I get an error message about missing export KERNEL32.DLL:GetDiskFreeSpaceExA in Kernel32.DLL. click here

On Windows 95b, I get an error message that says the file WS2_32.DLL could not be found. click here

The Network meter does not show any activity as I browse the web. click here

FreeMeter always reports that 95% to 98% of my physical memory is in use. click here

FreeMeter always reports that my CPU usage is 100%. click here

Does FreeMeter run on Vista? click here

Some or all of my meters have stopped working. click here

How can I make FreeMeter run as a service? click here

I have more than 2GB of memory. Why doesn't FreeMeter report it correctly?  click here

How do I get FreeMeter to run every time I boot my computer?  click here

How do I get file logging to work?  click here

What do I do if I get the error: "The dynamic link library SHLWAPI.dll could not be found"?  click here

I get an error message about missing export KERNEL32.DLL:GetDiskFreeSpaceExA in Kernel32.DLL.

You will get this error message if you are not running a supported version of Windows 95. When running under Windows 95, FreeMeter requires Windows 95 OSR2 (also called Windows 95b). That is the first version of Windows to support the GetDiskFreeSpaceEx function call that FreeMeter requires.

On Windows 95b, I get an error message that says the file WS2_32.DLL could not be found.

"ws2_32.dll" is a WinSock2 file. Newer versions of Windows should already have it installed. If you are running Windows 95 and have not applied any updates or service packs, then you probably need to download and run the following which will install the WinSock2 update for you:
   http://www.microsoft.com/windows/downloads/bin/W95ws2setup.exe

The Network meter does not show any activity as I browse the web.

On Windows 95/98/ME, the Network meter only shows traffic to/from the file server service. It will only show activity when you copy a file to/from a file server or, if your computer is setup to share folders, when someone else copies files to/from your computer to their computer. It does not show generic TCP/IP Internet traffic.

FreeMeter always reports that 95% to 98% of my physical memory is in use.

It appears that's just the way it is. The OS must include the memory allocated to the disk cache (which grows and shrinks in size depending on the amount of free memory) unlike it does with Windows NT. I have verified that the physical memory meters are displaying the numbers that get returned by the OS's GlobalMemoryStatus() function. The memory data displayed by FreeMeter does match the data displayed by SystemMonitor (which comes with Win98), they both display the same amount of Unused Physical Memory and closely match on total allocated memory.

FreeMeter always reports that my CPU usage is 100%.

I don't know why this happens. But you are not alone. I have seen this behavior on my own Windows 98 system. Other CPU monitoring applications, including the one Microsoft supplies with the operating system, also report continuous 100% usage when FreeMeter does. On my Windows 98 system, I can make CPU usage drop to 10% by simply moving the mouse around, but once I stop moving the mouse, it goes back to 100%. This has never been a problem with Windows NT/2000/XP, only the Windows 9x series. For information from Microsoft, view KnowledgeBase article Q227131.

Does FreeMeter run on Vista?

FreeMeter will run on Vista, but it requires administrative rights in order to access the performance data that it needs to run. If some of the graphs are empty when you run FreeMeter then you do not have full administrative rights. If your user account is already an administrator account you must do one of the following things to enable FreeMeter to run correctly:

• When you want to run FreeMeter, right click it and select "Run as administrator".

or

• Disable User Account Control (UAC). This will allow FreeMeter and everything else you run to run with full administrative rights. UAC is one of the big security features in Vista that can prevent malware from running on your system, but in order for an application to run with administrative rights all the time, you have to turn it off.
  1. Open the Control Panel.
  2. Under User Accounts select "Add or remove user accounts".
  3. At the bottom of the dialog, select "Go to main User Accounts page".
  4. Select "Turn User Account Control on or off".
  5. Uncheck "Use User Account Control (UAC) to help protect your computer".
  6. Click OK.

Some of my meters have stopped working.

There could be something wrong with the performance counter system on the computer. FreeMeter and Microsoft's PerfMon tool use the same performance gathering methods. If neither FreeMeter nor PerfMon can access the performance counters, then there is something wrong with the OS. Try the following to see if this is the problem:

• Run "PerfMon.exe" from Start => Run. Select any existing counters in the list box at the bottom on the PerfMon window and press the Delete key until all existing counters are gone and PerfMon is not graphing anything (the list might already be empty when you run PerfMon).

• Test CPU Meter: Click the "+" toolbar button, then select Processor for Performance Object and % Processor Time from the counters list (not Process time, Processor time), then _Total from the instances lists, then click Add then Close. That should add a CPU graph to PerfMon in a particular color. Does the % Process Time graph line reflect processor usage?

• Test Disk Meter: Click the "+" toolbar button, then select PhysicalDisk for Performance Object and Disk Bytes/sec from the counters list, then _Total from the instances lists, then click Add then Close. That should add a disk graph to PerfMon in a particular color. Does the Disk Bytes/sec graph line reflect disk activity?

If you can not follow the instructions above because the required values aren't in the lists or the graphs are flat, then there is a problem with the performance counters in your operating system. The following items may help you. Some of the articles say they are specific to Windows 2000, however, they also work on XP:

• There have been some reports that disabling your page file can break the performance counter system. If you have your page file disabled, try enabling your page file and then re-enabling performance counters (see below).
• When something goes wrong with a performance object, Windows will stop the performance object so that it won't do any harm. Most of the time you can simply restart the performance object. For instructions on doing this, look at Microsoft Knowledge Base article 248993 (this article works on Windows XP as well as Windows 2000).
• You can try running the two commands below from an account with Administrator privileges:
     unlodctr .NETFramework
     lodctr c:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v1.1.4322\corperfmonsymbols.ini
• You can view the status of your performance counters and enable/disable them using the exctrlst.exe tool from Microsoft. This tool is part of the Windows 2000 resource kit and can be downloaded here (this tool also works in Windows XP).
• You can manually rebuild your performance counter library values by following the instructions in Microsoft Knowledge base article 300956.

How do I make FreeMeter run as a service?

FreeMeter itself can not run as a service. However, there are other utilities that allow any application to run as a service. You can use one of these utilities with FreeMeter. You can use the "srvany" tool that ships with the Windows Resource Kit or you can try NT Service Launcher from Alixoft. Be sure to turn off the option that would allow FreeMeter to interact with the desktop.

I have more than 2GB of memory. Why doesn't FreeMeter report it correctly?

The Physical Memory and Page File meters in FreeMeter Professional work correctly on systems with more than 2GB of physical memory or more than 4GB of page file space. These meter will not display correct information in the non-Professional version of FreeMeter. For more information on the differences between FreeMeter and FreeMeter Professional, click here.

How do I get FreeMeter to run every time I boot my computer?

You have to put it into the Startup group.

Method 1: Using the right mouse button, drag and drop the FreeMeter application icon into the "Startup" group under the "Start" menu (while right-dragging, hold over the "Start" button until it pops open, then do the same for "Programs" and then "Startup", finally drop the icon into the "Startup" group).

Method 2: Right click an empty area of your task bar and select "Properties" from the pop-up menu. Activate the "Advanced" tab. Click the "Add" button and follow the on-screen instructions.

How do I get file logging to work?

File logging is supported in FreeMeter Professional-only.

There are two things that you need to do to get logging to work:

1. You have to be sure the settings on the Log Files pane of the Preferences dialog are correct for what you need.
2. You have to turn logging on for the individual meters that you want to log. If you go to the Meters pane of the Preferences dialog, you will notice that there is a Log column that shows the logging status of each meter. To turn logging on for a meter, edit that meter's settings and turn on "Log usage data to text file".

What do I do if I get the error: "The dynamic link library SHLWAPI.dll could not be found"?

FreeMeter requires SHLWAPI.DLL to run. If you do not have this file you can get it by installing Internet Explorer 4 or later. For the latest IE, click here.