Hi MeatyMeatpuppet,

Here are few steps which might help you to fix the issue.

Step 1: Perform Clean Boot:

Boot the computer in Safe Mode; you can start Windows 7 by using a minimal set of drivers and startup programs. This kind of startup is known as a "clean boot." A clean boot helps eliminate software conflicts.

Perform clean boot and check if you have the issue.

   1. Click Start, type msconfig in the Start Search box, and then press ENTER.

      User Account Control permission: If you are prompted for an administrator password or for a confirmation, type the password, or click Continue.

   2. On the General tab, click Selective Startup.

   3. Under Selective Startup, click to clear the Load Startup Items check box.

   4. Click the Services tab, click to select the Hide All Microsoft Services check box, and then click Disable All.

   5. Click OK.

   6. When you are prompted, click Restart.

   7. After the computer starts, check whether the problem is resolved.

After you determine the startup item or the service that causes the problem, contact the program manufacturer to determine whether the problem can be resolved. Or, run the System Configuration Utility, and then click to clear the check box for the problem item. If you find out which application or the service is causing the issue, then I suggest that you disable the service and check.

Note: Please ensure that the computer is set to start as usual by following the step 7: Reset the computer to start as usual, from the article: How to troubleshoot a problem by performing a clean boot in Windows Vista or in Windows7: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929135.

Step 2: Perform Virus Scan

If the issue still persists, then I suggest that you perform a virus scan on the computer, you may also perform the online virus scan from the link: http://safety.live.com

You may run Performance troubleshooter as well.

Open the Performance troubleshooter: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Open-the-Performance-troubleshooter

---

Thanks and Regards:
Swathi B - Microsoft Support.

Visit our Microsoft Answers Feedback Forum and let us know what you think.

This is sooo not the answer to this problem.  It is a microsoft service that is eating the ram.  Nothing else.  There is no virus.  This is a flaw with the  WMPNetworkSVC .  

Hi,

Were you able to get the system memory usage down? I understand WMPNetworkSVC is needed for sharing media files over LAN. Is there a way to get the memory usage down without stoping this service? (me using HP G42 laptop with Win7 Home Basic )

Hi MeatyMeatpuppet,

Here are few steps which might help you to fix the issue.

Step 1: Perform Clean Boot:

Boot the computer in Safe Mode; you can start Windows 7 by using a minimal set of drivers and startup programs. This kind of startup is known as a "clean boot." A clean boot helps eliminate software conflicts.

Perform clean boot and check if you have the issue.

   1. Click Start, type msconfig in the Start Search box, and then press ENTER.

      User Account Control permission: If you are prompted for an administrator password or for a confirmation, type the password, or click Continue.

   2. On the General tab, click Selective Startup.

   3. Under Selective Startup, click to clear the Load Startup Items check box.

   4. Click the Services tab, click to select the Hide All Microsoft Services check box, and then click Disable All.

   5. Click OK.

   6. When you are prompted, click Restart.

   7. After the computer starts, check whether the problem is resolved.

After you determine the startup item or the service that causes the problem, contact the program manufacturer to determine whether the problem can be resolved. Or, run the System Configuration Utility, and then click to clear the check box for the problem item. If you find out which application or the service is causing the issue, then I suggest that you disable the service and check.

Note: Please ensure that the computer is set to start as usual by following the step 7: Reset the computer to start as usual, from the article: How to troubleshoot a problem by performing a clean boot in Windows Vista or in Windows7: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929135.

Step 2: Perform Virus Scan

If the issue still persists, then I suggest that you perform a virus scan on the computer, you may also perform the online virus scan from the link: http://safety.live.com

You may run Performance troubleshooter as well.

Open the Performance troubleshooter: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Open-the-Performance-troubleshooter

---

Thanks and Regards:
Swathi B - Microsoft Support.

Visit our Microsoft Answers Feedback Forum and let us know what you think.

I'm not sure what you were trying to do but as the OP stated this is a issue WITH WINDOWS SERVICES not a outside source or service. What has MS come up with to combat this issue?
I have the same problem and it is ridiculous that a company as big as Microsoft would allow there software to gorge its self on the resources of peoples computers. Let us know when there is a real solution or temporary workaround to this problem!!

The only way to fix this is to reinstall windows 7. I did a complete format and reinstall and the problem is gone has been good for over one week now. i have also setup streaming within my network and watched the wmpnetwork service and it seems to be playing nice and not using every resource it can find. i will assume that there was a memory leak in the service during the first install but now it is good.

Forget the answer from "microsoft support", just answering with a template w/o even making the effort of reading and comprehending the specific question and providing meaningful input is not helping.

net-net, the wmpnetworksvc service is not scalable = behaving nicely when you don't have 10s but 100s or 1000s of media files! 

Try to disable the service but that could cause windows media player to hang; kill WMShare.exe. 

Unfortunately windows media player can take all your devices hostage, even while playing a movie, what can be very annoying... So even while idle, i.e., not playing any media, it can use quite some processor resource, doing library maintenance and what not.  Windows media player can be a great tool playing movies, I'd wish all that extra baggage and overhead could be slimmed down to a minimum.

Hope this helps.

 

*jm*