Microsoft has made a tool to monitor desktop heap. You can download it at this page. Just remember, you should not be increasing this value if you don't need to. It does slow your computer down.
Bigger heap = slow computer? Thanks for the link to the much needed dheapmon tool, but do you have any documentation to back up your claim above? I'd like to point out that 64-bit Windows has a default desktop heap of 10MB or so... (I don't recall the exact value, but it was substantially larger than 3MB!) The global desktop heap is always 48MB (32-bit Windows). I strongly doubt this memory is pageable, so using more of it shouldn't affect speed? (even for low-memory configurations) -- Rune
Eh, I think I missed that comment. AFAIK, increasing the desktop heap does not slow Windows XP down. It just reduces the number of desktops that can be created, as stated in the article.
The KB article refers to NT 3.5, and I think most of us have systems sporting lots more memory compared to back then. Whether you eat 3MB or 8MB from a process' 2GB address space shouldn't matter much IMO. (regardless of system memory) Granted, seeing as they bumped up the size in 64-bit Windows, I'm not eager to defend this view. (nor can I think of a useful benchmark -- all I know is that I hit the 3072KB default limit easily) I'm also sceptical to blindly trusting KB articles, and particulary this one since it fails to document the third (and possibly fourth) parameter. There's certainly a fair share of not entirely accurate KB articles around.
It still says it applies to 2000, XP, etc. As more shared memory is mapped into process address space you're going to have more memory that needs to be synchronized. That could cause a performance hit. But I would tend to agree that unless you're running a 486 you'll probably never notice Still, as it does cause a performance hit, you shouldn't go changing it all willy nilly.
I have a feeling that the performance hit statement is due to the amount of cacheable memory, rather than a real hit to the performance of the operating system.
Desktop heap info from Microsoft's CPR team FYI: Microsoft’s Critical Problem Resolution team for Windows has recently posted a blog entry about desktop heap that goes into more detail than the current KB articles on this topic. Check it out if you are interested... http://blogs.msdn.com/ntdebugging/archive/2007/01/04/desktop-heap-overview.aspx
For you guys who have messed with the "desktop heap" settings.... I need you help. I generally have about 20+ windows open on my XP system, which has 1 gig of ram in it. I changed the middle setting for the desktop heap, following the info from here: http://www.techarp.com/showarticle.aspx?artno=238&pgno=1 This has helped, but now it seems I'm starting to have the same problem again, (not being able to open any new programs or windows, when I have 20+ open already). 1) Can you tell me what is the best setting for me? What is the max I can go on the heap? This system is used by only one person, me. 2) What should have my Virtual memory settings at? I have it at 500min/500 max, right now. I just want to be able to open more windows.
Does it happen right after you open all 20+ programs? Or does it happen after a relatively long time? Some software are badly programmed and leak memory. If so, you will still need to reboot once in a while to get things going again. As for virtual memory settings, please check out our Virtual Memory Optimization Guide - http://www.techarp.com/showarticle.aspx?artno=143&pgno=0
