Windows becomes unstable after a couple of days

[math1985]

I usually don't turn my computer off, but let it hibernate. This never caused problems, but lately, everytime after about a week, Windows became unstable. Part of the text disappears from the screen, like some text from web pages and the text 'start' on the start menu. When I try to start programs, I get various error messages, like 'The application failed to initialize properly (0xc000012d)'.

When I close some programs, the system seems to work again for a couple of minutes, but then the problems start again.

(It might also occur when i do not use hibernate, but keep my computer on for a couple of days, but I didnt try this.)

It looks like Windows is running out of memory or running out of some other resource? How can i check which resource is exactly running out?

Physical memory is 458,224 kB, of which at the time of the problem about 84MB free and 114 MB system cache - not very different from the values during normal use.

Kernel memory during time of the problem is total 188 MB - a lot higher than during normal use. However, I don't know what kernel memory is, how to reduce it, and whether it might cause this kind of problems.

I am using Windows XP Home SP3. Processor is AMD Sempron 3000+.

Thanks in advance for any help!

[ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb]

Welcome to the Windows Forum.

You are right - memory is most likely the problem. Many applications "leak" memory when running a prolonged time, and recycling them is the only way to clean that lost memory up. One of these applications is Windows itself, so you also should reboot Windows from time to time - I do it about once a week.

To find which applications are accumulating "leaked" memory, check the Task Manager's Processes tab.

[math1985]

The strange thing is that a memory leak becomes not immediately obvious from the task explorer. The value at 'memory usage' at the bottom of the screen does not really seem to increase over time. Or is there another value I should look at?

[ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb]

The value at 'memory usage' at the bottom of the screen

Can you post a screen shot? I have never seen that 'memory usage' anywhere. Or, is Task Explorer something different from Task Manager?

[math1985]

Excuse me, I am using the Dutch version of Windows, and i made some translation errors.

I mean 'commit charge' instead of 'memory usage' (dutch: Geheugengebruik) and 'Task Manager' instead of 'Task Explorer' (dutch: Taakbeheer) .

[ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb]

Thank you; that clarifies it. (Actually the term 'Commit Charge' is rather misleading and unclear, in my opinion.)

Where you can see accumulating memory is on the right-hand side of each process listed. Some programs (e.g. Outlook, Firefox) can accumulate a lot of memory when running for a long time, and the same can happen with Windows processes or services that may or may not be listed in the processes list.

I personally have always advocated to restart Windows about once a week. On the other hand there are business computers that should not be restarted that often, but they are mostly server versions, which may be more stable than workstations.