Explorer.exe and RAM usage
 

Right... how can I stop explorer.exe using so much RAM?

It's currently using about 34MB (it was running about a seventh of that earlier but I rebooted and it's gone back to using loads again, dunno why it went down so much), and it's slowing everything down...

This is on XP Home SP2, 512MB RAM, Athlon XP 2000+

Re: Explorer.exe and RAM usage
 

You probably need to start disabling things that explorer uses to enhance itself. Things like, taskbar item grouping, menu animations, etc.

Re: Explorer.exe and RAM usage
 

Maybe- but I didn't disable them and after rebooting the usage went down from the usual 34 to about 5-10, and then after removing a program from the startup (which had been there already) it went back up to 34 again!

Re: Explorer.exe and RAM usage
 

Hmm, that is quite high. Very high for XP, since 2000's explorer.exe (the kernel) only uses 4MB.

Have you tried using the Windows Classic theme?

Re: Explorer.exe and RAM usage
 

Explorer will start with low memory usage and then the amount will change depending on how you are using the pc. Do you have a high res wallpaper that may be adding to the load?

Re: Explorer.exe and RAM usage
 

I shouldn't worry about it though, not with 512m of physical RAM. You probably have 512 of virtual memory too, so the difference 20 meg will make would be negligible.

Re: Explorer.exe and RAM usage
 

explorer.exe might even get paged out if the PC is used a lot. That's when the system goes terribly slow, so you will know what it does :)

Re: Explorer.exe and RAM usage
 

Windows Classic... nope, I hate it!

High res wallpaper, well it's a Forest squad, and it's in 1024x768, I think...

Re: Explorer.exe and RAM usage
 

Well just try it and see if it helps.

Re: Explorer.exe and RAM usage
 

Changing the wallpaper has no effect, I've just tried...

Windows Classic- here we go...

Re: Explorer.exe and RAM usage
 

Right, that's taken it down to 10... meaning something in the Xp theme is hogging all the RAM, but what. I hate this look...

Re: Explorer.exe and RAM usage
 

And pulling it back onto XP, and restoring a wallpaper, brings it back up to 12!

Re: Explorer.exe and RAM usage
 

I don't think explorer.exe would ever get paged out, it is in constant use. What gets paged out depends on freqeuency of usage. In the old days when memory was small, it was determined line by line, but nowadays probably works more on functions.

Re: Explorer.exe and RAM usage
 

If changing to the Windows Classic made it drop by that much, then you have a lot of Windows's "good looks" features on. When the XP theme is put on, it uses more memory because of the extra colours and images that have to be put into memory.

Re: Explorer.exe and RAM usage
 

I know... but it doesn't explain:

- windows theme before anything: explorer - 32MB
- applying classic: explorer - 10MB
- reloading XP theme: explorer - 12MB

Which is what's puzzling me...