Performance Graphs

O&O DeskInfo does not only show current values — it keeps a history and draws it as a graph. That makes load patterns visible that a single number can never reveal: a processor that peaks every few seconds, a memory leak that slowly eats your RAM, or a backup job saturating the network.

What is measured

Four metrics are recorded continuously:

Metric	Unit	Notes
CPU utilization	%	Load across all cores.
RAM availability	Bytes	Available (not used) main memory.
GPU utilization	%	Load of the busiest graphics engine.
Network traffic	Mb/s or MB/s	Sent and received, as two separate graphs.

Each metric exists as a numeric row and as a graph, and both can be shown together or separately. See the keys in System Information.

Numeric values with minimum, maximum and average

The numeric rows show the current value plus the extremes observed since the application was started:

• ▼ marks the minimum,
• ▲ marks the maximum,
• Ø marks the average.

The average only appears once enough samples have been collected, so that it does not jump around during the first seconds. The threshold is 32 samples by default and can be changed with PerformanceAverageMinSampleCount.

The graphs

Each graph draws a scrolling timeline that moves from right to left, with the newest sample on the right.

• Dynamic scaling. Network graphs scale themselves to the largest value in the visible history. Traffic patterns therefore stay visible whether you are transferring kilobytes or gigabytes per second.
• Scale indicator. The current maximum of the visible range is printed in the top-right corner of the graph, for example 125 MB/s.
• Reference line. A dashed horizontal line at 50 % height gives the eye an anchor.
• Tooltips. In sliding-window mode, hovering over a graph shows current, minimum, maximum and average values with formatted units.
• Distinct colors. Each metric uses its own color so that stacked graphs stay distinguishable.

Switching graphs on and off

Use Show graphs in the tray menu:

Entry	Effect
CPU usage graph	Shows or hides the CPU history graph.
RAM usage graph	Shows or hides the RAM history graph.
GPU usage graph	Shows or hides the GPU history graph.
Network traffic graphs	Shows or hides both network graphs (sent and received).
Network traffic in Mb/s	Switches the unit between megabits per second (enabled, default) and bytes per second (disabled).

These switches act as a filter on top of your profile: a graph is only drawn if the profile contains it and the corresponding switch is enabled. This lets you keep a profile with all graphs and turn individual ones off temporarily without editing the profile.

The corresponding configuration settings are ShowCPUGraph, ShowRAMGraph, ShowGPUGraph, ShowNetworkGraph and ShowNetworkTrafficInBitsPerSecond.

Graph dimensions

Config file

The size of the graphs can only be changed in the configuration file:

<Settings>
  <PerformanceGraphHeight>48</PerformanceGraphHeight>
  <PerformanceGraphMinWidth>200</PerformanceGraphMinWidth>
</Settings>

• PerformanceGraphHeight — height of every graph in pixels (default 48). Taller graphs make small fluctuations easier to see.
• PerformanceGraphMinWidth — minimum width in pixels (default 200). Graphs grow beyond this to fill the available column width.

Note that graph height also influences the column balancing: a taller graph carries more weight and therefore attracts fewer other rows into its column.

The tray icon

The tray icon is a graph in itself. It continuously draws the recent CPU load, so you have a load indicator in your taskbar even when the desktop is covered by application windows.

Hovering over the icon shows a tooltip with the current CPU, RAM and network values. A double-click opens the Windows Task Manager — this can be switched off with Launch Task Manager by double-clicking in the tray menu.

Update speed

Update speed in the tray menu controls how often values are refreshed. It affects three different intervals at once:

Setting	Information display	Drive activity	CPU/RAM counters
Fast	every 1 s	every 1 s	every 2 s
Normal (default)	every 5 s	every 2 s	every 10 s
Slow	every 10 s	every 5 s	every 20 s

Faster updates mean smoother graphs and slightly higher CPU usage; slower updates are gentler on battery-powered devices. Any other value in seconds can be set with UpdateSpeed; the menu then shows a Custom entry.

History length

Config file

O&O DeskInfo keeps up to 1024 samples per metric by default — at typical update intervals that is roughly 17 to 34 minutes of history, considerably more than the visible width of a graph. The extra samples are what makes the minimum, maximum and average values meaningful.

<Settings>
  <MaxHistoryItems>1024</MaxHistoryItems>
  <PerformanceAverageMinSampleCount>32</PerformanceAverageMinSampleCount>
</Settings>

Increase MaxHistoryItems if you want extremes over a longer period; reduce it to lower memory usage.

Standby and hibernation

When Windows suspends the system, all timers and performance counters are stopped. On resume they are restarted and the display is refreshed. This prevents the graphs from being distorted by a huge gap and keeps the minimum and maximum values meaningful across a standby cycle.

Efficiency Mode

Use Efficiency Mode in the tray menu (enabled by default) asks Windows to treat O&O DeskInfo as a background process: lower thread priority and, on supported hardware, execution on efficiency cores. This measurably reduces the energy footprint of the monitoring. The entry is hidden on Windows versions that do not support Efficiency Mode.