Using Task Manager - Part 2

On the Processes tab of Task Manager, you can view the physical, virtual, and kernel memory usage of each process running on your system. However, those numbers might not be very meaningful without an overall system picture, which is what the Performance tab of Task Manager can provide.

The Performance Tab

The most obvious items on this tab are the big pretty graphs depicting your current memory usage, CPU utilization, and histories thereof. Without meaning to discount those graphs, the really important stuff on this tab is in the four "fields" below the graphs:

The Commit Charge field tells you about all your system memory (physical plus virtual):

total commit charge: the current amount of physical + virtual memory in use
limit commit charge: the maximum amount of physical + virtual memory you can use
peak commit charge: the highest amount of total memory that's been used in this session. This counter is often used as an indicator for how much physical RAM an NT system should have installed if the current session is a "usual" session.

The Kernel Memory field tells you the total amount of system memory being used currently, then divides that into how much system memory is currently in physical memory [NonPaged] and how much is in virtual memory [Paged].

So what can you DO with this information?

None of these figures are maniputable by the user, unless you add more RAM, change the size of your paging file, or start/stop applications. However, they can all help you monitor your system to detect problems, like memory hogs or leakers, and the need for more RAM and/or virtual memory.

Of course, if you suspect a problem after monitoring the Performances tab, you're either back to the Processes tab (see last week's article), or on toward the Performance Monitor for an even more detailed analysis.

I'd also like to add that this [Performance] tab is duplicated (and enhanced) in another NT applet: Windows NT Diagnostics (system32\winmsd.exe) on the "Memory" tab. The enhancement is an addition of a Paging File field, which can tell you peak usage of your paging file, as well as its size and its current usage figure. The peak usage figure is important to help you determine how big you paging file should be. For more information on sizing your paging file, please see Workstation NT - Size Your Paging File, or Microsoft Knowledge Base article Optimizing Your Paging File.