Windowblinds eating up memory like a hungry hungry hippo

Is there any particular application in taskmanager showing a large amount of memory in use?

Why do you think WindowBlinds is using lots of memory?

Could you try seeing how much ram is in use directly after a clean boot with WB running and then set the skin to Windows Classic & reboot and see how much ram is in use without WB running.

If you compare the numbers from the processes tab, is there any application which seems to be using a lot more with WB.

Many 'plugins' have been doing that for eons.  I use Sysmetrix to see it all in percentages...

This is actually the "unused percentage of the CPU".

Another way to check performance http://support.microsoft.com/kb/873289/en-us 

If you click the "View Report" button after adding the percentage processor and percentage idle options for display, you will see a numerical percentage of both, which should add up to %100 total for both.

The percentage idle nemerical value is telling you the percentage of the processor that is "idle" or not in use.

The percentage processor numerical value is telling you the percentage of the processor being that is "active" or in use.

You want the idle number to be a higher numerical value, and the processor number to be a lower number.

Note - this test only reflects the processor active and idle percentages, and does not indicate amount of RAM being used up.

For an easy overall RAM check, you can perform a boot into the default "Luna" theme with no other customizations loaded, and then look in "System Information" (Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > System Information).

The System Summary page will give a value of "Total Physical Memory" and "Available Physical Memory". If you subtract the Available from the Total, you will have the current memory used by the default theme.

You can then load programs and use the changed values to deduce the amount of RAM being used by the loaded programs. This should give you an idea of whether the additions of specific programs are grabbing a lot of memory, or if it simply adds to an already limited amount.

Task Manager just shows the individual values, but System Information is sometimes a better way to see the overall picture on memory use during normal operation. Task Manager is great for tracking a process that is hogging memory.

Sorry if this is just too basic, but I find the combination of System Information and Task Manager a good way to grasp the memory issue.

Sorry, drop the "being" from that sentence.

A couple of notes:

1 - Even with normal programs open (i.e., web browser, e-mail program, word processor, etc.) when performing the test via the link in #15 above, you should see the "percentage processor" at "0" and the "percentage idle at "100" if you do not move the mouse pointer, and the programs are not attempting to check for e-mail, updates, or saving files during the test. If you move the mouse pointer around while looking at the numerical report, you should see the "percentage idle" drop into the "90's" and the "percentage processor" move up the same amount lost from "100" in "percentage idle" - I hope that makes sense.

This is normal, and indicates a healthy use of the processor.

If on the other hand you have those basic programs open, with no checking for e-mail, updates, and saving of files during the test, and the percentage processor is above say "5" or "10" - you have something else going on in your system.

2 - If using System Information\System Summary page to see RAM (A.K.A. Physical Memory) use, you can load programs and then use the "View menu > Refresh" command to update the "Available Memory" and then do the math.