Author Topic: StartWatch 0.5.0 Release Candidate 1  (Read 7714 times)

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Offline tinplate

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StartWatch 0.5.0 Release Candidate 1
« on: October 26, 2006, 03:41:35 AM »
http://www.softwx.com/windows/startwatch.html

Read release notes for all the changes.
Highlights:

Can use (and monitor) an already running instance of a program rather than start a new one.
Leak protection - can close and restart a program if its memory usage exceeds a user set threshold.
Alerts and logging plugged in.

Enjoy.

Steve
SoftWx

Offline FishDude

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RC 1
« Reply #1 on: October 26, 2006, 09:43:39 AM »
Loaded it up this morning, installed and started everything up as expected! Like the new memory monitor!

Offline W3DRM

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StartWatch 0.5.0 Release Candidate 1
« Reply #2 on: October 26, 2006, 12:07:00 PM »
Thanks Steve!

Have installed 0.5.0.8 RC1.

First observations:

    1- Log shows a VWS failure on every startup. This is probably because VWS seems to pause for several seconds while it is in the startup mode. Once started, though, it seems to run fine.
    2- No way to get to the "alerts.txt" and "log.txt" files except by using Windows Explorer. Would be nice to have a link to them directly from the StartWatch Menu.
    3- Question: How often does the VM Size (Mem) column update? I can see the Task Mgr VM Usage column changing but not a corresponding change of Mem in StartWatch.
    4- The values in the Mem column do not match what I see in the Task Manager VM Usage column (after conversion from KB to MB). Shouldn't they be the same? The are off by several MB's for all programs being monitored.
    5- Now able to get to the User Manual and ReleaseNotes files.
Don - W3DRM - Emmett, Idaho --- Blitzortung ID: 808 --- FlightRadar24 ID: F-KBOI7
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Offline tinplate

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StartWatch 0.5.0 Release Candidate 1
« Reply #3 on: October 26, 2006, 01:21:38 PM »
Thanks for the comments.

1. I'll have to try and duplicate this  There are two phases in hang detection. The first is the "Confirming" phase, and after a period of time (seconds) it goes to "Hung". I could bump that time, plus check that I don't use a shorter confirm time during startup.

2. Alerts can be viewed by clicking on the tab at the bottom of the window (there's a status tab - the default, and an alerts tab). Alerts are ordered with the most recent at the top. I'll add a view option for the log in the future (like VirtualVP and VPLive have now).

3. The VM Usage is checked internally at the frequency set in the Check frequency set per program. However, the display is updated every 5 seconds. This is to avoid excessive screen updating (relatively expensive in terms of CPU usage). since the memory values can change frequently.

4. As you probably know, you'd divide the TaskManager KB value by 1024 to get the MB displayed in StartWatch. For most programs, these values should match, but not always. Memory is a complicated topic in windows, and there is no definitive value for a program's memory usage. Although the counter StartWatch uses is not the exact same counter TaskManager uses to display VM Size, the two values should be close. What values are you seeing that don't match?

Steve

Offline W3DRM

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StartWatch 0.5.0 Release Candidate 1
« Reply #4 on: October 26, 2006, 09:05:28 PM »
Quote from: "tinplate"
Thanks for the comments.

1. I'll have to try and duplicate this  There are two phases in hang detection. The first is the "Confirming" phase, and after a period of time (seconds) it goes to "Hung". I could bump that time, plus check that I don't use a shorter confirm time during startup.

    I restarted several times today and each time it took at least two or three attempts to get VWS started. It would time-out each time while VWS was initializing.

Quote
2. Alerts can be viewed by clicking on the tab at the bottom of the window (there's a status tab - the default, and an alerts tab). Alerts are ordered with the most recent at the top. I'll add a view option for the log in the future (like VirtualVP and VPLive have now).

    DUH - I didn't think about looking in the Alerts tab...  :oops:

Quote
3. The VM Usage is checked internally at the frequency set in the Check frequency set per program. However, the display is updated every 5 seconds. This is to avoid excessive screen updating (relatively expensive in terms of CPU usage). since the memory values can change frequently.

    Makes sense. Thanks for the clarification!

Quote
4. As you probably know, you'd divide the TaskManager KB value by 1024 to get the MB displayed in StartWatch. For most programs, these values should match, but not always. Memory is a complicated topic in windows, and there is no definitive value for a program's memory usage. Although the counter StartWatch uses is not the exact same counter TaskManager uses to display VM Size, the two values should be close. What values are you seeing that don't match?

    Your explanation tells me why I wasn't seeing similar values in Task Manager. I was just moving the decimal point over so the value in Task Mgr was in MB rather than KB. (i.e., TM shows 66,544K and SW shows 64.98MB which is 66,544,000/1024). Amazing, the numbers match exactly when you do the math! I was not dividing the number by 1024. Thus, the differences I was seeing...


Thanks again for such a gREAT package! It is making my life much more enjoyable as I now don't have to constantly watch VWS to make sure it is still running. StartWatch does that for me tirelesessly, day and night - I can get some sleep now!! :lol:

As a suggestion, it would be nice to have an optional audible alert tone to let us know if one of the monitored processes is having problems...
Don - W3DRM - Emmett, Idaho --- Blitzortung ID: 808 --- FlightRadar24 ID: F-KBOI7
Davis Wireless VP2, WD 10.37s150,
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Offline tinplate

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StartWatch 0.5.0 Release Candidate 1
« Reply #5 on: October 26, 2006, 09:39:43 PM »
In the future I'd like to add alert options like email, sound, pop to the top...

Everybody has different preferences in how to be alerted without being annoyed.

I should have a bug fix release tomorrow or the next day that deals better with VWS's startup.

Steve

Offline Mark / Ohio

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StartWatch 0.5.0 Release Candidate 1
« Reply #6 on: October 26, 2006, 11:12:48 PM »
Steve,
Sent you an email reply regarding some more specific observations of the VWS issue I'm still having as well.

Anyone else here having trouble with WeatherLink minimization?  It worked once for me with the newest version but stayed full screen after that.  Just curious if I was the only one seeing that one.   :?:

Will be standing by for the next release.   8)
Mark 
2002 Davis VP I Wireless, WeatherLink (Serial), GRLevel3, VirtualVP, StartWatch, Weather Display, Windows 10


Offline Dragonfly

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StartWatch 0.5.0 Release Candidate 1
« Reply #7 on: October 27, 2006, 08:26:05 AM »
No problem here, at least not any more after I extended the delays. Only issue with the new release is port monitoring where the application does not restart after the port is reinitiated.

-Ingo

Offline tinplate

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StartWatch 0.5.0 Release Candidate 1
« Reply #8 on: October 27, 2006, 08:45:18 AM »
I should have a bug fix release later today (v. 0.5.1), with a minor feature addition or two.

The next major new feature addition to StartWatch will be to improve the hang detection so it also includes CPU usage in its logic. There are two main ways a program hangs: 1) it dies - no CPU usage and doesn't respond to windows messages, and 2) infinite loops - lots of CPU usage and doesn't respond to windows messages. There are other reasons too, but these two cover the bulk. By using CPU as part of the hang detection algorithm, StartWatch will be able to make better/safer determinations of when a program has actually hung.

Once I've added the CPU code for that, I'll probably add CPU % usage to the status display since I'll already have it handy.

I'm also thinking of adding something like "CPU Hog protection". You could set an option so if the program consistantly uses most of the CPU, StartWatch can close and restart the program, or lower its priority a notch so the program doesn't negatively affect the other programs in the system. Does this sound useful?

Offline kray1000

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StartWatch 0.5.0 Release Candidate 1
« Reply #9 on: October 27, 2006, 11:05:15 AM »
Quote from: "tinplate"

I'm also thinking of adding something like "CPU Hog protection". You could set an option so if the program consistantly uses most of the CPU, StartWatch can close and restart the program, or lower its priority a notch so the program doesn't negatively affect the other programs in the system. Does this sound useful?


Indeed, it does.  :D

Offline W3DRM

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StartWatch 0.5.0 Release Candidate 1
« Reply #10 on: October 27, 2006, 11:29:43 AM »
Quote from: "tinplate"
I'm also thinking of adding something like "CPU Hog protection". You could set an option so if the program consistantly uses most of the CPU, StartWatch can close and restart the program, or lower its priority a notch so the program doesn't negatively affect the other programs in the system. Does this sound useful?


Absolutely does as I'm still having problems with VWS gradually increasing its CPU Usage to around 98% over a period of 24 hours or so. Then, things start getting slow everywhere on my system...
Don - W3DRM - Emmett, Idaho --- Blitzortung ID: 808 --- FlightRadar24 ID: F-KBOI7
Davis Wireless VP2, WD 10.37s150,
StartWatch, VirtualVP, VPLive, Win10 Pro
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--- RIPE Atlas Probe - 32849

Offline Mark / Ohio

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StartWatch 0.5.0 Release Candidate 1
« Reply #11 on: October 28, 2006, 10:59:22 AM »
Quote from: "Mark / Ohio"
.....
Anyone else here having trouble with WeatherLink minimization?  It worked once for me with the newest version but stayed full screen after that.  Just curious if I was the only one seeing that one.   :?:
....


Update to that..
Now WeatherLink minimization is working every time for me since I posted that.   :oops:
Mark 
2002 Davis VP I Wireless, WeatherLink (Serial), GRLevel3, VirtualVP, StartWatch, Weather Display, Windows 10


 

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