100% Processor Utility Killing VM Sessions

[breadbox88]

i was very excited to see the new features of the pro version. i've been a long time user of m3 and recommend it to people regularly. great great program. intuitive, user friendly, does more than my feeble brain can imagine... but it is a massive resource hog. when i read that the pro version would allow multiple macros to run simultaneously i assumed the memory issue was corrected, but its not. i downloaded > installed > created a simple "timer" macro that paused/delayed for 10 seconds > launched the "timer" macro and watch as my processor spiked to 100% and stayed there until the timer ended. totally frustrated because i really wanted it to work.

 

my problem: i run multiple operating systems under VMWare and have macros that will execute for days at a time. when i kick off a macro under one VM Session it jams my processor to 100%. kicking off another process under a second VM Session causes errors and crashes in one or both active macro apps. the machine is a 3ghz quadcore with 8gb ram on a linux host. there are 8 winxp guest OS'. regardless of the power of the machine, running two macros simultaneously flattens the machine.

 

i've tried setting CPU priority to "1" with tweakme3.mxe but the processor still spikes to 100% and stays. yes, it give higher priority to other applications but inevitably the macros crash when i switch between session windows. i've tried assigning specific cores to specific VM Sessions, this will work as long as the host doesn't pull any resources, but i still have all 4 cores running at 100% and my fans all kick into high gear to try to keep up with the heat (and i'm not interested in cooking a $400 processor so i can multi-task with m3/pro)

 

it seems ludicrous to me that, even at idle (during a pause or waiting for a page to load), macro express accesses 100% of the processor bandwidth. this is a problem with the software. its been a problem for years... yet its never been addressed.

 

i've tested this same function using Automation Anywhere and AutoMate and neither pull any resources during a pause. frankly, neither pull more than 5-10% when actually processing, but both programs are overkill and difficult to interface with... m3/pro is just so much more user friendly.

 

as a long time user of macro express i have a bit of dumb loyalty and really just want it to work... but until the issue with the memory bleed is addressed i can't buy the pro version.

[Cory]

I don't have this 100% utilization problem. I suggest you start a support incident with ISS.

[kevin]

Excessive CPU utilization can often be fixed by optimizing your macros. For example, the Delay command puts the CPU into a tight loop waiting for the end of the delay. This uses a lot of CPU cycles. However, the Wait for Time to Elapse does not. There are advantages to each of these commands. More detailed information is included in the Optimizing Macro Express CPU Utilization knowledgebase article.

 

Note: TweakME3.mxe only works for Macro Express 3, it does not work with Macro Express Pro. We are still working on updating Knowledgebase articles to indicate which version of Macro Express applies.