New build/install: Vista hogging memory

[Project86]

I just upgraded to a modest new system (E5200, 2X2GB RAM) and I am enjoying the snappy feel of Vista compared to before. But I already have an issue.

When I boot the system, it usually shows anywhere from 30 to 35 percent of memory being used. I like a lot of gadgets and things, so it seems about right. Even using the system just for browsing and email, by the end of the day it has often crept up to 50+ percent full. Checking taskmanager, it seems one of the Svchost.exe processes is often ballooned up to 700-800MB. I can close it with no ill effects, and I drop back to normal memory usage.

What could be happening to cause this, and should I be worried about it? I mean I went with 4GB and Vista 64 for a reason, so I'm happy to use memory as needed..... but it really doesn't seem like this is needed. Is it just the way Vista works?

I have ruled out any malware; I really doubt that is the problem.

 

[Aberforth]

I think it's the superfetch service running in the background, it pre-loads your frequently used apps to the memory just to speed up things- it doesn't affect the performance of your pc in anyway, in fact vista will slow down if you disable it.

 

[Rhonda the Sly]

I highly doubt that it's Superfetch. highly.

You can use task manager or resource monitor to see what batch of services are gobbling your memory, I'm not sure exactly how you would go about measuring the memory usage of a specific service though. Cutting off the service is a bad idea though, when you simply end it like that you also end:

Windows Audio Endpoint Builder
Human Interface Device Access
PnP-X IP Bus Enumerator
Network Connections
Program Compatibility Assistant Service
Distributed Link Tracking Client
Desktop Window Manager Session Manager
Portable Device Enumerator Service
Windows Driver Foundation - User-mode Driver Framework

So I wouldn't simply go around cutting service hosts off at the knees because they're using a lot of memory, especially when they're not impacting performance.

 

[Project86]

As usual, there are several instances of SVChost.exe running. The one that is almost a full GB is labeled as netsvcs (I found that somewhere although I forget how I found it since I'm posting from work now). Does that mean anything to anyone? I guess I'll just continue to monitor things and see how full the memory gets, or if it starts feeling slower in normal usage.

 

[13Gigatons]

install process explorer and find out what the svchost is doing.

 

[bsobel]

Originally posted by: Aberforth
I think it's the superfetch service running in the background, it pre-loads your frequently used apps to the memory just to speed up things- it doesn't affect the performance of your pc in anyway, in fact vista will slow down if you disable it.

Its clearly not superfetch.

 

[bsobel]

Originally posted by: 13Gigatons
install process explorer and find out what the svchost is doing.

Or use taskman to see what services are housed by that PID and stop them one by one until the memory drops. Sounds like a buggy service, once you know which one figuring this out will become much easier.