Unloading Dlls from memory

[hougtimo]

Hi,

I am sure that most of you here will be familiar with this registry tweak:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer]
"AlwaysUnloadDLL"=dword:00000001

My question is, does it actually speed things up. I have no doubt it does delete all your unwanted DLLs from memory - but are they there for a reason anyway. I have heard some people say this tweak actually slow things down because if those particular DLLs are needed again they have to be re-loaded.

What do you all think?

Thanks

HougTimo

[Zxian]

Generally not a good idea.

You hit the nail right on the head with "if those particular DLLs are needed again they have to be re-loaded." If the particular DLLs are not needed, then Windows will automatically remove them from memory as needed.

Unused memory is wasted memory.

[hougtimo]

I had a gut feeling it might be like that, again, thanks for the clarification

[Ophiel X]

this is an ancient windows setting and isn't even used by windows anymore.

xp is already smart about unloading dlls

[IcemanND]

xp is already smart about unloading dlls

I'd use the word SMART with the product XP very lightly, sometimes it can be very slow at unloading unneeded DLL's

[Zxian]

But why should it jump to the gun to start unloading dlls from memory? If you've got memory to spare, you might as well use it.

[arfett]

If you wish to disable this entry you can just switch the value of "Default" to 0, right?

[T D]

@arfett No, if it's on 0, it will keep dlls in memory. Unless you want that. Btw if you want to keep it in memory, just leave it as-is.

[arfett]

That's what I meant. I've had it on 1 for over a year throughout my installs and just needed to know if setting it to 0 will disable the function of the key.

[i'm not ophiel]

the setting does NOTHING no matter what you set it to. it's bloody ancient.

[T D]

@"person who's not ophiel " It is ancient, not always works. True. But you don't notice anything if you have 256mb Ram +

Edited July 1, 2006 by T D

[Camarade_Tux]

Guys, no need to wonder whether it is efficient or not!.

Important This registry key is no longer supported in Microsoft Windows 2000 or later.

source : http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?...kb;en-us;196480

and,

Unloading the DLL

The Shell automatically unloads a DLL when its usage count is zero, but only after the DLL has not been used for a period of time. This inactive period might be unacceptably long at times, especially when a Shell extension DLL is being debugged. For operating systems prior to Windows 2000, you can shorten the inactive period by adding the following information to the registry.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE

Software

Microsoft

Windows

CurrentVersion

Explorer

AlwaysUnloadDll

from : http://windowssdk.msdn.microsoft.com/en-us...y/ms649579.aspx

And in fact I'd like these guys outside to calm down. France won. OK, now is time to sleep.

Edited July 1, 2006 by Camarade_Tux