MCSA/MCSE Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-270): Installing ...

Lesson 2 Using the Performance Console
19-21
If you discover a bottleneck on your computer, here are some basic suggestions to help
you solve the problem:
■ If paging values are high (meaning that Windows is transferring pages of information
from physical memory to disk more than you would expect), identify processes
that are using the most memory. To do this, use the Processes tab of Task
Manager and sort by the Mem Usage column. Stop any unnecessary applications
or processes, and consider disabling the underlying service. For example, if a program
running in the background uses a lot of memory and it is a program you do
not really need, disable the program from starting with Windows.
■ If you see high processor utilization, see if you can determine which applications
are consuming the most processor time. To do this, use the Processes tab of Task
Manager and sort by the CPU column. If you do not need an application that is
consuming processor time, close the application. If an application seems to be
consuming too much processor time for a long period (in other words, not just
when the program is starting up or performing an intensive process), there might
be a problem with the application. Stop the application and start it again, or restart
the computer and then restart the application. If the application continues to consume
excessive amounts of processor time, there might be a problem with the
application.
■ If you continue to see high processor utilization, and the programs consuming the
most processor time are programs you use regularly, you should consider upgrading
to a faster processor.
■ If you have programs consuming processor time that are multithreaded programs,
consider installing a second processor. You can often gain more effective speed
with a dual processor configuration than with a faster single processor.
■ If you see high processor utilization, but do not discover that programs are consuming
too much processor time, you should use System Monitor to check the %
Interrupts value. It is possible that a malfunctioning piece of hardware is trying too
often to interrupt the processor.
■ If you see a high disk queue value, but do not see high paging file use, the bottleneck
is more likely a slow hard disk than low memory. Consider adding a faster
disk.
■ Never make more than one change at a time when trying to resolve a bottleneck,
and always repeat monitoring to verify that the change you made actually
improved the situation.