Solved: Windows Memory Diagnostics in Vista Home Basic

[dustyjay]

I am running Vista Home Basic w/ SP1 on a Compaq Presario SR2168HM w/ 2Gb Ram. I launched Windows Memory Diagnostics from the Start Menu. it discovered no problems on 2 passes. Now the Memory Diagnostics resides in the System Tray permanently. I can not seem to turn it off. I have tried to find it in System Config, Services, and Programs and Features. I can find no where to turn it off so that it will not stay on the Systray. Can anyone give me a clue as to how to turn it off with out doing a reinstall of Vista. I did a System Restore to a time just before I ran Memory Diagnostics to no avail. TIA for any help. BTW I am somewhat new to Vista. I have only been running it on this Computer for about 2 or 3 weeks.

 

[crjdriver]

Dusty I do not have home so this is just a shot in the dark.
Have you checked the startup folder, registry, etc for the diagnostic app? Check both hkey current user and hkey local machine.

 

[unbidden]

It's a Vista bug....

Two things to try:
Go to the Notifacation Properties - In the Notifaction try right click, left click Properties, hide the icon.

or

Start the mem test again and cancel the scan.

 

[dustyjay]

I have checked everything mentioned except the registry. Wasnt too comfortable playing around in the registry with XP, and havent looked at the registry in Vista yet. TRied restarting Memory Diagnostics and it doesnt give the option to cancel scan. It allows you to stop the scan while it is running but not to disable it again. Funny how just trying something to see what it is all about will turn out so odd.

 

[crjdriver]

Dusty the registry is about the same as xp hkey local machine>software>microsoft>current version>run. Same for hkey current user. Check both.

Make a restore point AND export the reg keys before you do anything. That way it is easy to undo whatever happened.

 

[unbidden]

I have checked everything mentioned except the registry. Wasnt too comfortable playing around in the registry with XP, and havent looked at the registry in Vista yet. TRied restarting Memory Diagnostics and it doesnt give the option to cancel scan. It allows you to stop the scan while it is running but not to disable it again. Funny how just trying something to see what it is all about will turn out so odd.

Hitting the ESC key works for some.

 

[dustyjay]

I have been doing better than creating a restore point. I make an Image of my hard drive when I do anything drastic and at least 2 times a week anyway. And as soon as I can I am going to be adding a second External drive and making two separate images each time.

I browsed through the Registry and could find nothing related to Windows Memory Diagnostics. But I really havent spent enough time in there. So I will continue to look. Thanks for the help thus far. I am still new to Vista and learning quickly.

I also have my Windows XP image saved. Since I own the retail disc I can legally switch back and forth if I wish.

 

[dustyjay]

Finally success! I searched and found all incidences of Memory Diagnostics in the registry. I deleted all of them. No luck there. Everytime I restarted again Memory Diagnostics would again be sitting in my Systray. I searched through Processes in Task manager and stopped the Process everytime. I thought I had beat the thing, but nope there it sat every time I rebooted. Finally I went to Task Scheduler And violla! I deleted the task from Task Scheduler and it is gone fromthe systray. Not a running process either. Guess I know now not run it unless I really need to. And then i will run Memtest instead. Thank you for all your help attempts and for planting thoughts into my head.