Windows 7 - Memory Leak

purecomedy · Post by **purecomedy** » Sun Jun 15, 2014 1:52 pm

I'm running Windows 7 - 64 bit and in the last few months an update or install has caused a memory leak that leads to an out of memory error every few days.

I downloaded Process Explorer (SysInternals) and what I find odd is that I can add up the Private Working Set Memory for the processes and services there and it'll be in the 2 Gb range whereas in Task Manager Performance tab my memory usage shows as 6 Gb.

The issue is that I'll leave my computer on for a day or 2 and as the memory usage slowly ramps up I get a Windows out of memory error (I have 8 Gb of RAM).

The only lead I have at this time is that in the Max Working Set I can see Acronic True image has hit 4 Gb of RAM and dwm.exe has hit 2 Gb of RAM. It's almost as if Windows thinks the memory has been released by it really hasn't.

I'm looking for other suggestions of things to try as it takes a few days each time to figure out if the problem is solved. Should I be turning some kind of desktop settings down to try and reduce the churn in dwm.exe?

Post by **YeOldeStonecat** » Mon Jun 16, 2014 6:54 am

What is your virtual memory set to?

YARDofSTUF · Post by **YARDofSTUF** » Tue Jun 17, 2014 1:25 am

dwm.exe blooms up a lot with stiff like AMD's CCC and other things with aero on, if thats all that is hogging the memory just set your theme to windows basic then turn it back to your preferred theme and it should be fine again.

TonyT · Post by **TonyT** » Wed Jun 18, 2014 8:17 am

A Memory Leak has very little to do with RAM. It has to do with virtual memory in Windows and a swap file in Linux. It's a section of the hard drive where bits are moved back and forth between applications, RAM and the hard drive. Virtual memory is best managed by Windows rather than user settings for virtual memory. An application can be poorly coded and "leak memory" by failing to kill one of its processes or handles after the program is closed, or the shabby code can cause writes to virtual memory unnecessarily. Out on memory errors have to do with virtual memory, not RAM. RAM is for use!

Post by **YeOldeStonecat** » Wed Jun 18, 2014 11:49 am

YARDofSTUF wrote:dwm.exe blooms up a lot with stiff like AMD's CCC and other things with aero on, if thats all that is hogging the memory just set your theme to windows basic then turn it back to your preferred theme and it should be fine again.

I've never seen it go even gear a gig. My workstation at the office right here...dual monitors, Aero on, Widget bar, ATI driven....runs for months on end without reboots....right now my DWM is at 28 megs.