Norton Internet Security / Norton AntiVirus

[TooStrong]

Just updated to NIS 2011 18.5.0.125 from NIS 2010 and I have a question

Under Settings,

Miscellaneous settings,

Performance Monitoring,

High usage alert for,

Handles is turned off by default

What exactly does "handles" mean and should I have it on or off?

Thanks Kevin

[PC_confused Super Phishing Phryer]

TooStrong - It might not be of very much use, but here is what the help section says about handles:

Handles

When this option is turned on, Norton Internet Security detects and notifies you about the increased usage of handles by any program or process. A handle is a pointer that enables a program to access or identify a resource. By default, this option is turned off.  Now all we need is for someone to explain what the help section means..

[TooStrong]

At least you found the definition in the help section. I couldn't even find that. I am still confused though.

[Bombastus · Accepted solution]

Handles are integer values that identifies a process to Windows. They are involved in a huge number of operations all the time, and a program using a large number of handles isn't necessarily a bad thing. Having Norton warning about it would probably give you more grief than it's worth, from a lot of false warnings. It is not something the average user has to worry about. Personally, I turn off the entire Performance Monitoring right away. It is not accurate, and gives warnings for programs I [b]want[/b] to use a lot of resources. When I play Crysis 2, I don't want Norton complaining about the game using a lot of CPU. Of course I want it to use all the CPU power it possible can.

[TooStrong]

Thank You

[xxJackxx Spyware Scolder]

I enable this. It actually helped me find a program with a leak that was opening 2 new handles every second. Such a program will evetually use all of your resources and crash the machine.