<p>I could use some advice on tracking down the cause of memory leaks in C#. I understand what is a memory leak and I get why they occur in C# but I'm wondering what tools/strategies have you used in the past to resolve them?</p>

<p>I am using .NET Memory Profiler and I've found that one of my huge main objects is staying in memory after I close the window it manages but I'm not sure what to do to severe all links to it.</p>

<p>If I'm not being clear enough just post an answer with a question and I'll edit my question in response. Thanks!</p>

Break into the debugger and then type this into the Immediate window:
```
```
.load C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\sos.dll
```
```
The path to sos.dll varies. The way to find out the correct path is to look for mscorwks.dll in the Modules pane. Wherever that is loaded from is the correct path for sos.dll.
Then type this:
```
```
System.GC.Collect()
```
```
That will ensure anything not reachable is collected. Then type this:
```
```
!DumpHeap -type <some-type-name>
```
```
This will show you a table of all existing instances, with addresses. You can find out what is keeping an instance alive like this:
```
```
!gcroot <some-address>
```
```