Excessive memory usage

[DrJay]

I'm using Windows 2k Server with a gig of ram, Winamp version 5.093 and only have 64 songs.

Sometimes when I'm listening to music I'll leave the house for a few hours without turning winamp off. When I come back I won't be able to open more than 2-3 IE windows at a time. When I check in task manager I see that Winamp is taking up usually about 80-130meg of ram. If I try to end the process it will lock my computer but if I simply quit Winamp (which performs fine) it'll quit and free up the ram with no problems.

When I first start Winamp it only takes about 7meg. If I hit the 'Next' button and browse through the songs quickly it'll only jump to about 11meg and stay there. I can't replicate the problem unless I leave it running for several hours. None of the songs I have are over 4min long and only a few meg in size.

Is this a common issue with Winamp or probably just something weird with my comp?

On a side question, is there any way to up the buffer for streaming music? My internet is a bit shaky and I don't care to listen live as long as the songs don't skip and freeze up.

Thanks!

[jmatthews112]

Take a look at http://www.inthegray.com/winampunlimited/like_the_wind/ for more information on how to conserve memory usage. [is slightly outdated, but main site is down atm]

-Use classic skins
-Stay minimized
-Cut down on the number of input, general purpose plugins.
-and more....

Upping the buffer for streaming music depends on what type of file you are trying to play.

For NSV (Media Library Streams):
Preferences > Plug-ins > Input > Nullsoft NSV Decoder

For MP3:
Preferences > Plug-ins > Input > Nullsoft MPEG(Layer1...) > Streaming tab

For OGG:

Preferences > Plug-ins > Input > Nullsoft Vorbis Decoder > Streaming tab

Hope this helps, jmat

[siebe83]

Originally posted by DrJay
When I check in task manager I see that Winamp is taking up usually about 80-130meg of ram. If I try to end the process it will lock my computer but if I simply quit Winamp (which performs fine) it'll quit and free up the ram with no problems.

That shouldn't happen...
Are you using any 3rd-party plugins?
Was this a clean install of 5.093?


Are you actually playing songs during those hours, or is Winamp not used at all? Using visualization plugins (eg. AVS, MilkDrop)?

Please provide additional system specs.

[DrJay]

Wow, thanks for the quick and informative responses. You guys really know your stuff.

I've just updated winamp as I went along. I always installed it to the same directory when winamp is not running. Thought that was the point of an 'update', but I'll try removing everything and installing from there.

Yes the files are playing while I'm away. I don't have any plugins, just the basic install. I don't use any of the included visualizations either.

I started winamp and left it running when I posted the first time, right now I'm up to 26.7meg of ram used.

I've attached the HijackThis log file.

[jmatthews112]

Viruses/dialers:
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [explorer] explore.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\RunServices: [explorer] explore.exe

Safe to remove:
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [QuickTime Task] "D:\Program Files\QuickTime\qttask.exe" -atboottime
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [TkBellExe] "D:\Program Files\Common Files\Real\Update_OB\realsched.exe" -osboot
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [DU Meter] C:\Program Files\DU Meter\DUMeter.exe
O16 - DPF: {56336BCB-3D8A-11D6-A00B-0050DA18DE71} (RdxIE Class) - http://software-dl.real.com/02682b82...p/RdxIE601.cab

Run a virus scan, AdAware and Spybot.

Using HJT, place a check next to any entry that still exists following each of these scans.

Post a new log afterwards.