Windows Performance Monitor is a great tool that built into
Windows to monitor the system performance. The majority of users using Windows
Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Delete) to check the system performance like CPU
Usage, Memory, etc. but the Windows Task Manager has its own limitation. If you need a tool to check
and monitor Windows and program performance, then I suggest using the Windows
Performance Monitor.
With Windows Performance Monitor you are able to observe the system routine in real time as well as from a log file (previously recorded computer performance data). You can store log data for later analysis by making a Data Collector Set. A Data Collector Set is an organized multiple data collection points and it includes three different types of data:
With Windows Performance Monitor you are able to observe the system routine in real time as well as from a log file (previously recorded computer performance data). You can store log data for later analysis by making a Data Collector Set. A Data Collector Set is an organized multiple data collection points and it includes three different types of data:
Performance counters
are a measurement of operating system or individual
program activities.
Event trace data
is a collection of operating system or
individual program actions or events that made available by trace providers.
Output of various trace providers called Trace Session.
Configuration Information
is a collection of recorded
Windows registry key values at a specified time or as part of a log file.
Performance Monitor tool
To open the Windows Performance Monitor in the Start search box
or Run type perfmon and hit the Enter key.
When the Performance Monitor window
opened, from the left panel and under the Monitoring Tools, click on the
Performance Monitor to see the performance of Windows current activity as a graph with detailed information.
You can change the graph type by selecting its option from the toolbar at the top of the graph. You can change it to Histogram bar or the Report view from
its default value Line.
The graph you are seeing in this section is the same
graph that you can find in Windows Task Manager with more information for further analyze.
To view a Log data click on its icon on the top of the graph.
In the Performance Monitor Properties you can choose the Current activity or
select a particular Log file that you created before. A log data is a collection of data that shows you
the Windows Performance or condition. It holds the Windows recording events so
you can use to analyze and diagnose the Windows problems. To know how to create
a Log file continue reading this article.
To add Performance Counters for analyzing or test, from the toolbar you
have to click on plus sing (+).
Performance Counters are objects that contain
data for individual task or application. You can use Counters to examine the performance of certain Windows tasks, components or program like Processor
performance, TCP/IP, Ports, etc. In the Add Counters window from the Local
computer or Local network or Home Group, choose the counters that you want to
see their performance and click on Add button and then OK the window. You can add a single counter or multiple counters for analyzing. The Windows
Performance Counters can be categorized into four categories:
Processor Performance Counters
Memory Performance Counters
Disk Performance Counters
Network Performance Counters
Another feature that Performance Monitor offers you is to
monitor a remote computer. From the menu bar select Action and then Connect to
another computer. In the Select Computer window, enter the remote computer name
or browse it from the list and click on OK.
How to create Data Collector Sets or Log File
A Data collector Set is a set of Windows performance reports
that can provide you historical report for the system's collection sets that gives you advanced information about system resources like CPU or RAM. It is an ordered data collection points combined in a single component
for further analyzing of Windows performance. As I said before it can be contains
Performance Counters, Configuration data and Trace Providers. A Data Collector
Set can be created manually, from a template or from an existing set.
Create a Data Collector Set Manually
1. Expand the Data Collector Sets from the left panel and
right-click on User Defined. In the drop down menu, select New>Data
Collector Set.
2. In the next window, give a name for your collector set,
choose Create manually (Advanced) and then hit the Next button.
3. Now select Create data logs and tick Performance counter,
Event trace data and System configuration information options and click on the
Next button. It is not necessary to pick all the three options, you can select any one of them that you want to study.
4. In the next window you have to select the Performance Counters. Then Interval time and units, for this tutorial I have chosen TCPv4 and time interval 15 seconds.
After selecting the desired performance counter or counters (you can select as
many as you want) hit the Next button.
5. Next window is for choosing the Event Trace Providers
that can be used for testing activities and system events. They usually
installed at the time of installing the Windows operating system, but they can
be installed as a part of non-Microsoft application also.
6. Finally select the Registry Key or Configuration Data.
Add the registry key that you want to track in this section. You have to enter the exact key for tracking a particular key.
7. Click on the Next button to go to the next step to set
up the Root directory location to save the Data Collector Set. Enter or browse
the directory you want to save your data or leave it at its default value and hit the Next button.
8. Last step is to save and finish the Data Collector Set. You
have three options, Open properties, Start this data and Save and close. If you
choose the first option, the Data Collector Set Properties window will be open
in case you need to modify it again before you finish the process. The second
option will save the data and immediately run the Data Collector Set. The last
option will save it without running the collection. Select any option you want
and finish the process.
9. To start a User Defined Collector Set, expand the Data
Collector Sets>User Defined and click on the Data Collector Set that you
have created before. Then from the toolbar click on the Start button.
10. Wait till the process gets finished, as I have set my
data collector set 1 time interval for 15 seconds, so I should wait at least for
15 seconds. To see the result and performance, expand the Reports>User
Defined and then select your user defined collector set to check its report as
a graph with detailed information.
Windows Performance Monitor is a great tool to check the
system performance and for diagnostic the Windows problems and it gives the ability to explore system resources and applications performance like CPU performance,
Memory usage, Network and many more.