### Understand the alert

This alert monitors the swap memory utilization on a Windows system. If you receive this alert, it means that your system's swap memory usage is nearing or has exceeded the defined thresholds (`warning` at 80-90% and `critical` at 90-98%).

### What is swap memory?

Swap memory is a virtual memory management technique where a portion of the disk space is used as an extension of the physical memory (RAM). When the system runs low on RAM, it moves inactive data from RAM to swap memory to free up space for active processes. While swap memory can help prevent the system from running out of memory, keep in mind that accessing data from swap memory is slower than from RAM.

### Troubleshoot the alert

1. Determine the system's memory and swap usage.

   Use the Windows Task Manager to monitor the overall system performance:

   ```
   Ctrl+Shift+Esc
   ```

   Navigate to the Performance tab to see the used and available memory, as well as swap usage.

2. Check per-process memory usage to find the top consumers.

   In the Task Manager, navigate to the Processes tab. Sort the processes by memory usage to identify the processes consuming the most memory.

3. Optimize or close the high memory-consuming processes.

   Analyze the processes and determine whether they are essential. Terminate or optimize non-critical processes that consume a significant amount of memory. Ensure to double-check before closing any process to avoid unintentionally closing necessary processes.

4. Increase the system's memory or adjust swap file settings.

   If your system consistently runs low on memory, consider upgrading the hardware to add more RAM or adjusting the swap memory settings to allocate more disk space.

5. Prevent memory leaks.

   Memory leaks occur when an application uses memory but fails to release it when no longer needed, causing gradual memory depletion. Ensure that all software running on your system, particularly custom or in-house applications, is well-designed and tested for memory leaks.

### Useful resources

1. [Troubleshooting Windows Performance Issues Using the Resource Monitor](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/archive/blogs/askcore/troubleshooting-windows-performance-issues-using-the-resource-monitor)
2. [Windows Performance Monitor](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-server-2008-help/troubleshoot/windows-rel-performance-monitor)