Richard is correct, sidebar.exe is Microsoft's gadget tool for managing gadgets on the desktop. Sidebar.exe should never be using that much RAM. On most of my systems, it uses no more than 15MB of RAM.

If it is consuming more and more, then that suggests a gadget you use has a memory leak. If you want to troubleshoot that, try turning off your gadgets and see if the behavior goes away.

If you want to keep all of your gadgets and you still wish to restart sidebar.exe every now and then, I can either assist with writing a .BAT script or a Powershell script and provide instructions for setting it up as a hidden scheduled task so you don't have to see any windows pop up.

Greetings everyone,

I would like to thank everyone that has commented and/or made suggestions to figure out this anomaly. I have some great news... :)

UPDATE:
I have been watching my RAM usage creep up slowly since my last reboot. The system started out at about 26-27% usage with BOINC and Comodo IceDragon running. What is IceDragon you ask? It is a browser created with an older version of Firefox's open source code. I switched to it from Firefox because of a problem with my website in Firefox that I have not figured out yet. Go figure... :\

Anyway... My updated widget is currently showing 61% RAM usage. I looked at the processes tab in Task Manager and found out that something called 'sidebar.exe' is using a HUGE amount of RAM, 1,775,460K right now. I did a Google on it and evidently over time it uses more and more RAM.

There is a Blog I found where the guy running it created a batch file to do a scheduled restart of sidebar.exe to prevent the excessive use of RAM. Someone, another sysadmin, sent him an email that has created the same operation only doing it with a .vbs file. It eliminates the little black command prompt window from displaying.

I know absolutely ZERO about VBS. Any thoughts on how I can implement this scheduled restart of that annoying little RAM thief using that VBS file? I can copy/paste the VBS code if needed. Or, does anyone have any other thoughts about 'sidebar.exe' and what to do about it?

Keep on BOINCing...! :)

You don't need to know any visual basic scripting to schedule it to run. You can simply schedule it in Task Scheduler.
Located: Control Panel > All Control Panel Items > Administrative Tools > Task Scheduler

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SETI@home classic workunits: 93,865 CPU time: 863,447 hours
Join the [url=http://tinyurl.com/8y46zvu]BP6/VP6 User Group[

-[ snip ]-

If it is consuming more and more, then that suggests a gadget you use has a memory leak. If you want to troubleshoot that, try turning off your gadgets and see if the behavior goes away.

-[ snip ]-

Greetings OzzFan,

Before reading your reply, I shut down the BOINC gadget that I found just to see what would happen. The results were negligible. After reading your reply, I shut down another new gadget and an updated one, both from the same author. I looked at Task Manager's processes tab and saw no difference so I rebooted the PC. With only my calendar and clock gadgets running, sidebar.exe is at 19,... uh make that 20,080K. It has gone up since the reboot. The calendar and clock I have had running since the upgrade to Win7. I also had the CPU usage and a weather gadget running since the upgrade to Win7.

I delved a bit deeper into this 'sidebar.exe' anomaly. It seems that the fault is that program and not the gadgets. A gadget that uses an API in 'sidebar.exe' sets off sidebar's memory leakage. Here is a link to the blog post where I read about it. And here's a link to the fix-it-blog post that I found first.

Obviously it can be seen that I find the CPU usage gadget very, very useful. The BOINC gadget... Well, I can just whip up Manager to see what's up there. And the new weather gadget I found gives me more up-to-the half hour weather information. Beats getting up and lookin' out a winder. ;) I suppose I could use the exercise though. ;)

I don't want to use a batch-file-fix because it pops up the command prompt window. I'm more inclined to use the VBS-file-fix. I just need to know if I can use a text editor to type up the routine and also if I need something running on the PC to interpret the VBS file and execute it. Way back in the dark ages I wrote B.A.S.I.C. programs, but I have never dealt with VBS which, if memory serves correct, is a Microsoft thingy. Right? ;)

Anyway, enjoy the reading and thanks. :)

Keep on BOINCing...! :)

---

CAPT Siran d'Vel'nahr - L L & P _\\//
Winders 11 OS? "What a piece of junk!" - L. Skywalker
"Logic is the cement of our civilization with which we ascend from chaos using reason as our guide." - T'Plana-hath

I delved a bit deeper into this 'sidebar.exe' anomaly. It seems that the fault is that program and not the gadgets. A gadget that uses an API in 'sidebar.exe' sets off sidebar's memory leakage. Here is a link to the blog post where I read about it. And here's a link to the fix-it-blog post that I found first.

Note the date on that blog post from 2007, and his screen shots are from Vista. Is there any reason to believe that the bug Mark discovered is something that still exists in Windows 7? And if the bug still exists, why does it not exhibit on any of my machines running Calendar and Clock gadgets?

Though it may be possible that Sidebar.exe's bug never got fixed. Sidebar.exe is not used in newer versions of Windows after Windows 7. Microsoft has already announced that they are deprecating the feature as a major attack vector was found with the process when using third-party gadgets.

I don't want to use a batch-file-fix because it pops up the command prompt window.

That would be why I suggested to use the Task Scheduler. You can schedule tasks to run 'hidden', meaning they will not pop up any windows on your machine.

I just need to know if I can use a text editor to type up the routine and also if I need something running on the PC to interpret the VBS file and execute it.

Yes, you can use any text editor to write VBScript, which all versions of Windows support back to Windows 98. Any file with the .VBS extension will automatically be executed by the appropriate process (CSCRIPT.EXE).

Greetings,

Well, I'm pretty well certain that I found the widget that caused my problem, the BOINC widget. Sidebar.exe is right about where it was at yesterday after my reboot... without the BOINC widget running.

About that VBS file: I copied it into notepad, changed the encoding and saved it out to my HDD. I set up a schedule for running it just after midnight (while I'm getting my beauty sleep ;) ). It did not run last night because they had a wrong commenting character in it and I had no clue it was wrong. They had a ` character instead of a '. So I edited it and hope it will run properly tonight. If it works as advertised, I will run the BOINC widget just for GP.

I'll keep y'all posted... :)

Keep on BOINCing...! :)

---

CAPT Siran d'Vel'nahr - L L & P _\\//
Winders 11 OS? "What a piece of junk!" - L. Skywalker
"Logic is the cement of our civilization with which we ascend from chaos using reason as our guide." - T'Plana-hath

What is this "BOINC widget" you talk about? (Link where you get it?)

http://www.overclock.net/t/1553919/users-beware-of-boinc-widget

I just tested to Download "BOINC Monitor" from:
http:// www.myfavoritegadgets.info/monitors/BOINCMonitor/update.html

... and it gives 'Orange warning' in ESET NOD32 Antivirus:

HTTP filter
http://cdn.myfavoritegadgetscontent.com/c?x=Mfgn...........cA==&downloadAs=BOINCMonitorSetup.exe&fallback_url=http://www.myfavoritegadgets.info/data/wrong.html
a variant of Win32/InstallCore.ZC potentially unwanted application
connection terminated - quarantined
Threat was detected upon access to web by the application: ...\Browser\IronPortable\Iron\chrome.exe.


https://www.virustotal.com/en/file/3c4854109324edbab08e7eba246da1fb8b8c07e978d2ef33b351b8857e36abb9/analysis/

P.S.
Why do you need any "BOINC widget" when there is BoincTasks

I use Ctrl+` as hot-key to look at BoincTasks

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- ALF - "Find out what you don't do well ..... then don't do it!" :)
 

Good you figured out what was causing it . I have the Side bar going but not always showing . It is a good way to see what is happening on your computer but you do have to be careful with gadget and widgets , depends on who wrote them and where you download them from

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-[ snip ]-

P.S.
Why do you need any "BOINC widget" when there is BoincTasks

Why do you have that dumb Danasoft thing in your signature? I deliberately skip over your posts because I do not like seeing that thing, especially with the picture of Clinton. Why do you use BoincTasks when BOINC manager tells enough info? Why do you still use WinXP when Win7 and Win8 are newer. To each his/her own BilDg. Everyone uses what they are comfortable with/accustomed to.

I don't remember getting the BOINC widget. Until I looked at the description I had no idea where it came from. You certainly seem to have found the location and got yours. I am no longer using it.

Why yours caused a virus warning, I don't have a clue. It did not cause one for me.

C'est la vie...

Keep on BOINCing...! :)

---

CAPT Siran d'Vel'nahr - L L & P _\\//
Winders 11 OS? "What a piece of junk!" - L. Skywalker
"Logic is the cement of our civilization with which we ascend from chaos using reason as our guide." - T'Plana-hath

Good you figured out what was causing it . I have the Side bar going but not always showing . It is a good way to see what is happening on your computer but you do have to be careful with gadget and widgets , depends on who wrote them and where you download them from

Greetings Glenn,

Not always showing? I seem to remember Vista showing some kind of "window" on the right side of my laptop display. But I'm running Win7 on it now and on this machine and there is no visible "window". BTW, I bought a separate Win7 disk for the laptop, just to be on the legal side. ;)

The CPU Usage widget is a third party one, but it was in the list of widgets when I clicked the "Gadget" button on the menu. The BOINC widget... Don't remember getting it. The clock and calendar widgets are Microsoft, I would "assume" they are safe. ;)

Well, the VBS file generated an error again. Same thing, different character. I don't know how to generate the invalid character, but it was the fancy version of the ("). I also found another invalid character. Not sure what it was or even how to describe it. So once again I fixed the file and saved it. This time I brought up the command prompt window and manually ran the file. No error this time and it worked as advertised. It restarted sidebar.exe. WooHoo! :D

Keep on BOINCing...! :)

---

CAPT Siran d'Vel'nahr - L L & P _\\//
Winders 11 OS? "What a piece of junk!" - L. Skywalker
"Logic is the cement of our civilization with which we ascend from chaos using reason as our guide." - T'Plana-hath

Well, the VBS file generated an error again. Same thing, different character. I don't know how to generate the invalid character, but it was the fancy version of the ("). I also found another invalid character. Not sure what it was or even how to describe it. So once again I fixed the file and saved it. This time I brought up the command prompt window and manually ran the file. No error this time and it worked as advertised. It restarted sidebar.exe. WooHoo! :D

If you cut-'n'-pasted from a web-site you may have picked up Unicode or other characters that look like normal ASCII characters on the screen but are encoded differently. I sometimes encounter this when e.g. copying article titles from a journal's page to put in my publication list.

---

Well, the VBS file generated an error again. Same thing, different character. I don't know how to generate the invalid character, but it was the fancy version of the ("). I also found another invalid character. Not sure what it was or even how to describe it. So once again I fixed the file and saved it. This time I brought up the command prompt window and manually ran the file. No error this time and it worked as advertised. It restarted sidebar.exe. WooHoo! :D

If you cut-'n'-pasted from a web-site you may have picked up Unicode or other characters that look like normal ASCII characters on the screen but are encoded differently. I sometimes encounter this when e.g. copying article titles from a journal's page to put in my publication list.

Greetings Ivan,

Thanks. Yeah, I have run into this with other types of text. This was my first VBS text. When I saved it in Notepad, it told me to change the encoding and I did. I guess that wasn't enough... Go figure. ;)

Keep on BOINCing...! :)

---

CAPT Siran d'Vel'nahr - L L & P _\\//
Winders 11 OS? "What a piece of junk!" - L. Skywalker
"Logic is the cement of our civilization with which we ascend from chaos using reason as our guide." - T'Plana-hath

I have been reading this thread for some time now, and I have to say this.

It is NOT unusual for a computer to consume mass amounts of memory whilst booting.
It is not a problem, as long as it calms down and gets back to acceptable levels.

The boot process takes some time, and then settles down.
I can see some times when it reaches 99% and then ramps down as processes get underway.

Just now, I am at about 65% of total memory used.
And I have not rebooted in hours.

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

Why do you have that dumb Danasoft thing in your signature? ... especially with the picture of Clinton.

I don't know why you find it "dumb" ... and Hillary is the only woman they offer:
http://www.danasoft.com/

I don't remember getting the BOINC widget.

??? It can't appear by itself

You maybe got it from:
http://boinc.berkeley.edu/addons.php

Or more probably from here:
Your post: (18 Jun 2013) "I just updated to v9.07 BOINC Monitor."
http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/forum_thread.php?id=71808&postid=1382483#1382483

You certainly seem to have found the location and got yours.

If "got yours" imply I'm using widget/gadget - I'm not using any

Why yours caused a virus warning, I don't have a clue. It did not cause one for me.

Did you check the VirusTotal link?
Only 10 Antiviruses (of 57) detect this file.

Only if you use AVG, Comodo, DrWeb, ESET-NOD32, GData, Malwarebytes (and some others) this ad-ware will be detected.
If you have any other (e.g. Avast, Avira, BitDefender, Kaspersky, McAfee, Microsoft, Panda, Symantec, TrendMicro, ...) the file will be missed (Not detected)

From my previous post you can see I use ESET NOD32 Antivirus

(and again: I don't use "BOINC Monitor gadget", I only get it to scan it and then deleted the file (BOINCMonitorSetup.exe) without running it)

P.S.
"BOINC Monitor" gadget by Igor "Igogo" Bushin / myfavoritegadgets.info
is different program than BoincMonitor by eFMer (which is installed with BoincTasks)

---

 


- ALF - "Find out what you don't do well ..... then don't do it!" :)
 

Well, I'm pretty well certain that I found the widget that caused my problem, the BOINC widget. Sidebar.exe is right about where it was at yesterday after my reboot... without the BOINC widget running.

Now that you know the "BOINC Monitor gadget" is/was the culprit - can you change the name of this (your) thread? (i.e. do you know how?)

e.g. to something like:
Strange Memory Phenomenon When using "BOINC Monitor" gadget/widget
Strange Memory Phenomenon - Resolved: caused by "BOINC Monitor" widget by Igogo

---

 


- ALF - "Find out what you don't do well ..... then don't do it!" :)
 

Greetings everyone,

Since getting the VBS file to work, which included extending the timeout from 2 to 5 seconds, sidebar.exe is maintaining about 18,000K (18MB) memory usage. I would say that's about normal. I would also say that this was a successful venture in figuring out this anomaly. Thanks everyone for your input. :)

@ BilBg: I do not need the 'forum police' to tell me what to do in this forum. If you notice, I have been here a great deal longer than you have. I have a continuously running thread here in the Number Crunching forum starting back in 2004. I believe I know what I am doing here. So, I ask you: Would you stop treating me like I'm the newbie here?

Keep on BOINCing...! :)

---

CAPT Siran d'Vel'nahr - L L & P _\\//
Winders 11 OS? "What a piece of junk!" - L. Skywalker
"Logic is the cement of our civilization with which we ascend from chaos using reason as our guide." - T'Plana-hath

Good you figured out what was causing it . I have the Side bar going but not always showing . It is a good way to see what is happening on your computer but you do have to be careful with gadget and widgets , depends on who wrote them and where you download them from

Greetings Glenn,

Not always showing? I seem to remember Vista showing some kind of "window" on the right side of my laptop display. But I'm running Win7 on it now and on this machine and there is no visible "window". BTW, I bought a separate Win7 disk for the laptop, just to be on the legal side. ;)

I'm running windows 7 .

I have copy'ed some gadgets from windows Vista , some work some don't .

I have only used widgets on my Android phone .

To have gadgets Not always showing , all you do is right click anywhere on the background then click view tab then uncheck the show desktop gadgets .

This will allow the sidebar.exe to still run in the task manger but the gadgets are not actually running .

It means you will not have to restart each gadget every time you wish to see the gadgets .

All you will need to do is check/tick the show desktop gadgets and they all start up together . But when you start the computer they don't start up or will not be shown on the desktop until you wish them to , and they wont use cycles or slow Seti@home down, witch they can do when they are being shown on the desktop .

---

Good you figured out what was causing it . I have the Side bar going but not always showing . It is a good way to see what is happening on your computer but you do have to be careful with gadget and widgets , depends on who wrote them and where you download them from

Greetings Glenn,

Not always showing? I seem to remember Vista showing some kind of "window" on the right side of my laptop display. But I'm running Win7 on it now and on this machine and there is no visible "window". BTW, I bought a separate Win7 disk for the laptop, just to be on the legal side. ;)

-[ snip ]-

To have gadgets Not always showing , all you do is right click anywhere on the background then click view tab then uncheck the show desktop gadgets .

This will allow the sidebar.exe to still run in the task manger but the gadgets are not actually running .

-[ snip ]-

Greetings Glenn,

Ok, I tested this and sidebar.exe does indeed get removed when not showing the gadgets. I have Task Manager open and cycled through showing and not showing several times. Each cycle sidebar would leave, then come back then leave... Another thing I noticed is that when sidebar.exe is restarted it is using a little more RAM each time. Even if it is running as a background task, it should still show in Task Manager.

When I started this, sidebar was using about 17,000K RAM. Now it is using over 38,000K... Ok now it is over 39,000K. I'll be leaving here in a few minutes so I'll check on it when I get back to see if it has settled down. :)

Keep on BOINCing...! :)

---

CAPT Siran d'Vel'nahr - L L & P _\\//
Winders 11 OS? "What a piece of junk!" - L. Skywalker
"Logic is the cement of our civilization with which we ascend from chaos using reason as our guide." - T'Plana-hath

Siran d'Vel'nahr

Sorry i got that wrong yes it does dissapear from the task manager and comes back when you start it .

Mine uses 50 meg up to 54 and goes up and down .

However to understand what the sidebar is doing you will have to put up witch gadgets your using .

I don't think it's the sidebar but more likely a gadget that you are using that is causing it to use more memory .

Try the same thing again but only have 1 gadget going and do it for all the gadgets , that will tell you witch one mite not be working that well , they are problematic and why Microsoft has dropped them , to many hackers writing gadgets that do the wrong thing and testing them all would have been a real headace for them

---

Siran d'Vel'nahr

I just did a test .

when the sidebar starts up it uses 50 meg up 54 meg and i had Bionic going as one gadget is a older version of the Bionic monitor version 9.07

I then shut bionic down and wait a few minutes

The sidebar drop'd to 30 -34 meg . I open Bionic and wait , sidebar still says 34 meg aprox a few minutes later it goes up to aprox 45 meg .

After a few more minutes it settles at aprox 37 meg where it is now but it is going up and down min 30 meg max 54 meg so now you can compear what you have .

I do not start windows with the gadgets going i all ways close it before i restart it up

Oh i had trouble with the latest version of the Bionic Monitor , not the gadget as such but the website where i got the latest version plus it also has a add-on to it witch was written buy someone else that allows a hacker to compromise your browsers and Bionic account . It's the spyware and crap it loads into your system when you download it from the website that caused the problem not so much the add-on but the spyware and crap that uses it to compromise your Seti account and then you lose control of your browser as well .
If you wish to have it i can send you the older copy i have witch the original programmer sent me when i helped him and was testing it so i know there is no problem with the version i have . No crap added to it and does not have the add-on that lets you alter your cc and some other files from the gadget

I've add this part just in case you are using the latest version of that gadget and you got it from the website that is infected with all manner of spyware , add ware and crap .

It could be the reason your noticing the extra memory use . You wont see or be even able to find some of the crap that may infect your system . Even antivirus may not find so crap . You need a root kit to get rid of some off them or a complete re install of windows but i don't think that is your problem .

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Another thing to consider is the hard drive, bad sectors or a failing drive will also cause that same behaviour that you describe. Get the drive/s manufacturer's test software and test the drive with a long test.

Cheers.