Virtually any status value/counter can be monitored using the Performance Monitor (perfmon.exe).
The Task manager also provides quite a number of useful info. See e.g. the Performance tab. You got handle count, thread/process count, physical memory usage, and kernel memory usage (=the memory used up by the device drivers) all on this page.
Vlk
That’s one hell of a box you’re running there Vlk, 8 processors 
?
Hornum
Hehe, yeah it’s a screenshot from an 8-way test server… ;D
(and no, the memory isn’t taken up by the avast processes ;D)
Hello Vlk and everyone else! Since Saturday when I reformatted and reinstalled XP temporarily without SP1 and Windows Updates, avast! and the latest KazaaLite version (2.4.3) are running perfectly. Absolutely no memory leak, no lockups and no freezes.
I’ve noticed on this forum and on the K-Lite forum that everyone having the crash problem is running XP – either home or pro, along with Windows Media Player 9.
I honestly don’t think the problem is with avast! or
K-Lite. I think there’s some type of conflict issue with
WMP 9 or the Windows Updates.
I’m going to spend the next day or so gradually putting Windows Updates back in to see if I can narrow this down.
Dave
Dave, thanks a lot! We really appreciate your effort – we would very much like to fix this problem asap we aren’t able to simulate it. It just works here. :-\
I’m really curious what’s the real cause of the problems.
Vlk
Hello Vlk and avast team…
I apologize for the length of this post. But, I want to give you everything I can regarding the KazaaLite crash issue.
I am now more confident than ever that it’s a problem with Windows Updates and/or Media Player 9 and not avast.
My computer – HP Pavilion 760n, 1.8 ghz Pentium 4, 512mb ram, 120 gb hard drive, Windows XP.
With SP-1, all critical updates and Media Player 9 –
using avast 4.1.268 (home) – K-Lite version 2.4.3 (the newest) eventually leads to an error that Windows Explorer has a problem and must close. Versions 2.4.2 and 2.4.1 crash. Version 2.1.0 build 3 gets the Windows Explorer error. Errors happen within minutes or a couple of hours – there’s no set pattern.
Results are the same with Norton NAV 2003.
using AVG-6 (Free) – all versions of K-Lite get the Windows Explorer error.
With SP-1, critical updates and XP’s Media Plauer –
results above are repeated but it takes a little longer to get the errors. I suspect there’s less of a memory drain without Media Player 9, but there’s still a drain.
Removing SP-1 and all critical updates –
all versions of K-Lite work with avast, nav2003 and avg,
no errors, no freezes, no lockups.
As stated before, some computers just will not work correctly with Media Player 9 and Windows Updates. On the Dell forums, there are complaints that a new XP update that came out last week is causing help files to disappear. Other people still have problems with the revised update 811493 – the original release 6 months ago caused thousands of computers to crash. Indeed, when I download Windows Updates, it keeps trying to send me a Lucent phone modem driver as a critical update (I’m on cable broadband and don’t even use a dial-up connection).
I would suggest that greatwhitenorth221 and anyone else having the crash problem simply try using avast and K-Lite without Windows Updates. No guarantee it’ll work for them but on my computer, it seems to be the way to go until perhaps XP’s SP-2 comes out. Perhaps there’ll be fewer conflicts then.
To repeat – on my computer – it’s not avast!
Dave
Hi Dave, thanks for your post.
Your observations make me ask one more question: If the patched and/or updated WinXP do not work properly with the AV progs (at least with those you’ve tested), do they work without any AV? In other words, is the AV program the trigger, or is it completely unrelated?
Thanks
Vlk
Vlk – my computer gets very sluggish with the Windows Updates WITHOUT antivirus programs. I tried a test with a clean install of XP, putting in SP-1 and all critical updates. Computer slowed WAY down. I then tried to install AVG-6 (Free) which is very light on resources. Every time I tried this, AVG would not install properly. It installed properly if I put it in right after finishing the clean XP install. Of course, following that with the updates then created problems again.
Also, while my case may or may not be unique, I do know of some cases where a few Windows Updates have created problems only if Norton 2003 is installed.
So, to answer your question – on my computer, Windows Updates don’t work properly at all and on some others, the trigger is the antivirus program.
Dave
Vlk – one additional thought …
The last time I installed SP-1 and all critical updates (before this latest round of testing), my computer ran into serious problems – wouldn’t boot. I was on the phone with HP for over two hours and we discovered that the updates corrupted a system32 file. We managed to eventually get the computer to perform a CHKDSK which repaired the file. At that time, HP told me and I quote – do not install SP-1 or any Windows Updates. Perhaps HP is aware of a conflict with my particular model – I don’t know. I can tell you that right now, without the updates, avast, k-lite and everything else on my computer is working perfectly.
Dave
Thanks, Dave.
I suppose you are not using two av at the same time in the same computer…
Am I right? 8)
You are right, Technical. My tests for Vlk involved a clean install of XP for each antivirus test so there’d be no traces or debris left to taint the results.
I may try the Windows Updates again in the future to see what happens.
Dave
I have updated Windows will all recomended available patches, except Q330994 that brings me some trouble with OE. Some WMP paches I did not apply because I don´t use this player (RealOne is better for me…).
Good luck. ;D