Windowblinds eating up memory like a hungry hungry hippo
Tuesday, June 13, 2006 by vikram sheorey | Discussion: Stardock Support General
It's a shame that such a good application should have such a flaw especially when I've just paid $20 for it.
Reply #2 Tuesday, June 13, 2006 2:24 PM
Post your system info from the WB config. Maybe there's a clue there.
What skin are you using? (link is always helpful)
What are you system specs?
Edit: DRAT! Too slow again. I hate when folks are more helpful than me!
Reply #3 Tuesday, June 13, 2006 4:34 PM
Is there any particular application in taskmanager showing a large amount of memory in use?
Why do you think WindowBlinds is using lots of memory?
Reply #4 Tuesday, June 13, 2006 7:22 PM
WindowBlinds 5.0 System Information Report:
STATUS : WB+ SRV+ HLP+ UI+ TRAY+
WindowBlinds is installed correctly on this PC.
WindowBlinds appears to be activated on this PC
Your machine supports per pixel borders on WindowBlinds skins.
You have one monitor in total.
(Plug and Play Monitor) 1 is attached to Intel(R) 82852/82855 GM/GME Graphics Controller
Wblind.dll 2006/03/21 13:33:46
Wbsrv.dll 2005/12/20 22:57:44
Wbconfig.exe 2006/03/19 14:33:44
Wbload.exe 2005/12/21 00:04:40
Wbhelp.dll 2004/09/18 15:37:00
Wbui.dll 2005/12/06 21:29:06
Tray.dll 2005/11/02 13:28:26
I am at the moment using the 'Moonlit' WB. Yes I have tried with other WBs but there seems to be little or no diffference
I'll send the link in a minute.
| Why do you think WindowBlinds is using lots of memory? |
I really don't know. I have a few applications running in the background - I always have - but I have never seen the memory usage constantly above 75% (my RAM is 512MB)
Thanks for your help
Reply #5 Tuesday, June 13, 2006 7:24 PM
https://www.wincustomize.com/Skins.aspx?LibID=1&view=1&sortby=4&sortdir=DESC&p=1&advanced=0&searchtxt=moonlit
Reply #6 Tuesday, June 13, 2006 8:32 PM
Could you try seeing how much ram is in use directly after a clean boot with WB running and then set the skin to Windows Classic & reboot and see how much ram is in use without WB running.
If you compare the numbers from the processes tab, is there any application which seems to be using a lot more with WB.
Reply #7 Wednesday, June 14, 2006 5:34 AM
I will have to leave that until tonight ( London time ) thanks
Reply #8 Wednesday, June 14, 2006 3:59 PM
Reply #9 Wednesday, June 14, 2006 5:09 PM
| but I have never seen the memory usage constantly above 75% (my RAM is 512MB) |
forgive me if i'm wrong, but can you measure memory by percentages now? i think he means his cpu is at 75%..
Reply #10 Wednesday, June 14, 2006 6:21 PM
Reply #11 Wednesday, June 14, 2006 6:52 PM
Reply #12 Wednesday, June 14, 2006 7:28 PM
| but can you measure memory by percentages now? |
Many 'plugins' have been doing that for eons. I use Sysmetrix to see it all in percentages...
Reply #13 Thursday, June 15, 2006 6:44 PM
Adding a WB theme and it jumped to about the mid80%s and the i/net slowed down quite considerably.
The main processes that seemed to be most volatile were as folllows:
svchost.exe ( username - SYSTEM - )
system idle ( username - SYSTEM ) this one by the way had a huge CPU of 90-92.
CPU usage overall never really topped 14-15%
Does this make any sense to anyone?
Using Photoshop with everything else on and the memory went into the mid 90%s
Reply #14 Thursday, June 15, 2006 6:55 PM
What else do you have on your startup?
Reply #15 Thursday, June 15, 2006 7:13 PM
| system idle ( username - SYSTEM ) this one by the way had a huge CPU of 90-92. |
This is actually the "unused percentage of the CPU".
Another way to check performance http://support.microsoft.com/kb/873289/en-us
Reply #16 Thursday, June 15, 2006 7:47 PM
but hang on then doesn't that mean with a CPU of 0 or 1 all of the %age of the CPU is gone?
Regarding the startup a few dx widgets. However what is the difference in having them on in the startup and then aplying them at a later time?
I've always had these on during startup anyway and they've not caused any drastic 'damage' to the memory.
Reply #17 Thursday, June 15, 2006 7:59 PM
Reply #18 Thursday, June 15, 2006 8:48 PM
| I've checked that link and the %age idle time is running very close to the top of the scale and the %age processor very low, is this normal? |
If you click the "View Report" button after adding the percentage processor and percentage idle options for display, you will see a numerical percentage of both, which should add up to %100 total for both.
The percentage idle nemerical value is telling you the percentage of the processor that is "idle" or not in use.
The percentage processor numerical value is telling you the percentage of the processor being that is "active" or in use.
You want the idle number to be a higher numerical value, and the processor number to be a lower number.
Note - this test only reflects the processor active and idle percentages, and does not indicate amount of RAM being used up.
For an easy overall RAM check, you can perform a boot into the default "Luna" theme with no other customizations loaded, and then look in "System Information" (Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > System Information).
The System Summary page will give a value of "Total Physical Memory" and "Available Physical Memory". If you subtract the Available from the Total, you will have the current memory used by the default theme.
You can then load programs and use the changed values to deduce the amount of RAM being used by the loaded programs. This should give you an idea of whether the additions of specific programs are grabbing a lot of memory, or if it simply adds to an already limited amount.
Task Manager just shows the individual values, but System Information is sometimes a better way to see the overall picture on memory use during normal operation. Task Manager is great for tracking a process that is hogging memory.
Sorry if this is just too basic, but I find the combination of System Information and Task Manager a good way to grasp the memory issue.
Reply #19 Thursday, June 15, 2006 9:24 PM
| The percentage processor numerical value is telling you the percentage of the processor being that is "active" or in use |
Sorry, drop the "being" from that sentence.
A couple of notes:
1 - Even with normal programs open (i.e., web browser, e-mail program, word processor, etc.) when performing the test via the link in #15 above, you should see the "percentage processor" at "0" and the "percentage idle at "100" if you do not move the mouse pointer, and the programs are not attempting to check for e-mail, updates, or saving files during the test. If you move the mouse pointer around while looking at the numerical report, you should see the "percentage idle" drop into the "90's" and the "percentage processor" move up the same amount lost from "100" in "percentage idle" - I hope that makes sense.
This is normal, and indicates a healthy use of the processor.
If on the other hand you have those basic programs open, with no checking for e-mail, updates, and saving of files during the test, and the percentage processor is above say "5" or "10" - you have something else going on in your system.
2 - If using System Information\System Summary page to see RAM (A.K.A. Physical Memory) use, you can load programs and then use the "View menu > Refresh" command to update the "Available Memory" and then do the math.
Reply #20 Friday, June 16, 2006 3:19 AM
Don't worry about being too basic with me. Basic and me are good, very good.
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Reply #1 Tuesday, June 13, 2006 2:23 PM