I have Windows XP Home SP 3.

Normally, when you close a program, any associated DLLs it has been using should also be closed.

I have read that this doesn't always happen - sometimes DLLs no longer needed are not closed - and that this can result in a sluggish and unstable system. There is a registry edit published to allegedly fix this problem: In HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer you create a new DWORD value called AlwaysUnloadDll and give it a value of 1. This is supposed to ensure that unneeded DLLs are always unloaded from memory when their associated program closes.

I like to think I have a pretty advanced level of knowledge, and I've certainly worked in the registry before, but I do like to be very cautious just the same. So before I even consider doing this, I want to ask about it first.

Is this 'problem' really such a problem?

Does the proposed fix have a dark side?

Thanks for your candid advice.

Daddy