Windows Vista eating memory?

[Abrilet]

Hi everyone,
I wonder if anyone can suggest a solution for me here. I am running Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 on a laptop with 1GB RAM. Everything has been fine for about a year but suddenly and for no obvious reason the memory usage has shot up. It starts at about 85-89% when it boots up and then if I open anything it goes up to 90-95% even with only one program open, e.g.Firefox or IE or Outlook. It can just about cope with 2 things running but any more and it practically freezes. I thought of doing a system restore to a couple of months back before the problem started, but unfortunately it seems to delete restore points older than about 10 days so I can't get back that far. XP doesn't delete restore points and as I'm not short of disc space I don't know why that's happening either. Just to say also, I've scanned for spyware and viruses and there are no processes running which shouldn't be as far as I can tell.
Does anyone have experience of this or ideas what the problem might be?

Thanks a lot
Jules

 

[jdemmi]

Can you look at the memory utilization column (click it twice to sort descending) on the processes tab of task manager and let us know what processes are consuming the most memory?

-- Jason
"It's Just Ones and Zeros

 

[Abrilet]

Hi Jason,

I've sorted the top processes as you suggested and they are as follows:

Windows host processes x 4 (there are about 11 in all but these are at the top), desktop manager, windows sidebar, windows search indexer, Outlook, Audio Device Graph Isolation (?), AVG scanning core module (10th on the list), x 3 more Windows host processes, Windows software licensing, one more host process for Windows - after that the usage decreases significantly so I won't make you doze off giving the whole list. Currently (typical, most times it's higher than this - isn't this just life!) the system is now running at 76% and I have Outlook and Firefox open. I did originally have a Vista system photo as my desktop wallpaper but I turned that off to preserve memory as it was getting so bad.

Is this normal? This laptop's performance has definitely decreased - it used to be pretty snappy and fast but not any more.

Thanks for your help
Jules

 

[linney]

What is it like from Safe Mode? What is like with a different user from Normal Mode? What is it like if you disconnect Networking connections from Normal Mode?

310560 - How to Troubleshoot By Using the Msconfig Utility in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;310560&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

How to troubleshoot a problem by performing a clean boot in Windows Vista

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/929135

Are you updated fully from Windows Update?

Have you any errors in the Event Viewer?

 

[BadBigBen]

it could also be a system file corruption that is causing the congestion...

Some Windows Vista functions may not work, or Windows Vista may stop responding

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929833

Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.

 

[Abrilet]

Hi guys,

Thanks for taking the time to look.

Linney - I did try a clean boot before (should have said that) and it didn't make any difference. I've also disconnected it from the network, disabled all the hardware and restarted individually, none of it made a difference.

BigBadBen - I ran the scan as per the instructions and it ended up with : 'Windows did not find any integrity violations'. Presuming that's no corruptions that need fixing.

Today, I'm having trouble opening a browser, it takes too long although gets there eventually. Plus icons are disassociating themselves on the desktop, they lose their identity if that makes sense - is this connected in any way?

I really appreciate all the help, thanks
Jules

 

[jdemmi]

Hmmmmm...may need to run process explorer to see what those svhosts really are -- or what launched them.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653.aspx

Try this....

1. Disconnect the laptop from any and all networks. If it's plugged in via CAT5 cable, physicall unplug the cable. If it has a wireless card, turn the radio off.
2. Reboot and see if the performance is the same.
3. If the performance is the same turn off all Antivirus software (you're safe until you attach to a network again)
4. Reboot and see if the performance is the same.

If none of the above affected the peformance turn your AV back on and feel free to reconnect to any networks.

Those tests should show if something is trying to "call home" and your AV is trying to catch/stop it or if your AV is simply running a full scan.


Also -- if you boot the PC and open NOTHING and just let it sit for about an hour or so and come back is it idle? Or is it consuming large hunks of memory on it's own?

Also -- what do you have launching at startup? Go to START --> RUN and type MSCONFIG and press ENTER. Go to the STARTUP tab and see what's there. A guarantee there to be at least 1 item which does not need to be there. Review the list and let us know.

Also -- visit

http://www.blackviper.com/

This guy provides a list of services which can be disabled, thereby improving performance.

-- Jason
"It's Just Ones and Zeros

 

[linney]

What was it like from Safe Mode, you didn't say?

I see lots of recommendations here for programs like -

SuperAntispyware

http://superantispyware.com/

Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware

http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php

It may be helpful if you posted a HijackThis log if you still have problems.

HijackThis Tutorial and download

http://www.pchell.com/support/hijackthistutorial.shtml

 

[Abrilet]

I've downloaded and run Process Explorer, great program if only I understood what it's telling me! From what I could see, apart from the antivirus, everything running was Windows files. Also, I did already try disconnecting from the network, closing the antivirus software, I also ran msconfig to check what's loading at start up, I also booted it up in safe mode - all to no avail. I've also left it with nothing open for quite long periods and it still stayed at around 89%. (Tried these options over the last week).

This afternoon however for reasons completely unknown it has dropped to 76% even with Outlook and Firefox running. I haven't changed anything or disabled anything, it just dropped back. It's much better of course but makes no sense.

I will check out HijackThis as I've heard it's very good although not easy to use - but I'll give it a go. Perhaps I should also try one of the anti spyware programs you've suggested Linney - the laptop does have Windows Defender but I've no idea if this is any good or not.

Thanks again for everyone's help.

 

[Abrilet]

Oops, I missed one of your suggestions Jason - the blackviper.com. I'll check that out too - thanks again.
Jules

 

[linney]

If the fault doesn't occur in Safe Mode, then it is hard to pin the fault down to third party processes, including malware, as those shouldn't load in Safe Mode. This leaves you the basic Windows processes as being at fault (but you have already got a clean bill of health from SFC /Scannow), or hardware.

It might pay to actually check the RAM out for problems.

http://www.memtest86.com/

http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp

Try running ChkDsk to check your drive for errors. Right-click your Drive icon/ Properties/ Tools/ Error Checking. Select both boxes.

Have you had a look in the Event Viewer to see if there is some consistent and repeatable error being reported in there?

You might be heading toward this, repairing windows by running it over itself. You will lose all your windows updates but your files will be untouched.

How to Perform an In-Place Upgrade (Reinstallation) of Windows XP (Q315341)

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q315/3/41.asp

 

[Abrilet]

Thanks Linney,

The link to instructions for the in-place upgrade of Windows is for XP - is there one for Vista which is the OS I have or will it work the same way?

I was wondering also if it could be to do with SP1 as I've heard some people have had problems with that but I suppose if so, it would have showed up in the scan - would it?.

I'll give these options a go and see what happens - thanks again.

Jules

 

[linney]

I keep forgetting which forum I'm in at Tek-tips, as I'm always jumping between them, sorry about that.

There is no Microsoft MSKB for a repair install of Vista as is in XP, but have a look at the Upgrade option in these articles, it is possible to upgrade Vista to Vista, if you follow what I mean?

How To Perform a Repair Installation For Vista :

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/88236-repair-install-vista.html

To reinstall Windows Vista

http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/help/e77344fa-e978-464c-953e-eba44f0522671033.mspx

Is it an OEM setup?

How to use the Windows Vista RM Recovery DVD to re-install Windows Vista

http://www.rm.com/Support/TechnicalArticle.asp?cref=TEC838573

Recovery procedures for RM factory-shipped Windows Vista Systems

http://www.rm.com/Support/TechnicalArticle.asp?cref=TEC830589

SP1 has been out for nearly a year now and there is not much criticism of it in these forums, so I doubt if it is a problem.

 

[dilettante]

Another way to figure out what those [tt]svchost.exe[/tt] processes are:

[ul]
[li]Use Task manager to find the culprit(s) of interest.[/li]
[li]Note the Process ID (PID).[/li]
[li]Run [tt]cmd.exe[/tt][/li]
[li]Run [tt]tasklist /svc[/tt][/li]
[li]Look up the PID(s) in the resulting report to see what service is being hosted.[/li][/ul]

I have an HP laptop that often ends up with a runaway HP service (updater?) that eats lots of CPU forever until I forcibly terminate it.

 

[Abrilet]

Thanks dilettante for the suggestion. I have checked those processes actually and they all seem to be innocent - all Microsoft or AVG antivirus. I have turned off the programs that were scouting for updates because you're right, they seem to fill up the CPU.

linney - I'm going to try that RAM test having downloaded it onto a CD. Thanks also for the link to the Vista reinstall.
One of these must make a difference or at least get to the heart of the problem !!!!

Thanks again everyone
Jules

 

[linney]

1GB of RAM for Vista is at the lower end of the scale, you might benefit from a bit more RAM, say up to a total of 4GB if you have enough slots.

What is your "Windows Experience Index" rating as seen from right-click My Computer icon/ Properties?

 

[Abrilet]

yeah I am beginning to wonder if I don't just need more RAM. Still doesn't explain the sudden change though.

The WEI says 3.1 is the version then it says "unrated" - what does that mean?

 

[linney]

"unrated" means it wants you to refresh the rating, or perhaps you have never ran the program since installing Vista?

Is there any link you can click on near the "rating" to start the process? It might say something like "Your Windows Index Experience needs to be Refreshed", anyway there should be some sort of link around that area.

 

[Abrilet]

Great - just had one of those 'aha' moments. So that's what it's for! It has rated 2.6 which is obviously low but that was on the graphics and gaming which I don't need anyway. The memory and processor were 3.9 and 4.6 which I presume isn't bad?

 

[linney]

The only important rating is what you think of your machine, nothing else really matters. The highest possible score for a "rating" is, I believe, 7.9, (why not 10, I don't know?). So according to Microsoft, your rating is middle of the road, average, but what would they know?