images\purify_sml.gifgarbage collection

An automatic feature of the .NET Common Language Runtime that periodically checks for resources that are no longer reachable by a program, and returns the memory to the free memory pool. Garbage collection can also be programmatically "forced" by calling the CLR's garbage collect method.

For memory profiling, a garbage collection is always forced before a snapshot dataset is made. You can also manually force a garbage collection by clicking images\gctool.gif.

(C) Copyright IBM Corporation 1993, 2010.