Windows 7 VLC Causing physical memory to spike dramatically

[Noiguy]

This has been going on for about a week now, where my physical memory spikes from a solid 20-30% to 90-96% and just makes my laptop completely unusuable. I currently have 4GB of RAM, so I KNOW it's not an issue with lack of memory. I've investigated this to the point where's it's really starting to drive me mad. I've been using VLC for a good 6 months and this happens all of a sudden, now I can't even use VLC in fear of slowing my laptop to a crawl. I've tried Malwarebytes, scanning for viruses (In safe mode and clean boot), re-installed VLC TWICE, updated everything I could think could be causing the issue, checked the resource monitor each time the spike occurs to see what service could be causing the issue, only to find nothing. I am at my wits end here.

 

[alberto]

Hi Noiguy, what version of VLC are you using? Did you by chance update it shortly before the memory spikes started? Did you try installing an older version and checked if the memory spikes were still there?

 

[johhnymarshal]

This has been going on for about a week now, where my physical memory spikes from a solid 20-30% to 90-96% and just makes my laptop completely unusuable. I currently have 4GB of RAM, so I KNOW it's not an issue with lack of memory. I've investigated this to the point where's it's really starting to drive me mad. I've been using VLC for a good 6 months and this happens all of a sudden, now I can't even use VLC in fear of slowing my laptop to a crawl. I've tried Malwarebytes, scanning for viruses (In safe mode and clean boot), re-installed VLC TWICE, updated everything I could think could be causing the issue, checked the resource monitor each time the spike occurs to see what service could be causing the issue, only to find nothing. I am at my wits end here.

Remove the RAM and put it again. Clear the RAM using any trusted third party software program. This will refresh the RAM of your system. Perform Disk Defragment and Disk Cleanup. If possible, Re-boot your system and put an antivirus viz. Avast or MSE.

 

[Noiguy]

Hi Noiguy, what version of VLC are you using? Did you by chance update it shortly before the memory spikes started? Did you try installing an older version and checked if the memory spikes were still there?

Currently using version 2.0.3, the latest, and I updated AFTER the spikes starting happening,to see if that was the issue. Didn't help at all, unfortunately. In other words, the problem started with an older version, and carried onto the newer version

 

[Noiguy]

Remove the RAM and put it again. Clear the RAM using any trusted third party software program. This will refresh the RAM of your system. Perform Disk Defragment and Disk Cleanup. If possible, Re-boot your system and put an antivirus viz. Avast or MSE.

I'm going to leave that as a last resort, as I'm not very laptop-savvy, and I don't wanna risk damaging my computer permanately just yet.

 

[alberto]

Try installing VLC version 1.x. At least it'll help us eliminate the software as the source of the issue. You can find it here: Index of /pub/videolan/vlc/

 

[Noiguy]

Try installing VLC version 1.x. At least it'll help us eliminate the software as the source of the issue. You can find it here: Index of /pub/videolan/vlc/

Alright, I downgraded to 2.0.2 just to be safe (I also disabled VLC's "Download media info" option, but not sure if that really does much), and the problem seems to have gone away. This is only based on a 15-20 minute observation, however. I can only hope things stay this way. Anyways, thanks for the help. I appreciate, and I know where to come back to incase this isn't a permanent fix.

Update:
Nevermind. Turns out VLC wasn't the cause. Same thing happened just now with Bittorrent. I noticed that right as the program started up, all of my desktop icons seemed to "reset" meaning they went blank and all went back to their normal icons. Reinstalling that, to see if that'll solve the problem.