Damn win2k. OK, when I boot up windows I am using about 72 megs of ram. After I use the computer for a couple days, and close ALL of my applications (leaving 18 processes running), I am left with 192 megs of ram being consumed!!! What the hell is going on here? What kind of terrible memory management is this? I think it may be worse than winblows 98.

I'd blame your programs rather than Windows 2000's memory management, which is actually quite good. I'd take a long hard look at any programs you have running as services - Antivirus programs, IM programs, software firewalls etc. All of these can consume RAM, and if the program contains memory leaks, may not return it to the pool when closed.

Try disabling all nonessential programs and preventing them from running automatically at boot. You may surprised at how much quicker everything boots...

Well I'm running a very minimal amount of programs on bootup. MS Messanger is all. At the time when I was using 192 megs of ram, I had nothing running except for windows critical services and Messanger. Now there could be a memory leak with one of the programs I was using in the interm. Even still when I close such a program, shouldn't the memory be returned to windows?

The problem is both annoying and hard to track down. Most memory leaks come from programs made with C++. I don't know if you're familiar with what a pointer is, but basically it's an advanced way of allocating memory. Normally, you'd make a variable and assign it a value. When you need to check the variable, you ask for it by name and it regurgitates the value.

That's all well and good, but when you're dealing with object-oriented programs, with zillions of different objects running about, and each of them capable of creating variables, and some of them nested in _other_ objects, it can be very tricky to keep track of variables. A pointer lets you change a specific memory address. Then, when you want to get a value, you just ask for what's in that address.

When the object that created a variable is destroyed, the variable goes with it. However, the memory referenced by a pointer has to specifically cleared. If the software's writer forgot to clear that address, for all intents and purposes it's useless. Consumed forever (or until reboot) and unable to be used.

So even if you're not running lots of memory resident programs, you can _still_ get memory leaks from one-offs. Or even things like drivers (which is a real bitch, especially in the case of your video driver, which runs in kernel mode and can quite easily crash your system).

So you can try to troubleshoot your problem with logging (that is, using perfmon to keep track of what is using which memory when) or by creating a vanilla Win2K installation and keeping track of memory usage as you install drivers and programs one at a time.

Most people I've met who are pretty technical prefer to keep their systems running as skinny as possible. Fewer pieces means less breakage.

PS: Beta drivers=bad news, IMHO.

quote:Originally posted by Hey Yoda:
Damn win2k. OK, when I boot up windows I am using about 72 megs of ram. After I use the computer for a couple days, and close ALL of my applications (leaving 18 processes running), I am left with 192 megs of ram being consumed!!! What the hell is going on here? What kind of terrible memory management is this? I think it may be worse than winblows 98.

Do you experience any instability or crash ?

It is more likely that, under the same situation, Win9X/ME will protest with BSOD and system freeze.

My system has 384MB memory and Win2K takes it all under its custody. No matter what program I use, Win2K gives the program the needed memory to keep it running.

How much Win2K takes does not matter at all. It manages very well, in my opinion.

quote:Originally posted by Sprint_ST_NYC:
The problem is both annoying and hard to track down. Most memory leaks come from programs made with C++. I don't know if you're familiar with what a pointer is, but basically it's an advanced way of allocating memory. Normally, you'd make a variable and assign it a value. When you need to check the variable, you ask for it by name and it regurgitates the value.

That's all well and good, but when you're dealing with object-oriented programs, with zillions of different objects running about, and each of them capable of creating variables, and some of them nested in _other_ objects, it can be very tricky to keep track of variables. A pointer lets you change a specific memory address. Then, when you want to get a value, you just ask for what's in that address.

When the object that created a variable is destroyed, the variable goes with it. However, the memory referenced by a pointer has to specifically cleared. If the software's writer forgot to clear that address, for all intents and purposes it's useless. Consumed forever (or until reboot) and unable to be used.

So even if you're not running lots of memory resident programs, you can _still_ get memory leaks from one-offs. Or even things like drivers (which is a real bitch, especially in the case of your video driver, which runs in kernel mode and can quite easily crash your system).

So you can try to troubleshoot your problem with logging (that is, using perfmon to keep track of what is using which memory when) or by creating a vanilla Win2K installation and keeping track of memory usage as you install drivers and programs one at a time.

Most people I've met who are pretty technical prefer to keep their systems running as skinny as possible. Fewer pieces means less breakage.

PS: Beta drivers=bad news, IMHO.

quote:Originally posted by leoku:
Do you experience any instability or crash ?

It is more likely that, under the same situation, Win9X/ME will protest with BSOD and system freeze.

My system has 384MB memory and Win2K takes it all under its custody. No matter what program I use, Win2K gives the program the needed memory to keep it running.

How much Win2K takes does not matter at all. It manages very well, in my opinion.

My system is completely stable other than the ocassional IE crash, which is known to be an unstable program. I also have 384 megs of ram.

quote:Originally posted by Hey Yoda:
Yes, I have done c++ programming and I am familiar with pointers. I know all about memory leaks and how they are created. Still though, when you allocate memory using new in c++, that call is processed by the operating system. The operating system should always be aware of what memory is allocated within a given address space for a process. Therefore the operating system SHOULD be able to deallocate all memory which was allocated when the process is terminated. Is this not true?

Not if the offending call was made _by_ the operating system. This is why poorly written drivers are a huge problem. Drivers run under the authority of the OS. Same with aftermarket programs that run with system priveleges.

quote:
I have VIA 4.32, nvidia 12.41, and SB Live! (from website - don't know the driver number), and official Hauppauge drivers for my wintv card. My nic is also using official drivers.

I've heard dubious things about the 4.32's, but if they're working for you, stick with them. Just make sure not to install the AGP driver for AMD 760 chipsets. Asus A7M266 etc.

quote:
By the way, I have determined that WINAMP and MusicCity Morpheus are not releasing memory when it is close.

Humph. I wouldn't touch an AOL product (Winamp) with a 10-foot pole. That's just my prejudice showing...

Well I am using a KT133 board, so I did install the AGP drivers. I can't tell the difference between any of the VIA drivers. I've tried various versions from 4.18 up and they're all about the same. I have memory leaks with all of them, and with all nvidia drivers.

Winamp is still the best mp3 player out there, and so I use it.

Man, windows 2000 is an over-hyped piece of crap. Unfortunately it's the best OS out there

I would hesitate to call it "a piece of crap" when such fine products as Win Me are out there. Win2K is an excellent product. We have Win2K servers at work that have uptimes of many months, without reboots or crashes or anything. Hell, during the last emergency, we had more problems with our Solaris boxes than we did with our Win2K boxes. And don't get me started on EMC...

why doesn't anyone use auto pointers?
sheesh