Debugging Tools to Diagnose a Memory Leak

Debugging and diagnosing a memory leak or an OutOfMemoryException can be a daunting and challenging task. Fortunately, there are a number of tools to help; some of these are "paid license" apps, but there are even more tools that are free. There is a little bit of irony here; IMHO, the better tools are the free ones...

Free Tools

• Windows Task Manager: taskmgr.exe. Make sure to make the following columns visible:
• Memory - Working Set
• Memory - Private Working Set
• Memory - Commit Size
• Threads
• Handles
• USER Objects (if WinForm app)
• GDI Objects (if WinForm app)
• Windows Performance Monitor: perfmon.exe
• Process Explorer (SysInternals)
• VM Map (SysInternals)
• Debugging Tools for Windows (WinDbg, SOS, Kernel Debugger, etc.)
• Microsoft Debug Diagnostic Tool (DebugDiag)
• Psscor2 - WinDbg debugger extension for ASP.NET 2.0, 3.5
• Psscor4 - WinDbg debugger extension for ASP.NET 4.x
• SOSEX from Steve Johnson (.NET 2.0, 3.5)
• SOSEX 4 from Steve Johnson (.NET 4.x)
• IISInfo - WinDbg debugger extension (included with DebugDiag)
• Microsoft Application Verifier
• CLR Profiler 2.0 (good for finding heap fragmentation)
• CLR Profiler 4.0 (good for finding heap fragmentation)
• Windows Performance Toolkit (xperf)

Licensed Tools

• RedGate Ants Memory Profiler
• Micro Focus DevPartner Studio (formerly Compuware)
• SciTech .NET Memory Profiler
• AQ Time Pro

Hope this helps!