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On Windows 8.1, the system was using a lot of RAM without me running any programs. I had 4 GB of RAM and upon startup almost 2.5 GB were already used. Following the steps described here Windows using too much RAM, how to diagnose resource hog, I have managed to update or uninstall several obsolete drivers, but still, the CM31 (Registry) processes and MmSt (?) keep taking a lot of RAM.

Here is a screenshot from poolmon: Here is a screenshot from poolmon

I suppose I could still work with the first five entries.

I have also used xperf, but it led me nowhere Xperf screenshot

What can I do about CM31 and how could I clear more RAM? Registry defragmentation didn't help. EDIT: Procexp overview

Joe Doe
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1 Answers1

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The memory usage of the CM31 tag is normal for Windows. To see how Windows uses the pool you need to install the Windows Performance Toolkit, which is part of the Windows 10 SDK (which also works on Windows 8.1).

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Now open a cmd.exe as admin and run this command:

xbootmgr -trace boot -traceFlags BASE+CSWITCH+POOL+REGISTRY+REG_HIVE -stackwalk PoolAlloc+RegHiveInit+RegHiveLink

This reboots Windows and captures the Pool usage during boot.

After Reboot make a double click on the generated ETL file to open the ETL in Windows Performance Analyzer (WPA.exe) and move Registry Hive graph to Analysis pane:

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Here you see which hives get loaded via CM31 tag:

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So Windows loads software, drivers, user registry hive and also a hive for application compatibility settings (C:\Windows\AppCompat\Programs\Amcache.hve).

To improve the performance of your PC, add more RAM, 4GB is really low end today, there are already Android phones which 6GB RAM. To improve boot speed replace the slow ST3250410AS drive with a SSD.

magicandre1981
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