Use Performance Logs and Alerts in Windows XP

Aug 5, 2006 06:41 GMT  ·  By

If interested, you can see how your processor is acting measured in time even without some fancy software. To do this, you can take advantage of a counter present in Performance Logs and Alerts, which is available in Microsoft Windows XP.

First of all, what is the processor time?

Processor Time is the percentage of elapsed time that the processor spends to execute a non-Idle thread. It is calculated by measuring the duration of the idle thread being active in the sample interval, and subtracting that time from interval duration. (Each processor has an idle thread that consumes cycles when no other threads are ready to run). This counter is the primary indicator of processor activity, and displays the average percentage of busy time observed during the sample interval. It is calculated by monitoring the time when the service is inactive and subtracting that value from 100%.

How to configure new log setting

Right click on My Computer and select Manage. The computer management window will emerge. Select Performance Logs and Alerts subcategory under System Tools category. Here there are three options available: Counter logs, Trace Logs and Alerts. To do the task access Counter Logs by right clicking it. Select New Settings and in the New Log Settings window type the name you want to give to the job. Now the Log window will appear displaying three tabs: General, Log file and Schedule. So, we want to monitor the processor.

For that click Add Object and select the target computer (it is not limited to local computers, you can add a network computer as well) and from the Performance objects list choose Processor. Click Add and then close the window. It will be displayed like this: SoftpediaProcessor(*)* in the counters list. Now click Add Counters and select %Processor time counter from the list. Click Add and then close the window. You can also modify the time interval of the sample data. The default interval is set to 15 seconds.

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In the next tab, Log files, you can select the file type for this log: Text, Binary or Sql Database. Select Binary and click Configure button next to it. In the new window type the folder where the file will be saved (the default folder is C:PerfLogs) and the base name of the file. You can also provide the maximum size of the file but I don't believe this is a problem. In the Schedule tab users can select when the logging task should start and end, providing the exact time and date.
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All these setting being fulfilled, check the folder where you've targeted the log file. There you will find a binary log file. Double click on it and?there you are! A new window, called Performance, will appear displaying a graph that expresses the processor activity. The green line will go up and down according to your processor activity on a 100% scale. Moreover, by selecting the properties button, you can choose to view the information as graph, histogram or report, and you can give a name to the graph by selecting the Graph tab.
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