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Asked: 2026-06-10T18:29:34+00:00

I have an application that consist of multiple components, each compiled into single DLL,

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I have an application that consist of multiple components, each compiled into single DLL, each runs multiple thread within itself. I have a shell program that start up these components.

I am running this application on a window CE 6 environment and this is the only program (aside from those of system) on it. However, over time I see that the allocated memory usage slowly increasing when I look at the task manager window. Suspect my program may have a memory leak I do the following.

I go to a specific component and create a Timer object that runs every 30 minutes that calls the following code:

long memByte = GC.GetTotalMemory(false);
Console.Write("Heap Memory: " + (memByte/1000).ToString() + "KB");

From reading around the internet I think GetTotalMemory basically gives me the total manage memory of the system. If my program does not have a memory leak issue then I suspect overtime I would get some type of flat line when I graph out the result. Otherwise I will see a slow increase.

My question is, does GetTotalMemory actually gives me the total manage heap memory of all application or does it give only specific heap that is being used by the current component where this code is running from?

Thank you,

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    The task manager is showing you different info that GC.GetTotalMEmory. It’s quite possible to make an app that has a GC.GetTotalMemory that flat lines, but slowly runs the device out of memory and crashes.

    GC.GetTotalMemory is only looking at the GC heap, not at allocated virtual or physical memory. P/Invokes and native allocations outside the GCHeap are going to be transparent to the GC.GetTotalMemory call, which is why it’s a fairly useless call for trying to determine if you’re actually leaking.

    The GC Heap can grow and/or shrink at times without making any calls at all to the OS memory manager, in fact it’s pretty common for it to do so. The GC grabs large chunks at a time from the OS, then divides that into smaller blocks as the app requires GC heap memory.

    P/Invoke GlobalMemoryStatus if you want to track the actual OS allocation that you see ovr in the Control Panel of the device.

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