iexplorer memory usage

I have been observing very high memory usage while using iexplorer. I spend a
lot of time on the wsj (Wall Street Journel) website and on Google's
financial page. Either way I see memory consumption rise somewhat rapidly (30
or 40 minutes). My notebook has 512MB of RAM. I have seen memory usage by
iexplorer go as high 1GB over time. It went so high that OS notified me that
it was expanding my SWAP space to deal with my memory usage. There appears to
be some nesting going on iexplorer that in my opinion is excessive. Is anyone
else observing this condition?
--
totally_confused

Nope.

Malicious software ("malware") could be installed on your computer.

Make sure that your anti-malware software is running, then download the
latest signatures and run a full scan.

Comprehensive anti-malware software scans for all types of malicious
software in the background, on demand and on schedule. If you don't have
comprehensive anti-malware software, you're a sitting duck.

For now try scanning your system with /several/ of the better online
scanners, such as:
Kaspersky Antivirus (http://www.kaspersky.com/virusscanner)
Panda ActiveScan (http://www.pandasoftware.com/activescan)

Download HijackThis from www.trendsecure.com. Run it, save a log, and
post the log at one of the many sites that support HJT, such as
spywarewarrior.com, bleepingcomputer.com, and http://aumha.net -- but
not here. Within a day you'll have step-by-step advice from an expert on
cleaning up any malware infestations.

---
Leonard Grey
Errare humanum est

totally_confused wrote:
> I have been observing very high memory usage while using iexplorer. I spend a
> lot of time on the wsj (Wall Street Journel) website and on Google's
> financial page. Either way I see memory consumption rise somewhat rapidly (30
> or 40 minutes). My notebook has 512MB of RAM. I have seen memory usage by
> iexplorer go as high 1GB over time. It went so high that OS notified me that
> it was expanding my SWAP space to deal with my memory usage. There appears to
> be some nesting going on iexplorer that in my opinion is excessive. Is anyone
> else observing this condition?

totally_confused wrote on Wed, 21 Jan 2009 13:11:01 -0800:

> I have been observing very high memory usage while using iexplorer. I
> spend a lot of time on the wsj (Wall Street Journel) website and on
> Google's financial page. Either way I see memory consumption rise
> somewhat rapidly (30 or 40 minutes). My notebook has 512MB of RAM. I
> have seen memory usage by iexplorer go as high 1GB over time. It went
> so high that OS notified me that it was expanding my SWAP space to
> deal with my memory usage. There appears to be some nesting going on
> iexplorer that in my opinion is excessive. Is anyone else observing
> this condition?
> --
> totally_confused

Try visiting the site in No Add-ons mode and see if it does the same thing.
If not, then you've got an add-on installed that is leaking memory or is
using the memory in an inefficient (possibly caching everything in the page
as it changes without taking into account available RAM), and you'll need to
turn off all add-ons an enable each one in turn leaving IE on that page and
monitoring memory usage until you find the culprit and can
remove/permanently disable it.

Run IE in No Add-ons either from the icon (it's under Accessories > System
Tools in XP), or by going to Start > Run and typing the following:

iexplore.exe -extoff


Personally I run IE7 with IE7Pro and a few other add-ons and I've rarely
seen the memory usage much over 100MB, and even then that's only when I've
got a lot of tabs open with complex pages.

--
Dan

I use Norton, but tried panda for a different outcome. Panda found nothing
new - only cookies, nothing serious. So, I'm still looking. And, thank you
for your help.
--
totally_confused


"Leonard Grey" wrote:

> Nope.
>
> Malicious software ("malware") could be installed on your computer.
>
> Make sure that your anti-malware software is running, then download the
> latest signatures and run a full scan.
>
> Comprehensive anti-malware software scans for all types of malicious
> software in the background, on demand and on schedule. If you don't have
> comprehensive anti-malware software, you're a sitting duck.
>
> For now try scanning your system with /several/ of the better online
> scanners, such as:
> Kaspersky Antivirus (http://www.kaspersky.com/virusscanner)
> Panda ActiveScan (http://www.pandasoftware.com/activescan)
>
> Download HijackThis from www.trendsecure.com. Run it, save a log, and
> post the log at one of the many sites that support HJT, such as
> spywarewarrior.com, bleepingcomputer.com, and http://aumha.net -- but
> not here. Within a day you'll have step-by-step advice from an expert on
> cleaning up any malware infestations.
>
> ---
> Leonard Grey
> Errare humanum est
>
> totally_confused wrote:
> > I have been observing very high memory usage while using iexplorer. I spend a
> > lot of time on the wsj (Wall Street Journel) website and on Google's
> > financial page. Either way I see memory consumption rise somewhat rapidly (30
> > or 40 minutes). My notebook has 512MB of RAM. I have seen memory usage by
> > iexplorer go as high 1GB over time. It went so high that OS notified me that
> > it was expanding my SWAP space to deal with my memory usage. There appears to
> > be some nesting going on iexplorer that in my opinion is excessive. Is anyone
> > else observing this condition?
>

In deed, you are on to something. I disabled add-ons and the problem has gone
away. Now the hard part - finding the bad guys and taking the appropriate
action. Thanks again.
--
totally_confused


"Daniel Crichton" wrote:

> totally_confused wrote on Wed, 21 Jan 2009 13:11:01 -0800:
>
> > I have been observing very high memory usage while using iexplorer. I
> > spend a lot of time on the wsj (Wall Street Journel) website and on
> > Google's financial page. Either way I see memory consumption rise
> > somewhat rapidly (30 or 40 minutes). My notebook has 512MB of RAM. I
> > have seen memory usage by iexplorer go as high 1GB over time. It went
> > so high that OS notified me that it was expanding my SWAP space to
> > deal with my memory usage. There appears to be some nesting going on
> > iexplorer that in my opinion is excessive. Is anyone else observing
> > this condition?
> > --
> > totally_confused
>
> Try visiting the site in No Add-ons mode and see if it does the same thing.
> If not, then you've got an add-on installed that is leaking memory or is
> using the memory in an inefficient (possibly caching everything in the page
> as it changes without taking into account available RAM), and you'll need to
> turn off all add-ons an enable each one in turn leaving IE on that page and
> monitoring memory usage until you find the culprit and can
> remove/permanently disable it.
>
> Run IE in No Add-ons either from the icon (it's under Accessories > System
> Tools in XP), or by going to Start > Run and typing the following:
>
> iexplore.exe -extoff
>
>
> Personally I run IE7 with IE7Pro and a few other add-ons and I've rarely
> seen the memory usage much over 100MB, and even then that's only when I've
> got a lot of tabs open with complex pages.
>
> --
> Dan
>
>
>