GOOD NEWS! Memory Leak Work Around - Hibernate

A couple days ago, while running the System Monitor, I tried Start -
Shutdown - Hibernate again. Good news! It appears to have a very
positive affect in cleaning up memory leaks.

We've been using winME at our home ever since it came out in 2000 or
whenever. I have been constantly amazed at the bad press it receives
because it has worked so well for us. At first I really liked its
Movie Maker (had some help from MS before it was dependable with our
old Sony VX1000). Also the Sony Blue Ray worked altho Sony told us it
wouldn't.
Since Internet Explorer 6.0, it definitely got worse. I put IE6.0 on
twice. The first time up the system was such a pain that I figured out
how to get it off and went back to IE5.5 after a week. I think it was
a couple years and possibly more before we were somewhat coerced into
trying IE6 again. Probably because the Intuit tax software demanded
it. The system tolerated IE6 much better this time but still not as
well as IE5 or 5.5.

Anyway, this summer, July I think, I became curious about the non-
default abilities of the System Monitor, turned it on and went thru
them again. This time it seemed to be a good predictor of when
system performance was beginning to slide. So we now have it on
autostart and keep it up 24/7 (drag most of it off the right side of
the screen).

I've been watching two graphs: the Memory Manager: Unused physical
memory and the Kernel Processor Usage. That has been an eyeopening
experience. Almost immediately, I could see what appear to be major
memory leaks - something worth complaining about. But a little
Googling quickly found this has been widely reported for a long time.
So I didn't waste anybody's time.

The Kernel Processor Usage also looks bizarre. But that might only be
due to my not understanding what this graph is supposed to show. I
have long used performance meters, most recently I've used the basic
NT4 performance meters. With that experience, this ME graph seems to
reflect the system cpu utilization. It has the word "kernel" in the
title so perhaps there is a "non-kernel" component to cpu
utilization. Even so, what it appears to show is not good. After an
hour or so, the cpu resources are about 75% consumed even when
"resting" - the user doing nothing. The main work would have to be
Virus checking and network monitoring (monitoring a Cox Cable Modem
and maybe Bluetooth?).

As for Hibernate - I think it worked for us initially. But it (or
Standby?) normally comes on automatically - the screen saver comes on
first cycling thru My Pictures for about 10 minutes then the computer
goes to sleep (Black screen) so I seldom go thru the Start Button to
turn on Hibernate (Start-Shutdown-Hibernate). Nowdays, it doesn't
really work. The system hibernates for about 10 seconds then wakes up!

But System Monitor does show whatever the current memory leaks are, it
fixes them in 10 seconds.

Check it out.

On Oct 2, 9:23 am, Bob wrote:

A couple questions and another observation on using System Monitor to
observe the effects of Hibernation:

The system has 512 MB of RAM. After a normal boot which includes
firing up the System-Monitor, the Monitor shows 244 MB available. If
I force it into a 10 second hibernation it will emerge from
hibernating with about 300 MB available.
Is that great or what?

And when I repeat the hibernation it ... (see below)

If I have several applications up, say a couple IE6 sessions and a
Word session, plus the System Monitor then try to hibernate, the
system goes into hibernation but will not come out. Pressing the Ctrl
key does nothing, Mousing does nothing. Even Ctrl-Alt-Del does
nothing. Even pressing the Power On/Off button will not wake it up.
Fortunately this box has an On/Off switch at the back and fortunately
cycling power that way does the trick. Is this Normal?

In a forced power off situation, I expect to spend some time with
ScanDisk but in this instance it is not needed and the system would be
ready for use except I have it in Safe Mode ( because of the unusual
circumstances).

Oh yeah, When I repeat the hibernation it ... it's available memory
remains about 300 MB. This 300 number is interesting especially
considering that if one restarts the system with the Monitor on
autostart, the Monitor screen only shows 244 MB RAM available.

A couple days ago, while running the System Monitor, I tried Start -
Shutdown - Hibernate again. Good news! It appears to have a very
positive affect in cleaning up memory leaks.

We've been using winME at our home ever since it came out in 2000 or
whenever. I have been constantly amazed at the bad press it receives
because it has worked so well for us. At first I really liked its
Movie Maker (had some help from MS before it was dependable with our
old Sony VX1000). Also the Sony Blue Ray worked altho Sony told us it
wouldn't.
Since Internet Explorer 6.0, it definitely got worse. I put IE6.0 on
twice. The first time up the system was such a pain that I figured out
how to get it off and went back to IE5.5 after a week. I think it was
a couple years and possibly more before we were somewhat coerced into
trying IE6 again. Probably because the Intuit tax software demanded
it. The system tolerated IE6 much better this time but still not as
well as IE5 or 5.5.

Anyway, this summer, July I think, I became curious about the non-
default abilities of the System Monitor, turned it on and went thru
them again. This time it seemed to be a good predictor of when
system performance was beginning to slide. So we now have it on
autostart and keep it up 24/7 (drag most of it off the right side of
the screen).

I've been watching two graphs: the Memory Manager: Unused physical
memory and the Kernel Processor Usage. That has been an eyeopening
experience. Almost immediately, I could see what appear to be major
memory leaks - something worth complaining about. But a little
Googling quickly found this has been widely reported for a long time.
So I didn't waste anybody's time.

The Kernel Processor Usage also looks bizarre. But that might only be
due to my not understanding what this graph is supposed to show. I
have long used performance meters, most recently I've used the basic
NT4 performance meters. With that experience, this ME graph seems to
reflect the system cpu utilization. It has the word "kernel" in the
title so perhaps there is a "non-kernel" component to cpu
utilization. Even so, what it appears to show is not good. After an
hour or so, the cpu resources are about 75% consumed even when
"resting" - the user doing nothing. The main work would have to be
Virus checking and network monitoring (monitoring a Cox Cable Modem
and maybe Bluetooth?).

As for Hibernate - I think it worked for us initially. But it (or
Standby?) normally comes on automatically - the screen saver comes on
first cycling thru My Pictures for about 10 minutes then the computer
goes to sleep (Black screen) so I seldom go thru the Start Button to
turn on Hibernate (Start-Shutdown-Hibernate). Nowdays, it doesn't
really work. The system hibernates for about 10 seconds then wakes up!

But System Monitor does show whatever the current memory leaks are, it
fixes them in 10 seconds.

Check it out.

There is nothing at all wrong with using 100% of the RAM you got. In fact,
what you don't use is wasted.

Another thing, there is a kernel in the OS that stays busy keeping it all
running. I think all WIndows kernels dedicate half the amount of RAM you got,
whatever the amount, for itself. So simple mathematics tell me you don't have
anything at all running. I don't know if you use a single stick of RAM, but
you can try with 256 MB and you should find you have 128 MB of RAM unoccupied.

And I must concur with what you say about ME. After learning Active Desktop
was a bad piece of wood for our system, it has run like a charm every day for
six years.

"Bob" wrote:

On Oct 2, 9:23 am, Bob wrote:

A couple questions and another observation on using System Monitor to
observe the effects of Hibernation:

The system has 512 MB of RAM. After a normal boot which includes
firing up the System-Monitor, the Monitor shows 244 MB available. If
I force it into a 10 second hibernation it will emerge from
hibernating with about 300 MB available.
Is that great or what?

And when I repeat the hibernation it ... (see below)

If I have several applications up, say a couple IE6 sessions and a
Word session, plus the System Monitor then try to hibernate, the
system goes into hibernation but will not come out. Pressing the Ctrl
key does nothing, Mousing does nothing. Even Ctrl-Alt-Del does
nothing. Even pressing the Power On/Off button will not wake it up.
Fortunately this box has an On/Off switch at the back and fortunately
cycling power that way does the trick. Is this Normal?

In a forced power off situation, I expect to spend some time with
ScanDisk but in this instance it is not needed and the system would be
ready for use except I have it in Safe Mode ( because of the unusual
circumstances).

Oh yeah, When I repeat the hibernation it ... it's available memory
remains about 300 MB. This 300 number is interesting especially
considering that if one restarts the system with the Monitor on
autostart, the Monitor screen only shows 244 MB RAM available.

A couple days ago, while running the System Monitor, I tried Start -
Shutdown - Hibernate again. Good news! It appears to have a very
positive affect in cleaning up memory leaks.

We've been using winME at our home ever since it came out in 2000 or
whenever. I have been constantly amazed at the bad press it receives
because it has worked so well for us. At first I really liked its
Movie Maker (had some help from MS before it was dependable with our
old Sony VX1000). Also the Sony Blue Ray worked altho Sony told us it
wouldn't.
Since Internet Explorer 6.0, it definitely got worse. I put IE6.0 on
twice. The first time up the system was such a pain that I figured out
how to get it off and went back to IE5.5 after a week. I think it was
a couple years and possibly more before we were somewhat coerced into
trying IE6 again. Probably because the Intuit tax software demanded
it. The system tolerated IE6 much better this time but still not as
well as IE5 or 5.5.

Anyway, this summer, July I think, I became curious about the non-
default abilities of the System Monitor, turned it on and went thru
them again. This time it seemed to be a good predictor of when
system performance was beginning to slide. So we now have it on
autostart and keep it up 24/7 (drag most of it off the right side of
the screen).

I've been watching two graphs: the Memory Manager: Unused physical
memory and the Kernel Processor Usage. That has been an eyeopening
experience. Almost immediately, I could see what appear to be major
memory leaks - something worth complaining about. But a little
Googling quickly found this has been widely reported for a long time.
So I didn't waste anybody's time.

The Kernel Processor Usage also looks bizarre. But that might only be
due to my not understanding what this graph is supposed to show. I
have long used performance meters, most recently I've used the basic
NT4 performance meters. With that experience, this ME graph seems to
reflect the system cpu utilization. It has the word "kernel" in the
title so perhaps there is a "non-kernel" component to cpu
utilization. Even so, what it appears to show is not good. After an
hour or so, the cpu resources are about 75% consumed even when
"resting" - the user doing nothing. The main work would have to be
Virus checking and network monitoring (monitoring a Cox Cable Modem
and maybe Bluetooth?).

As for Hibernate - I think it worked for us initially. But it (or
Standby?) normally comes on automatically - the screen saver comes on
first cycling thru My Pictures for about 10 minutes then the computer
goes to sleep (Black screen) so I seldom go thru the Start Button to
turn on Hibernate (Start-Shutdown-Hibernate). Nowdays, it doesn't
really work. The system hibernates for about 10 seconds then wakes up!

But System Monitor does show whatever the current memory leaks are, it
fixes them in 10 seconds.

Check it out.