A handle leak in Lsm.exe may occur every time that Windows Media Player 11 plays an audio file in Windows Vista.

For example, if you leave Windows Media Player playing for a long time with the Repeat feature on, many handles may be leaked. These handles are leaked every time that Windows Media Player plays a song. In this scenario, the leaked handle count may grow to a large number, and the computer may become slow and unresponsive.

The problem occurs only when the computer is using a High Definition (HD) audio device. You must restart the computer to reclaim the leaked handles.