How To Avoid And Fix Memory Leaks In Windows 10

You might have encountered issues with computer performance, potentially causing memory leaks. Various software can slow down your computer if it leaks memory (when a program fails to 'release' memory it has used). By default, a closed program should allow other software then to use that same area of memory. If, however, the program is still using the memory having been closed, that is where memory leak problems begin.

A memory leak is a Random Access Memory (RAM) loss caused by one or more programs. Therefore, a specific program is using more memory than it should, or it is not releasing it when the program closed, and continues to use the memory. A certain amount of RAM is required for a process to run, and this is perfectly normal, unless the system starts to behave abnormally. Memory leaks are usually only temporary, since restarting the computer empties RAM memory. If, however, the computer remains switched on with various processes running in the background, some processes might cause memory leaks.

Edit Registry

Windows Registry, usually referred to as just 'the registry', is a collection of databases of configuration settings in Microsoft Windows operating systems. It is used to store much of the information and settings for software programs, hardware devices, user preferences, operating system configurations, and much more. Many of the options exposed in the registry are not accessible elsewhere in Windows. To open Registry Editor, you will first need to open Run dialog box. Press Windows Windows key + R or right-click Start and select "Run" and type "regedit". Press Enter or click "OK".

NOTE: Create a restore point before you make any changes in Windows Registry (editing the Registry incorrectly can lead to more serious problems).

Follow this path by expanding every entry until you find the "Ndu" key: "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services". Find "Ndu" key under Services and select it. Now you should see the "Start" REG_DWORD on the right pane. Double-click it and assign the value data to 4. Click "OK" to save the changes.

Now find the "Null" key under the same Services key and double-click "Start" REG_DWORD. Also set its value to 4 . Click "OK" to save the changes.

Now follow this path: "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Session Manager" and select the "Memory Management" key. Double-click the "NonPagedPoolSize" REG_DWORD on the right pane. Change Base to "Decimal" and set value data to 192. Click "OK" to save the changes, exit Registry and see if memory leak problem is now solved. If not, try to restart your computer after editing the Registry.

Disable Superfetch

Superfetch is a Windows service that is intended to speed up application launching and improve system responsiveness. It caches data so that it can be immediately available to your application. Superfetch achieves this by preloading frequently-used programs into RAM so that they are not required to be called from the hard drive. This can sometimes affect performance and slow down the system, or cause memory leaks. To disable Superfetch, open the Run dialog box and type "services.msc". Press Enter on the keyboard or click "OK".

Now set the "Startup type" to "Disabled" and stop the service by pressing the "Stop" button. Click "Apply" to save the changes, restart your computer, and check if this solves the memory leak problem.

Run Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool

Run the built-in Windows Memory Diagnostic tool. Windows Memory Diagnostic is a memory test tool, which is comprehensive and easy to use. To launch it, type "windows memory diagnostic" or "mdsched" in Search and click the "Windows Memory Diagnostic" result.

To run diagnostics, restart the computer. You will be asked if you want to restart now or to run it the next time you start your computer. When you restart the computer, Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool will start automatically. You will be able to see the test process and results on the screen.

Defragment Your Hard Drive

A built-in Windows feature called "Defragment and Optimize Drives" optimizes drives to help the system run more efficiently (or analyzes them to determine if they require optimization). To launch the defragmentation tool, type "defragment" in Search and click the "Defragment and Optimize Drives" result.

You will see a list of drives connected to the computer. Select the hard drive you want to defragment and click "Optimize". The optimization process should take a while. Wait for it to finish.

NOTE: We do not recommend that you defrag your drive if it is a Solid State Drive (SSD) or Hard Disk Drive (HDD).