diff --git a/internal/collector/iis/iis_w3svc_w3wp.go b/internal/collector/iis/iis_w3svc_w3wp.go
index 6a33b23fa5..3fdfd04efa 100644
--- a/internal/collector/iis/iis_w3svc_w3wp.go
+++ b/internal/collector/iis/iis_w3svc_w3wp.go
@@ -432,8 +432,7 @@ func (c *Collector) collectW3SVCW3WP(ch chan<- prometheus.Metric) error {
 		pid := workerProcessNameExtractor.ReplaceAllString(name, "$1")
 
 		name := workerProcessNameExtractor.ReplaceAllString(name, "$2")
-		if name == "" || name == "_Total" ||
-			c.config.AppExclude.MatchString(name) ||
+		if name == "" || c.config.AppExclude.MatchString(name) ||
 			!c.config.AppInclude.MatchString(name) {
 			continue
 		}
diff --git a/internal/collector/nps/nps.go b/internal/collector/nps/nps.go
index 6b19e26c44..a7379dc1ec 100644
--- a/internal/collector/nps/nps.go
+++ b/internal/collector/nps/nps.go
@@ -298,7 +298,7 @@ func (c *Collector) collectAccept(ch chan<- prometheus.Metric) error {
 		return fmt.Errorf("failed to collect NPS Authentication Server metrics: %w", err)
 	}
 
-	data, ok := perfData[perfdata.EmptyInstance]
+	data, ok := perfData[perfdata.InstanceEmpty]
 	if !ok {
 		return errors.New("perflib query for NPS Authentication Server returned empty result set")
 	}
@@ -390,7 +390,7 @@ func (c *Collector) collectAccounting(ch chan<- prometheus.Metric) error {
 		return fmt.Errorf("failed to collect NPS Accounting Server metrics: %w", err)
 	}
 
-	data, ok := perfData[perfdata.EmptyInstance]
+	data, ok := perfData[perfdata.InstanceEmpty]
 	if !ok {
 		return errors.New("perflib query for NPS Accounting Server returned empty result set")
 	}
diff --git a/internal/collector/process/process.go b/internal/collector/process/process.go
index 678845d08e..6835c4bf27 100644
--- a/internal/collector/process/process.go
+++ b/internal/collector/process/process.go
@@ -324,9 +324,7 @@ func (c *Collector) Collect(ch chan<- prometheus.Metric) error {
 		// Duplicate processes are suffixed #, and an index number. Remove those.
 		name, _, _ = strings.Cut(name, "#")
 
-		if name == "_Total" ||
-			c.config.ProcessExclude.MatchString(name) ||
-			!c.config.ProcessInclude.MatchString(name) {
+		if c.config.ProcessExclude.MatchString(name) || !c.config.ProcessInclude.MatchString(name) {
 			continue
 		}
 
diff --git a/internal/collector/vmware/vmware.go b/internal/collector/vmware/vmware.go
index 7fab38352b..31d4274d5a 100644
--- a/internal/collector/vmware/vmware.go
+++ b/internal/collector/vmware/vmware.go
@@ -337,7 +337,7 @@ func (c *Collector) collectCpu(ch chan<- prometheus.Metric) error {
 		return fmt.Errorf("failed to collect VM Memory metrics: %w", err)
 	}
 
-	data, ok := perfData["_Total"]
+	data, ok := perfData[perfdata.InstanceTotal]
 	if !ok {
 		return errors.New("query for VM CPU returned empty result set")
 	}
diff --git a/internal/perfdata/collector.go b/internal/perfdata/collector.go
index a6f2128163..f71028bb45 100644
--- a/internal/perfdata/collector.go
+++ b/internal/perfdata/collector.go
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ func NewCollector(object string, instances []string, counters []string) (*Collec
 		object:                object,
 		counters:              make(map[string]Counter, len(counters)),
 		handle:                handle,
-		totalCounterRequested: slices.Contains(instances, "_Total"),
+		totalCounterRequested: slices.Contains(instances, InstanceTotal),
 		mu:                    sync.RWMutex{},
 	}
 
@@ -186,7 +186,7 @@ func (c *Collector) Collect() (map[string]map[string]CounterValues, error) {
 			for _, item := range items {
 				if item.RawValue.CStatus == PdhCstatusValidData || item.RawValue.CStatus == PdhCstatusNewData {
 					instanceName := windows.UTF16PtrToString(item.SzName)
-					if strings.HasSuffix(instanceName, "_Total") && !c.totalCounterRequested {
+					if strings.HasSuffix(instanceName, InstanceTotal) && !c.totalCounterRequested {
 						continue
 					}