Draining Sys Resources (XP Pro)

**JimF** · 2003-11-17 17:56

I have a situation on my laptop running XP Pro. If I leave the laptop on for say 6 hours or overnight, the system will give me errors that it cannot open an application because the system resources are too low. I then have to reboot and everything is just fine. Something is draining my system resources, or I have a "memory leak" and now I need to find out what is doing this. First, I cannot connect this symptom to a specific installation of software. The first few times it happened, I just ignored the error and went about my work. I then tried selective startup via msconfig. I turned everything off, rebooted and left the notebook run overnight - no problem. So it does appear to be something loaded in with the .ini files, services or startup. I enabled some of the Services and restarted, after 6 hours no problems appeared.

But the I started to realize that this was going to take forever. Because I have to leave the system untouched for at least 6 hours to see if the problem comes back, if I were to go through every item in .ini's, services, and startup, one by one, It would take me all of 2004. Can anyone suggest a faster method to troubleshoot this problem?

**JohnGray** · 2003-11-17 18:25

I would right click on an empty portion of the task bar at the bottom of the screen, then click on Task Manager then on Processes. Then sort on Image Name (or perhaps on Mem Usage, descending order) by clicking once or twice on the heading. Take a note of the Image Names and the Mem Usage of as many of the processes as you think appropriate. (Choosing correctly is the clever bit!!)

Go away.

Come back after n hours, and look again. With any luck Sore Thumbs will stand out...

**SMBP** · 2003-11-17 19:01

Jim--

Check the links in

Post 312043

for a review of going after resource drains. Memory Leaks per se of course exist in all OS's and are even a big problem what's been circulated of the new Longhorn from what I'm reading and seeing, but there are plenty of ways to minimize this.

SMBP

**jscher2000** · 2003-11-18 00:22

Try disabling any persistent network connection during the overnight and see whether that has any effect. With any luck, you'll have an error message on screen from some program that is off surfing on its own (or has been inviting in others). (You can disable the connection in the networking control panel, right-click, disable, or by yanking the network cable.)

**JimF** · 2003-11-19 11:44

I did this and let the laptop run overnight. Wouldn't you know, this time it was fine in the morning. The only difference was that I did not have the laptop plugged into my office network. I did notice, and have noticed in the past, that a program msmsgs.exe periodically runs continuously?

**JohnGray** · 2003-11-19 11:58

msmsgs.exe appears to be associated with Windows Messenger...

Bugs have a habit of knowing when someone is trying to catch them, and make every effort to avoid this ... <img src=/S/bummer.gif border=0 alt=bummer width=15 height=15>

**JimF** · 2003-11-19 14:19

I do not use Windows Messenger and tried in the past to prevent it from running on my computers. I was not successful. Then I saw an article somewhere talking about why you might not want to turn off Messenger because of other things that it did? I don't remember the details but since I was not sure whether or not to get rid of it, I just left it. If its only purpose is Internet messaging, then I definitely do not need it - but am still not sure how to successfully stop it from running (I removed it from Startup via msconfig) but it keeps reappearing in Startup, thanks Bill Gates).

**bigaldoc** · 2003-11-19 14:53

Be careful that you're not confusing Windows Instant Messenger (chat) with Windows Messaging (system service). You might want to take a look at <!post=the thread starting here.,313088>the thread starting here.<!/post>

**jscher2000** · 2003-11-19 16:48

Hi Doc, while "one-stop shopping" is convenient, to conserve bandwidth (and some semblance of formatting!), it probably is better to link over to the Microsoft Knowledgebase than to paste it. Here's a secret shortcut to linking: <!t>[mskb=302089]<!/t> yields <!mskb=302089>Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 302089<!/mskb>. Or you can use the more customizable <!t>[url]<!/t> markup to add the page's title (or anything, really) into the link.

**DocWatson** · 2003-11-19 20:12

Sorry, I didn't realize until after I viewed your post-back how large the post was. <img src=/S/blush.gif border=0 alt=blush width=15 height=15>

I never previewed or viewed that post after it was posted. I'll be more judicious in the future.

**jscher2000** · 2003-11-19 22:41

Yes, the preview is where you get the "more than 500 words" warning. Anyway, it's not too late to edit (<IMG SRC=http://www.wopr.com/w3timages/edit.gif> icon above your post).

**JimF** · 2003-11-19 22:54

I read the thread but it has a statement that bothers me - "If you don't intend on using XP on a LAN you can disable the Server and workstation services." I use my XP laptop on my office LAN and on my client's office network. Is messenger service required anytime you are connecting to a network and therfore can't be removed?

**jscher2000** · 2003-11-19 23:46

I'm not sure where SMBP got the information in that particular sentence (<post#=313104>post 313104</post#>). But maybe this will help clarify it:

The Server service is needed to share your computing resources (e.g., file and print) with others.

The Workstation service is needed to access Windows-based servers.

The Messenger service is needed to receive and display certain pop-up messages.

These are three distinct bits of software, and you can turn them on or off separately.

**jkipk** · 2003-11-20 00:27

The easiest way I know to disable Windows Messenger in XP, and the one I use: Open Windows Explorer and navigate to %System%/Program Files/Messenger. With Windows Messenger shut down, right click on the "Messenger" folder and click Rename. Call it "MessengerOld" or some such. Click OK and XP will (not very happily) rename the file. Reboot and Windows Messenger will not start again.

As for the "Messenger" service (a completely different animal), by all means shut down the service and disable it. (This is not msmsg.exe, Windows Messenger is, but spammers have found it quite convenient to have Messenger available to them, and you won't need it. ) New versions of XP will ship with Messenger disabled by default.

I wouldn't be surprised if Windows Messenger was the cause of your problems.

good luck. have fun

kip

**SMBP** · 2003-11-20 00:36

Jefferson--

There are hundreds of other articles on disabling messenger, but I excerpted Kelly Theriot's because it is one of the more complete ones and she has a link that'll do it with a two click regedit. That was one of the concerns in that thread which asked "what the deal was with a patch that fixed buffer overruns in the messenger service--and I suggested to the poster to turn messenger service off unless he had a good reason for running it.

That particular sentence was from Kelly Theriot in her writeup of Messenger Service at A to Z under M>Messenger Service:

"Messenger Service

If you don't intend using XP on a LAN you can disable the "Server" and "Workstation" services. csrss.exe is associated with the Server process. The Messenger Service "Transmits net send and Alerter service messages between clients and servers".

To disable the Messenger Service: Go to Start/Control Panel/Administrative Tools/Services. Double click the Messenger Service and change Automatic to Disabled, then click the Stop button."

SMBP

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