what is runtime broker, and why does it use so much memory?

Question

in task manager there is process called Runtime Broker. and it uses over 600 MB of my ram. putting my average usage at 60% on my 4 gig laptop. not noticed any performance issues yet. just a lot memory being used. makes me think of windows vista almost bc it had same issue in past. it would use all system resources.

Answer 1

Sorry - it was only 01.45 in India - it was so late here, I started getting East and West mixed up!

Unfortunately, upgrading to the latest version of Norton Internet Security has not fixed this problem. Having left my PC running overnight (as I usually do) I found that Runtime Broker was using 1,160MB of memory when I turned on my monitor this morning and a total of 3.1GB of my physical memory is reported as committed by task manager - that's with nothing but task manager and mail open!!

I tried disabling Norton Smart Firewall a few minutes ago but Runtime Broker is still grabbing more memory, up to 1,194MB now. To be honest, this issue is really annoying me now. It's obviously a really badly implemented process. It reminds me of the bad old days when leaving automatic updates running on Windows XP would see your RAM gobbled up by the update process over a period of time.

I'm going to try contacting Microsoft via their live chat support facility but the last time I did that (for another issue) the girl wanted to use the system refresh facility which would have wiped all my applications out. As I told her, if that was what I wanted to do, I would have performed a clean install in the first place and not an upgrade.

I'll let you know if I find anything else out but so far I have only found this thread and one on social.technet - with questions from people experiencing similar problems but no answers :(

Answer 2

Late at night? it must be 04.45 where you are, you madman :)

I have just been talking with a support rep from Norton, who informed me that NIS 2012 is not compatible with Windows 8 (neither is Norton 360-2012). He offered to upgrade it to NIS 2013 for free by remote connection so I let him do all the work...but it means I cannot try what you suggested - well I could but I will see if the problem has been solved with the upgrade first.

Runtime Broker is steady at around 115MB right now. I'll keep an eye on it tomorrow and let you know if the problem has been solved. You might want to upgrade yourself if it's free? I am guessing they know that there are issues as they immediately told me 2012 was not compatible with Win8

Answer 3

Though it may only be working for me, try this:

Disable your Norton firewall (and switch to your windows firewall) and check the status of runtime broker over a period of time. For me, turning off Bitdefender's firewall has reduced runtime broker's memory usage to quite an extent.

Uninstalling the antivirus is a probable solution (but I have already purchased mine) :-/

Answer 4

:D Its late night here as well (India). :p Confirm it by re-installing Norton, and monitor runtime broker as you re-install.  

After installing, try disabling your Norton firewall (enable the windows firewall if you wish) and monitor the process again. I have noticed that with my Bitdefender firewall turned off, runtime broker seems to be a little moderated (max memory usage of around 350 MB).

Answer 5

Hmmm....Well it's only been a few minutes but I have Word and Opera opened in desktop and mail, messaging, photos and finance apps open in start menu view. Runtime broker is only using 7.2MB of memory - it was never anywhere near that low when Norton was running so it could well be the cause of my problem. I'll report back tomorrow (late at night here in Thailand now).

Cheers