Snmp.exe using too much RAM

[Evilince]

Hi guys,
I use Windows 7 and for a while now the gadget which displays CPU and RAM usage is generally always showing around 80% usage. At first when it starts up, its fine at around 30-35% but over the course of 24 hours, it slowly rises up to around 80%. I didn't think too much of it at first thinking it was normal because I had so many programs running, but the other day I was reading something that said to check the Resource Monitor and I found that a program called SNMP.exe is using almost 2GB of RAM. Naturally I found this to be way too much.

I searched for someone else who may have this problem and all I could find on the issue was something about the GIGABYTE Energy Saver program that comes with the board could be causing it, so I uninstalled that and restarted my computer. After restarting I found SNMP.exe running at around 5MB. Now however almost 24 hours later it is back running at 2GB and I have come here hoping to find out why.

I'm not sure what information you require so I will leave it here and will be happy to answer any questions you ask.

Thanks

 

[DelJo63]

SNMP.exe ?? SNMP is a networking tool for Servers, not client systems.
It controls (and snoops) routers. You have no need of it (explain if you think otherwise)

To disable SNMP, using an Admin account:

• use Start->Run->msconfig
• click Services Tab
• Scroll to find SNMP
• remove the [x] in front of it
• click ok

 

[Evilince]

Yeh I've done that for now, but do you know why it was using 2GB of RAM?
Also as I don't know too much about it, I do have a router in use here, does that matter at all?

 

[DelJo63]

Yeh I've done that for now, but do you know why it was using 2GB of RAM?

of course not - - how could i?

Also as I don't know too much about it, I do have a router in use here,

SNMP uses port 161 to manage the router. Even large corporations frequently do not use this service. When they do, they are measuring SLA availability

does that matter at all?

Yes, unless you like having some unknow hacker controlling your router.
The choices are

1. restrict port 161 to your local lan
2. disable the SNMP software

and for pitty sake, change the router login password

 

[Evilince]

of course not - - how could i?

Well you seem to know a bit about snmp so I thought you might know from experience.
As I said, I don't know anything about this snmp, so how could I know that you wouldn't know? Is there anything I can do on my end to find out why it was using so much RAM?

 

[DelJo63]

If you don't need snmp, then it's just an academic study.
The question "Why does program X use abc ram", generically at least, is because that's the way it works. As a professional programmer, I've seen projects and software that was very difficult to solve that question and it took careful software debugging skills to find out why and then a ton of work to reduce the memory footprint.

I suggestion your time is better spent elsewhere

 

[Evilince]

Ah OK I understand, Thank you for your help on the matter. =D
There was one other thing that I forgot to add in my original post if you could help me with and that is a problem I get whenever I install something that uses quite a bit of RAM (just for example; games like Crysis, Mass Effect, those kind of programs). What happens when I install these programs is that it uses all of my RAM but when it finishes installing, the full RAM continuous to be in use even though installing has finished. I have waited up to an hour for it to stop but the only thing that fixes it, is to restart the computer. Would you have any idea what could be causing that?

 

[DelJo63]

First, there's a difference between Ram and Virtual Memory.

Using Start->Run and enter TASKMGR, then click the Performance Tab
the lower left vertical scale is the Page File usage (the same as Virtual Memory)

The RAM is below the graphs on the right is Physical Memory (K).

In a well managed system, the PM should be well used
(mine shows avail=295k of a total of 10141k )

a) when you refer to RAM, where to you see the size you are reporting?

Many systems will not 'release' memory until there is a need for it, using the concept
of 'why do work when not necessary'? This is also known as lazy evaluation.

 

[Evilince]

I am referring to Physical Ram, I have 4GB of RAM and am running Windows 7 64bit.
That same RAM gadget I was talking about earlier shoots up to 100% when installing something, and stays at 100% even after finishing and stays like that until the system is reset.
I just want to point out that I know I may seem to know little about computers, but I do know a fair bit. I'm just bad with words is all.
I see what you mean about the system releasing memory, but I should have explained a bit better.
After installing the programs I am talking about, the whole system lags, opening up a simple folder takes 10 times longer for example, Firefox takes 10 seconds to change a tab, when its normally instant. Doing anything takes a lot longer.

 

[DelJo63]

I am referring to Physical Ram, I have 4GB of RAM and am running Windows 7 64bit.
That same RAM gadget I was talking about earlier shoots up to 100% when installing something

What gadget?

 

[Evilince]

It's called the CPU Gadget, it shows CPU and RAM usage. The one that comes with windows 7

 

[DelJo63]

You can ignore the RAM data. A good OS will always attempt to use as much as possible.
As noted before, be concerned for the use of the Virtual Memory on the Task Manager.

 

[Evilince]

Ok well if it is Virtual Memory (is that the same as Kernel Memory btw?), what can be done to fix the lag issue?
Just on a side note, I do believe it has something to do with Physical RAM as the gadget only shows Physical Ram not Virtual Memory, and when it shows it at 100% the system lags.
Also want to add that the HDD that I have windows 7 installed is partitioned with windows XP as well, the partition with windows 7 only has 1.62GB of space left. I also have 2 other HDD on the system. In the Virtual Memory properties the partition with windows 7 says none allocated, the seconds HDD says System managed with 4GB allocated and the XP partition and 3rd HDD says none also. I just thought that might help sort out the problem.

 

[DelJo63]

First, there's nothing the user can do to change the behavior of real RAM.

There's a ton of things we can do to influence VM however, like trimming System services we don't need, avoiding a rash of Update programs, and reduce the user Run at Startup applications. This reduces the Process count and the usage of the PageFile.

The system will peak from time to time (ie run 100%) and when it does, yes we see & feel the impact of our programs waiting for the CPU rather than being dispatched (ie set running) asap. When running this hard, real ram gets pressured and more page stealling occurs, forcing more I/O to the Pagefile (in both directions) and that gets felt too.

When the system peeks-out, use <ctl><alt><del> and get the Taskmgr
Click the Process tab and then dbl-click the CPU heading. The display then shows which
processes are consuming the most cpu in descending order.
This might give you some clues as to what is causing the issue.
The bottom of the window will also show the process count at that time. (mine is running @ 51)