Hi, Interesting article, and According to Microsoft KB Article 327699, Windows XP restricts the maximum number of user Objects to 10,000. Is anyone aware of any tools that can peer into the User Objects to see what they are? Similar to looking into each handle in use?

Thank You

Saul

I dispute the handles guidance, I have 15,415 handles open just for MySQL-MaxNT 5a and my system is rock solid, it stays up for ages.

My PC Recommendations:

* Make sure your hardware is up to the task e.g. power supply (1), processor heatsink and fans. Many PC builders cut corners on components, so the PC can become unstable over time, when pushed hard (games,server) or when extra components/peripherals are added. (1) The power supply must be able to supply amply current on each voltage rail (at the same time) and provide quality voltage regulation otherwise your system may become unstable or suffer from intermittent faults, don't just rely on Watts.
* If possible, load the PC with enough RAM so that you don't need virtual memory (I use 1.5GB), PC's run MUCH faster with virtual memory (file) turned off. Windows, for some reason, continuously accesses the swap file, even when huge amounts of physical RAM is free, unfortunately the extra disk use slows down a PC via CPU interrupts, DMA or by increasing hard disk seek delays.
* Enable DMA for all drives, if possible, because DMA is often much more efficient at transferring data than the CPU.
* Regularly defragment your hard disk partitions, because scatter file fragments can cause see delays. I user Perfect Disk 6.0 (http://www.raxco.com/) currently, because it is very fast and can decompact file fragments bigger than free disk space/gaps.
* Don't rely exclusively on CPU Usage to spot slowdowns, DMA use (for disk, sound cards etc) can also slow down the CPU a lot if it wants to use physical memory at the same time, yet CPU usage can drop when this happens!
* Stop unneeded programs/services from auto-running, like the Indexer service.
* Make explorer.exe run separate instances, see (http://www.x-setup.net/), so that it causes less annoyance when it crashes!
* Use a multi-threaded file browser instead of explorer.exe e.g Directory Opus (http://www.gpsoft.com.au/). Explorer.exe is primitive single threaded junk e.g. it can only do one thing at a time.
* Avoid using applications using Microsoft browser components. Microsoft are losing the security war (Berbew was just a taster), so it only a matter of time before some nasty malware silently installs (e.g. via IE,OE,Outlook) and messes up your PC. Better still minimise the use of Microsoft programs, period, you may find that you have more free physical memory and better security.
* Disable automatic Windows Update and only install the updates you actually need (even some security updates are gratuitous), excess updates may add new bugs, slow down you PC and install unwanted software e.g. the insecure MSJVM (Microsoft Java).
* Use a decent personal firewall (I assume you know that the XP firewall is junk) e.g. not ZoneAlarm (Pro) or Norton/Symantec junk. I use Agnitum Personal Firewall Pro 2.1 (http://www.agnitum.com/products/outpost/) currently.
* If on dialup, use a serial port Modem, WinModems and USB modems can seriously slow down your PC, as can any USB device.
* If on broadband never use a USB Modem (too slow and VERY insecure), instead use a router with NAT (preferable a built-in firewall), via an ethernet cable, and avoid using DMZ, that way make it much harder for crackers to make your machine their bitch i.e. a zombie PC.
* Make sure that your device drivers are not causing problems/crashes e.g. use recent versions and seriously consider desposing of hardware/peripherals where the manufacture is too lazy to provide stable drivers.
* Use Firewire devices in preference to USB, they often work faster, with much less load on the CPU.

BTW: I prefer TaskInfo (http://www.iarsn.com/taskinfo.html) to task manager, it's like Task Manager on steroids (more graphs, resource alarms, cache flushing etc.) and often works better under load.

You can send comments to auto102767 {at} hushmail {dot} com. Note, you will have to confirm any email if not in my whitelist.

BTW I forgot to mention, Bush is an idiot, why else would he accept/push the bogus WMD propaganda and drag that 'bitch' Blair (UK) in and waste Billions pissing off many Arabs yet again! Do these politicos (Right, Centre and Left are equally as bad) realize that 11th Sept only happened because the US had already pissed off many Arabs and made themselves a target. Doesn't anyone learn from history, the US should have remembered Northern Ireland to know the folly of interfering in other countries affairs and the long term costs that result e.g. Northern Ireland is a basically a dangerous training ground in urban warfare, for the British Army now!

question pls, when you 'End process' on a item a box pops up " terminating a process may cause undesired affects, loss of data, etc etc" is there a way to go back and let that program close itself and save what ever it needs to be saved or is it even a critical part of the process and something to not really worry about

thank you
TTO student

that was very interesting becuase I can't find actual numbers of what each one should be. it gaives you a little and you have to figure out the rest in reading and it's given me headaches trying to understand it and this one was more difficult for me than anything else. so thanks.

I would like to Know if it's the same for Windows 2000?
I have a machine with Windows 2000 Server and Handles total it's around 3.000.000.
Thanks, Isabel

hey. thanks for that article. i've been trying to figure out why explorer.exe seems to grow like a weed with VM usage. mine starts at some value around 20 megs and then after a day or so the VM size is 135 megs + i have no clue why and can find no info on the net. i did notice (after reading your article) that it has 23,478 handles !!! ha. that's quite a bit more than the 2000 or so limit. again. i have no clue why. aside from explorer.exe i typically use about 100-150 MB of the 384 MB RAM i have. i have the page file set to 999 MB (just picked that randomly. i don't like even numbers). if anyone has any thoughts i would appreciate them. thanks again. also, the computer runs pretty well. i don't notice any major slowdowns. but it is definitely quicker before the explorer.exe VM grows. for now i just occasionally end task explorer.exe and then restart it.

and don't listen to infernoz... he'll have you believe women in short skirts created sexual harrassment.