem (too high)

[kerezov]

Hi. I've looked through the forums to find a similar problem here and on the internet, and I can't find anything.

Basically, I have 64 bit windows 7 beta, and it uses over 2gb of RAM consistently. However, rarely sometimes on boot, the OS does something and it idles on 1.14gb consistently (25% vs 52%). I have 4gb of RAM, and I can't understand why windows is doing this. Also, in the past two days, no matter how many times I boot, I can't get it to boot in the 25% idling mode.

I'm really confused, and having almost 2.2gb of my 4gb committed on an initial boot is pretty frustrating sometimes.

Anyone have any idea what it might be?

Really would appreciate it.

 

[reghakr]

What program are you using that's giving you these results.

I've found slight differences in utilities that I have used, but that is off the scale.

Old Computer?

 

[kerezov]

I'm looking at the task manager that is giving me these results and the windows resource manager. And no not an old computer.

Specs:

Intel P8400 2.26GHz
4GB RAM
GeForce 9600m GS 1GB
It's Asus M50VM-A1

 

[reghakr]

Have you loaded a lot of graphic intensive programs?

Go to Start > Run, and type msconfig and you can basically turn everything off temporarily except for your anti-virus, firewall, and spyware protection....I hope you have all three.

Look in the Startup folder for programs loading on startup.

You could download this free utility called HijackThis.

|MG| HijackThis 1.99.1

It gives a complete overview of all programs and other objects that are loading with Windows. After running it, you could post the log file back here for review.

Is it slow on startup or after using it for a few hours?

 

[Kyle]

It's a superfetch issue. If you want to free up RAM, you need to disable superfetch. This may slow the loading of some programs, but will allow for better memory usage once programs are opened.

To disable superfetch; Hit start > right click "Computer" > Manager > Services and Applications > Services > right click Superfetch, properties > Disable in the drop down list, hit stop, hit apply, and restart the computer.

 

[reghakr]

Just wording, what application(s) is using the most memory usage in Task Manager on the Proccesses tab?

 

[kerezov]

It's not the superfetch thing. I tried turning it off it didn't change anything it was still using over 2gb of memory. Plus like I said, it is variable. Sometimes it boots using 25% others 52%.

I tried the msconfig thing, turned off all processes and windows was running on 800mb. However I could not pinpoint which process would be taking up so much RAM.

As far as task manager is concerned, svchost seems to be taking up the most but it's around 20mb or so nothing too much. There is a small memory leak in the new skype, however that is only once skype has been running for a while. I'm talking about RAM used up when the OS initially boots (w/o skype). Other than that there is no single process that takes up more than 40mb.

I'll get home and post a log file from that program I guess, or I could just try and pinpoint a process in msconfig that might be using a lot of resources.

In task manager even if you turn on the shared processes, they simply do not add up to 2gb no matter how you look at it.

Thanks for the quick replies by the way!

 

[Kyle]

So you're saying they don't add?
Then it's likely that some RAM is either Cached, or they're counting Video RAM allotment as well. In all PCs, some amount of system RAM is alloted to the video card. It varies, but I've seen a 1 GB card get an extra 1.7 GB from the System.

 

[kerezov]

That sounds fair, but then why would it do that sometimes through say 70-90% of the boots, rather than all the time? And it's regardless of the power settings i put on the battery (I've tried).

UPDATE:

I still can't figure out where the problem lies. However when i turn off all the services in msconfig, it goes to normal. However there are simply way too many windows services to try one by one.

Does anyone know how I can check what is hogging all this RAM?

Again, it's not superfetch.

ALSO

I have 12 different svchost.exe processes. I don't know if that might help.

 

[reghakr]

I personally have 8 instances.

Doesn't Internet Explorer, your Anti-virus program, firewall, and spyware detector use a lot of resources?

Take a look at this sight for tweaking Windows services:
Link Removed - Invalid URL

I personally have disabled, Windows Error reporting Service Smart card Services, Smart card removal policy, Intel remoting Service, tablet PC Input, Superfetch, Windows Media Center Extender, Remote Registry, Internet connection sharing,.

You may not have all these on your PC and if your sure your not going to use these services, such as Tablet PC in my case, you can either disable or set to manual.

 

[Kyle]

Maybe a ScreenShot of your running processes might help us narrow it down?

 

[reghakr]

kerezov,

Here's a quick example. Look at my computer specs next to my name:

In Windows Task Manager on the Process tab I have Internet Explorer with 19 tabs open, One tab has a 5MB Shockwave Flash file which continuously loops, Firefox (4) tabs, one watching Utube videos, Ulead Photoimpact (graphics program) working with a 5MB graphic file, Deneba Canvas ( another graphic program) working with a 6MB bitmap file, Ulead Video Studio working with a 3MB mpeg file, Windows Mail, AutoRuns, Destiny Media Player streaming radio at 110 kbps, PCTools Spyware Doctor with Antivirus, PCTools Firewall Plus, Textpad (my text editor), Windows Explorer, Powerdesk Pro (a Windows Explorer replacement), Forensic Toolkit (working with a 39 MB image of a partition), Snagit (a screen capture program), Creative Media Player, Cyberlink Power2Go (burning another Windows7 iso file) ACDSee and Task Manager.

Click on the Memory section and have it display the programs which are using the most amount of memory
I have 64 processes, CPU spikes to 24%, but is fairly steady at 2-7% and Physical Memory is 62%

Uptime is over 20 hours

 

[kerezov]

Alright here is a thumbnail with all my processes.

It is a cold boot - uptime of maybe 3 minutes. The things that boot up on startup are Skype and Windows Live. One conversation is open in Windows Live with 2 or 3 lines worth of speaking. Nothing else has opened, I am not running anything graphic intensive or resource intensive in general.

I've attached the thumbnail.

Again, really appreciate you helping me - don't really know where to go to with this.

 

[Kyle]

Searchindexer.exe is a b!#$%, it's the file indexing service in Windows, and takes up quite a bit of resources.
Trustedinstaller.exe? It's attempting to install something.... that's not good.

Other than that, everything else looks fairly minimal and harmless.
I mean, you have a LOT more running than me on boot, but still.

 

[davehc]

I would say that running Skype;Msnmsg; and, in particular wlcomm, resident. Your resource useage is normal.

 

[kerezov]

Yes, but sometimes my OS loads with using only 25% WITH msn and skype being on. So clearly there must be something else that is hogging all that.

 

[davehc]

wlcomm - It has a reputation for that

Later: Found this:
http://www.pcpitstop.com/libraries/process/i/wlcomm.exe.html

 

[kerezov]

I'm sorry to say this, but even when I turn it off, it still doesn't change anything. It drops maybe a percent or so of the overall RAM usage.

Lets not forget - we're talking about nearly double increase in RAM usage - 1 whole gb there has to be something a lot more dramatic than that...

I believe after a long period of trial and error and maybe 50 reboots, I isolated the problem through msconfig.

There is a service called Security Accounts Manager.

I have it disabled and I am at 24% on cold boots. I'll update if this seems to be a consistent thing or a temporary patch. For now 2 boots so far and they've both been on normal RAM usages.