Memory Leak In Explorer.exe

[Frank4d]

I run my PC 24/7 and log into one account. At first, explorer.exe will show about 14,000KB in Taskmanager. It's usage after 40 days has increased to 76,000KB. If I log out and back on, it returns to 14,000KB. Tomorrow it will be back to 17,000KB and contiue climbing.

Stats:
Windows XP Pro SP2
McAfee AV 8.0
P4 @ 3.0GHz hyperthreading
512MB PC2700 Dual-channel
ECS PT800-CE MOBO
ATI AIW 9800 Pro
No spyware or adware that I know of

 

[bcastner]

RAM or VM size?

 

[Frank4d]

RAM is 512MB, VM is 767MB (system managed), HDD free space is 110MB.

 

[bcastner]

I am sorry, I wanted to know explorer.exe memory usage. Task Manager should show its memory use, and its VM use.

 

[Frank4d]

Right now it shows 16,260 memory useage, and 10,568 VM... but I logged out and back in before my first post. I may have to let it run for several days to see the 70,000 problem again.

 

[bcastner]

Take a note on your thread count, Mem Usage, and VM size statistics, and report back when the number seems high again to you with all three values.

If I open three instances of explorer.exe, which task manager shows as two copies of explorer.exe running, I can reach a thread count of 28, and Mem use + VM use of approximately 70mb.

I suspect your situation is normal. Part of it is due to caching of desktop.ini information for folder customizations, which is relatively cumulative as new folders are opened.

I have yet to see reports of a true memory leak in explorer.exe under XP SP2, but I will certainly keep my eyes out for any reports.

Best wishes,
Bill Castner