GDI count normal?

Hi, I’d like to know what everyone else’s GDI counts are for CFP. My count is 1439 right now, which is abnormally high in my opinion. I usually only get that kind of number with Opera and many tabs open.

It wouldn’t be such a big problem if it wasn’t for the fact I’m on a laptop and it seems my max GDI count is closer to 5000 instead of 10000 (blame nvidia and dell).

Please post your counts so we can compare :slight_smile:

(to see GDI count, go to your task manager, then go to “view” and “select columns” There pick “GDI Objects” Then take a look in the Processes tab.)

For cpf.exe, my GDI count is 1791. This is ridiculously high especially considering that its GUI is not even open. I do not have its GUI window displayed and yet CFP continues to keep this huge count of resources. Rather than actually close the window and operate the GUI as a headerless interface or provide a separate program to access the settings, logs, etc., it appears Comodo just hides the window so all those GDI resources remain consumed. Anti-virus, other firewall, and other security products run a separate GUI program to provide GUI access to the application. Apparently not Comodo.

I installed Comodo only yesterday. I check today and my GDI count is 2319. This is starting to look unpleasant.
I like other aspects of Comodo, so if someone could bother to fix this problem it would be nice.

Sorry don’t mean to sound stupid but what exactly is GDI?

Okay, I’m looking to get some kind of official answer on this, though I’m already convinced it is impossible.

If it could be done it would offer a fix for the GDI problems I am having. Another free firewall actually works like this though it is not as fully featured (need to pay for that).

Maybe Comodo being free means we have to accept sloppy/inefficient resource management? Since, if it was a pay product, people may reconsider their options among the other pay products?

Ah, sorry to rant, I just feel cheated now that it’s installed and maybe I have to remove it again because it’s turning out to be another Norton :frowning:

To turn off the GUI, just kill cfp.exe. The firewall functionality itself is in the service cmdagent.exe. If you need to make changes, turn it back on again. Don’t understand your resource comment, though. Currently the two of them are cruising along at 4.5K under Vista.

Check here for a nice explanation.

My quick & simple explanation:
GDI = Graphics Device Interface.
When a process draws its userinterface and other graphical elements it uses up GDI objects. There is a theoretical limit of 10.000 objects per process. On some systems, however, this limit may be lower due to driver constraints etc.
For example, on my laptop, if I let Opera’s GDI usage get too bloated, it will interfere with some of my other graphics applications - like Acrobat and some image viewers (including Paint). The global limit is in the vicinity of 65.000 but realistically I doubt most you will see stable behaviour should you ever approach that limit.

Far from being an expert, I can only speak of the consequences I have seen resulting from wasting GDI resources, and it leads me to desire a prudent and frugal approach to this valuable resource in the applications I use.

My desktop system is okay with pushing high GDI counts (though I’m not happy about it). But my laptop, despite having fairly nice specs, suffers when GDI usage creeps too high.

When I say “resource” I mean GDI usage. It’s abnormally bloated. Cpf.exe currently uses 7580KB ram (which is fine) and 2316 GDI objects (which is ridiculous).

Cmdagent currently uses 11012KB, which is okay too I guess.

I’m using Windows XP SP2 with all updates shy of SP3. Only other active security software is Nod32 and Sandboxie (though I have ASquared and SAS installed too).

I got 925 with 6 CFP windows open. 725 with the GUI closed (only the tray icon). Windows XP SP2.

OK, I am using 856 GDI objects at the moment. So what, other than liking to count things that don’t matter? I am still at 4.5K private memory.

Honestly speaking why are people worried about this unless you have a junk pc. I can surf the internet with Firefox,download music with Frostwire,chat on Yahoo Messenger and listen to music on the web via Winamp all at the same time. Also Comodo 3.0 and Avira running in the back round and no slow downs.

my comodo say:

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Honestly speaking why are people worried about this unless you have a junk pc. I can surf the internet with Firefox,download music with Frostwire,chat on Yahoo Messenger and listen to music on the web via Winamp all at the same time. Also Comodo 3.0 and Avira running in the back round and no slow downs.

The amount of GDI objects DO matter, especially on systems that cannot push the “theoretical” limit of 9999 objects per process. I am currently using 2319 objects for CFP.exe.

I have no clue how to have such low memory usage. Perhaps you could share your setup information. My system is fairly typical and I’m using double memory you are (though, like I said, the memory issue is no big deal for me).

Maybe YOU don’t worry about GDI usage, because your system (like my desktop) is fine with a high count. But SOME systems, like my laptop from where I’m writing this, cannot deal with super high numbers.

So, if I count these numbers it is because I -need- to, and I would appreciate your understanding in this instead of implying I’m just here to bitch.


Btw, my laptop is a core2duo with 2GB of memory and nvidia graphics card. Not a piece of junk at all, and I use it for both heavy photoshop and 3d work.

I am NOT talking about slowdowns. I am talking about “GDI Object” usage. Which can lead to instability on certain systems, like my laptop.

Vettetech it has nothing to do with “slowdowns.” This is an issue of resource usage that can lead to instability.

ONE process alone can cause instability in your whole system, even if your rig is blazing fast with ultra amounts of memory. It’s an issue with the OS and your display drivers, and unfortunately simply pumping more CPU and RAM at the problem won’t make one bit difference.

Im sorry I don’t understand your problem Is your computer running slow? Is it locking up? Are you getting error messages? I have a Dell laptop WOW edition and I run Comodo 3.0 and Avira all the time with no issues. I can game for hours on my latop and Comodo causes no problems. This is my laptop.I also have a desktop running Comodo. If its that much of a bother how about trying another firewall.

http://www.dell.com/html/global/topics/gaming/en/us/us/dhs/enchanter.html

Opera is running about 2000 gdi objects because of the tabs. But I am not about to shut it down. Low resource memory usage seems to be a Vista artifact, don’t know why. The 10000 GDI object limit is per process, so I don’t worry about it much. I don’t worry much about the 65536 total GDI object limit either. :slight_smile:

I know. Why worry unless your pc is crashing. Cant worry about whats not happening. Its like driving a convertible and not having the top down cause it might rain. Worry about the rain when it starts.

Per some testing for sessions under Terminal Services on Windows 2003, the maximum handles per session (not process) is 16384 after which the session becomes unstable and can lockup. Some claim there is a realistic maximum of 64K handles per session but few get that high before the system halts or crashes. According to:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/327699/en-us
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/838283/en-us

Windows XP has a default limit of 10,000 user handles per process. The maximum number of handles available for GDI and USER objects more often restricts how many concurrent applications you can have running than the physical RAM available. Haven’t you ever noticed that after opening dozens of instances of IE, Word, and various other applications that eventually you cannot open any more programs (with windows) although you still have plenty of free memory available?

Although my 1791 GDI handle count is well under the 10K default maximum per process, I forgot to check the user handle count. That is, I should have not just added the GDI column to Task Manager in its Processes panel but also added Handles and User Objects. So I don’t know what was the aggregate handle count for that process. However, just the GDI count was nearly 20% of the maximum … and for no good reason since no windows were displayed at the time (i.e., there was no GUI for CFP when I checked the GDI count). CFP is not releasing its handles when its UI is closed. Maybe they want it to show up immediately rather than have to wait for a separate program to load to provide the UI.

Even if you don’t consider the GDI count to be high, what other processes do you have running that consume anywhere as many as CFP? Probably the worst offender is Internet Explorer (I haven’t tested FireFox) because of its known GDI leakage problem (which was supposed to be corrected in a hotfix but I don’t know if it is available via Windows Update yet). However, it’s not like the leakage must remain a problem during the entire time Windows is running. When you exit IE, all those handles get dropped. While IE used to be the worst offender, CFP is coming in close at 2nd place.

G’day,

Interesting thread. Thanks for starting this.

  1. CFP loaded (present in system tray) prior to opening GUI : USER - 453 GDI - 623
  2. CFP loaded after opening GUI and doing nothing else : USER - 455 GDI - 627
  3. CFP loaded after opening GUI and after opening and closing “Firewall Events” : USER - 456 GDI - 629
  4. CFP loaded after opening GUI and after opening and closing “Firewall Events” a second time : USER - 456 GDI - 629

Note : no decrease after closing a child window, but no increase on second or subsequent opening of the same window. This holds true for all child windows - initial increment on first opening, but no decrease on closing and no further increase on further openings.

  1. CFP loaded after opening GUI and opening and closing ALL child windows at least twice : USER - 497 GDI - 645

It’ll be interesting to see the range and variance in other users experiences.

Dontcha just love a memory management schema with Alzheimers? :slight_smile: 88)

Ewen :slight_smile: