what exactly is Windows(2000) Task Manager telling me?

[Verruckt]

I am trying to learn more about how windows(2000) task manager works and what all the info it contains means. And, via this, more about my computer. I just want to get the best performance out of my computer...
first question - is windows task manager a good way to get an idea of system resource usage, performance, etc.? Is it accurate to any degree?

Assuming it is, what in the hell is all the information it contains, anyway? (I have been using win2k for about half a year now and am familiar with parts of task manager...) This is specifically pertaining to the performance tab...

Under the performance tab there are four "boxes of numbers" - the totals, physical memory, commit charge and kernel memory. What are all these things?

Under physical memory it says that there is 261616 (K) total (I have 256MB RAM), 145320 available and 181500 system cache. The last two numbers do not add up to equal the first? What does the system cache option under this box of numbers mean? (I have a static-size 382MB swap file).

Under kernel memory there are total (38480), paged (29208) and nonpaged (9276) sections. In this case, the last two numbers DO add up to the first. What does all these numbers mean?

What in the heck is a Commit Charge, anyway?

And with all these numbers, task manager claims that my total memory usage is currently 97136K. I am failing to see any connections here...
I do have large_system_cache enabled, as well as a 16MB IO pagelocklimit.

...thanks...

 

[BudB]

The Totals - Handles, Threads & Processes are pretty much self explanitory.

Available Physical Memory is what you have left over after all processes (programs, dlls etc.) and chache memory have been subtracted from your total physical memory. If your available memory gradually gets smaller with no change in running applications you can assume that some program is "leaking" memory.

Commit Charge is the amount of paging-file-backed memory your system has devoted to running your current applications. Peak Commit Charge is the maximum amount of paging-file memory that the system has committed to running your applications for the time that task manager has been running. This should probably never exceed 70-80% of your paging limit or you should increase the size of your paging file.

Kernel memory I assume is the "gut level" system support memory but I could be wrong

 

[ctll]

try

http://search.microsoft.com/us/itresources/internetsolutions/SearchMS25.asp?IntCat=0&IntCat=1&IntCat=2&Boolean=PHRASE&Nq=NEW&qu=task+manager

 

[bahree]

Just seeing the Task Manager will not give you the full picture. You may or may not see Services running on your system - this depends on how the "Service" interacts with the "desktop".

To get a true picture open Task Manager and switch to the view where you can see the Memory and CPU Usage GRaph. Next, open the services - go to Start => Control Panel => Services. Here you will see the services running - but shutting down services you do not need you can free a lot of resources.

Note that some of the services are "critical" to the OS and you may not be able to shut them down.

Amit.