Access Performance Monitor by entering the PERFMON command at the server's Run prompt. When Performance Monitor opens, several counters (mechanisms that Performance Monitor uses to measure some individual aspect of the server's performance) will already have been loaded. Click the X icon repeatedly until all default counters have been removed. You can now load new counters by clicking the + icon.
Individual counters are organized into performance objects, which are simply categories under which Performance Monitor counters are stored. From hereon, I will refer to individual counters in performance object/counter format. For example, Processor/% Processor Time refers to the % Processor Time counter found in the Processor performance object.
To detect a memory leak using Performance Monitor, monitor these counters:
1.The Memory/Available Bytes counter lets you view the total number of bytes of available memory. This value normally fluctuates, but if you have an application with the memory leak, it will decrease over time.
2.TheMemory/Committed Bytes counter will steadily rise if a memory leak is occurring, because as the number of available bytes of memory decreases, the number of committed bytes increases.
3.The Process/Private Bytes counter displays the number of bytes reserved exclusively for a specific process. If a memory leak is occurring, this value will tend to steadily rise.
4.The Process/Page File Bytes counter displays the size of the pagefile. Windows uses virtual memory (the pagefile) to supplement a machine's physical memory. As a machine's physical memory begins to fill up, pages of memory are moved to the pagefile. It is normal for the pagefile to be used even on machines with plenty of memory. But if the size of the pagefile steadily increases, that's a good sign a memory leak is occurring.
5.I also want to mention the Process/Handle Count counter. Applications use handles to identify resources that they must access. If a memory leak is occurring, an application will often create additional handles to identify memory resources. So a rise in the handle count might indicate a memory leak. However, not all memory leaks will result in a rise in the handle count.