Pushing the Limits of Windows: USER and GDI Objects – Part 2

Last time , I covered the limits and how to measure usage of one of the two key window manager resources, USER objects. This time, I’m going to cover the other key resource, GDI objects. As always, I recommend you read the previous posts before this one,…(read more)
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Pushing the Limits of Windows: USER and GDI Objects – Part 1

So far in the Pushing the Limits of Windows series, I’ve focused on resources managed by the Windows operating system kernel, including physical and virtual memory, paged and nonpaged pool, processes, threads and handles. In this and the next post, however,…(read more)
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The Case of the Slow Logons

Emails containing troubleshooting cases keep arriving in my inbox. I’ve received many cases that start with a seemingly unsolvable problem and end a few steps later with a solution or – often just as useful – a workaround. I’ve amassed several hundred…(read more)
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The Machine SID Duplication Myth

On November 3 2009, Sysinternals retired NewSID , a utility that changes a computers machine Security Identifier (machine SID). I wrote NewSID in 1997 (its original name was NTSID) because the only tool available at the time for changing machine SIDs…(read more)
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Channel 9: Inside Windows 7 Redux

Windows 7 hit general availability today, putting it in stores and on new PC’s. There are plenty of beneath-the-surface changes that make Windows 7 more power efficient, scalable, secure and responsive (and of course, there are lots of user-visible features…(read more)
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Recent and Upcoming Speaking Engagements

I wanted to update you on my recent and upcoming speaking engagements. First, I’ve been hosting a series of virtual roundtables for the Springboard Series program. Springboard’s purpose is to provide a one-stop resource for IT Pros evaluating, deploying and managing Windows. The most recent roundtable, which took place at the end of September, focused on virtualization technologies such as App-V, XP Mode, MEDV, and Remote Desktop Sessions, and… Continue reading

Pushing the Limits of Windows: Handles

This is the fifth post in my Pushing the Limits of Windows series where I explore the upper bound on the number and size of resources that Windows manages, such as physical memory, virtual memory, processes and threads:

Pushing the Limits of Windows: Physical Memory

Pushing the Limits of Windows: Virtual Memory

Pushing the Limits of Windows

The Case of the Temporary Registry Profiles

Microsoft Customer Support Services (CSS) is one of the biggest customers of the Sysinternals tools and they often send me interesting cases they’ve solved with them. This particular case is especially interesting because it affected a large number of users and the troubleshooting process made use of one of Process Monitor’s lesser-known features. The case opened when a customer contacted Microsoft support reporting that several of their users would… Continue reading

Pushing the Limits of Windows: Process and Threads

This is the fourth post in my Pushing the Limits of Windows series that explores the boundaries of fundamental resources in Windows. This time, I’m going to discuss the limits on the maximum number of threads and processes supported on Windows. I’ll briefly describe the difference between a thread and a process, survey thread limits and then investigate process limits. I cover thread limits first since every active process has… Continue reading

Pushing the Limits of Windows: Processes and Threads

This is the fourth post in my Pushing the Limits of Windows series that explores the boundaries of fundamental resources in Windows. This time, I’m going to discuss the limits on the maximum number of threads and processes supported on Windows. I’ll briefly describe the difference between a thread and a process, survey thread limits and then investigate process limits. I cover thread limits first since every active process has… Continue reading