Windows 10: Runaway memory usage

My Dell desktop just started acting wonky. The fan speeds up and slows down frequently. I thought that might be caused by overgrown dust on the CPU heat sink. But no. It's quite clean.

I looked at task manager (I prefer the old Win 7 version) and it shows runaway memory usage, seen here:



There's 16 GB RAM installed. At startup the usage shows around 3 or 4 GB. But usage creeps up and up and up over 15 minutes or so. When it finally gets to around 15.5 GB the system freezes. No kb, no mouse. Hard restart required.

AVG regular scan found the Nir Tools "Browser Password" viewer. Quarantined. (But that's not been running and is surely not the problem.)

The AVG boot-time scan took a long time ... and found nothing.

I switched to my wife's login. Same result: memory usage keeps going up.

CPU usage is also nasty:



I'm not doing anything on this box right now except using Chrome to view Ten Forums.

The process list shows this, sorted by memory usage:



I'm not accustomed to seeing "Memory Compression" in there. I wonder about that.
Sorting by CPU usage ... 72% idle, 13% AVGSvc, 13% explorer.
I don't know why explorer is using so much. It's usually mostly doing nothing.

What's to be done? I can use the computer for maybe 20 minutes before it hangs. And in the time I wrote this post the usage rose from 9.4 GB to 12.4 GB. So I have to shut down soon.

What must I do?

Edit: I run Macrium backup every weekend, saved to an external 8 TB drive. Last full save was about a week ago, with daily small backups (incremental or differential? can't remember).

On boot I get a choice of Windows 10 or Macrium recovery. I presume the latter can be used to recover. But I've never used it and I don't know how to.

I'd prefer to fix things as is. But if a Macrium recover is necessary I'll do that, with your kind assistance.

:)

 

SPOCJS memory leak / runaway process on Surface Pro 2

Me Too... runaway SPOCJS with max CPU and Memory usage and heat and fan running. I discovered that changing my Cover made it runaway. I have the Type Cover, Power Cover and Touch Cover. I also found repeated rebooting, and sometimes full shutdowns and
restart seemed to clear the problem, as long as I didn't swap Covers while running, or in standby, or hibernation. It seems fine with a different cover from startup from a full shutdown position. I haven't been having problems since going with a full shutdown
to change the Cover.

 

100% Memory usage

Hi,

Thank you for posting your query on Microsoft Community.

You might be facing this issue due to several reasons like low virtual memory, third party software conflicts, virus threat on the computer etc.



Even though no programs or applications are running, some background services can show memory usage and disk usage. In order to check which particular program is using the memory, I would suggest you to check the Task manager.



Refer to these steps:

1. Press Windows key + X, select
task manager.

2. Click on the ‘Processes’ tab and it will show you show you a list of programs and services running and their corresponding memory usage and disk usage.

3. Check if any of the item listed is consuming more memory or disk usage than normal.



I suggest you to try the following steps and check if this helps.

You need to increase the virtual memory by making it equivalent to your RAM size for the initial size and twice of the initial size in maximum size and make sure you have the same amount of free space in your hard drive
in each drive.



To do this, follow the steps:

1. Go to Control Panel (Press Windows key + X)> All control panel items > System

2. Click on Advanced system settings.

3. Under Performance, click on settings

4. Go to Advanced tab

5. Under Virtual memory, click on Change

6. Un-check "Automatically manage paging file size for all drives" check box

7. Select your windows drive (where OS is installed)

8. Click on Custom size radio button

9. Set Initial size equivalent to your RAM size in MB

10. Set Maximum size to twice of your RAM size in MB

11. Click on Set

12. Click on OK thrice

13. Restart your system

Hope this information was helpful and do let us know if you need further assistance. We will be glad to assist.

 

100% disk usage and memory usage

Hi,

100% disk usage and memory usage can be caused by a software corruption, running application running on the background and malware or virus infection.

For us to properly isolate the issue and provide an appropriate resolution, kindly answer the questions below:

• Did the issue happen after installing the Fall Creators?
• Did you receive any error messages?
• Can you send us the screenshot of the Task Manager showing the 100% disk usage and memory usage?
• What troubleshooting steps have you done so far?

For isolation purposes, please perform a clean boot to see if the same issue will occur. Refer to this
article for more information on how to perform a clean boot
in Windows.

Looking forward to your response.