HOWTO: Use Visual C++ 32-bit Edition with Working Set Tuner

• Microsoft Visual C++ 32-bit Edition, versions 1.0, 2.0, 2.1, 4.0, 5.0

The Win32 SDK provides a utility called the Working Set Tuner (WST). This tool analyzes the amount of system memory resources that an application is using (known as the application working set) and repacks the code to minimize the working set. This minimizes memory demands and improves performance.

There are several things required when building an application that is to be analyzed with WST. These requirements can be found in the WST documentation; however, the WST documentation fails to mention that the /DEBUG:MAPPED switch must be passed to the linker. This is in addition to the other linker options mentioned. The oversight was probably made because the SDK linker uses this switch by default.

The linker included with Visual C++ for NT does not use the /DEBUG:MAPPED switch by default. In fact, the /DEBUG:MAPPED switch is not included in the Visual C++ documentation because it is not required by any of the tools included with Visual C++. However, this switch is supported by the Visual C++ linker and must be used if the application is to be tuned using WST.

Keywords          : TlsMisc
Version           : WINNT:1.0,2.0,2.1,4.0,5.0;
Platform          : NT WINDOWS
Issue type        : kbhowto