How to monitor system performance & usage for <time> on Windows 10. [Performance Monitor]

[Vitalius]

This is actually a little bit of work, so I imagine some "easy to use" program exists that does this, but this is how you do it with Performance Monitor in Windows 10.

 

We will be using "monitoring RAM for 1 day" as an example, but this can be used to monitor basically anything.

This will store the data as a log that you can graph or read later.

1. Press Windows Key + R
2. Type "perfmon" and hit enter.
3. Expand Data Collector Sets.
4. Right Click User Defined > New > Data Collector Set.
5. Name the Data Set (in our case, RAM 1 Day) and check Create manually.
6. Check Performance Counter.
7. Click Add... > Go to and select Memory (no need to expand it) > Click "Add >>" > Click OK.
8. Change Sample Interval to your preference (I recommend 60 seconds). Note that the smaller the interval, the larger the log file will be. A 2 second interval will be twice the log size of a 1 second interval. But storage is cheap, so if you store the log file on a large drive, go for 1 second.
9. Choose the path where you would like to save the Logs (along with the name of the folder they will be in).
10. Select Open properties for this data collector set > Click Finish.
11. Click Add by Keywords > Type Memory (this is just for record keeping & searching, not necessary at all).
12. Go to Stop Condition > Check Overall Duration > Change to 1 Day > Check Restart the data collector set at limits under Limits > Check Duration and set for 1 Day. (This is what will have it make separate reports for each day) > Click Apply.
13. Right Click RAM 1 Day under User Defined under Data Collector Sets > Click Start.

Once a day has passed, this is how you see the Report.

1. Go to Performance Monitor.
2. Expand Reports > User Defined > RAM 1 Day then click the report (usually named your PC's name + the date + the log number).
3. The window should fill with a graph showing everything.
4. Uncheck everything you don't want to see by: Highlight all things you don't want to see > Right Click > Hide Selected Counters.
5. When reading the graph, note the scale. For example, if I have Available MBytes showing, and it's scale is 0.01, and it's at 62 on the graph, I should multiply 62 by 100 (because 100 * 0.01 = 1), so I have 6,200 available Megabytes. This allows multiple things that are orders of magnitude separate to be counted and shown on the same graph.

If you want to see a Report before the day is over, Right Click the Data Collector Set and click Stop. Wait a moment, then go view the report. 

 

Example:


Alternatively, if you just want a generic "System Performance" log that covers everything from CPU to Network packets to RAM to Storage performance etc etc, there's a template under Data Collector Sets > System > System Performance that you can just hit "Right Click > Start" then check later. Just be sure to change the duration in it's Properties as the default is 1 minute.

This gives a nice HTML-y looking view in the window with tables and stuff. You can even save the report as a .html file and view it in a browser. Very cool.

Examples:

 

You can even modify the logs to be written in Binary, SQL, CSV file, or Tab Separated file.

 

[SansVarnic]

Nice.

Well done. Good info for those that don't/haven't used it.

I use this myself every once in a while, but still use basic monitors you find like rain meter, cpuz, and other stuff for day to day glances.