Re: How to determine memory usage?

Thanks again. It took a while to get to do all this. By the way, I always
search for updates to the malware programs and to Norton Internet Security. I
also periodically delete the index.dat files that I am able to. I ran the
uSoft Malicious SW Removal Tool and found no threats. I removed as many of
the .tmp files as I could. Many gave a message: "Cannot delete file: Cannot
read from the source file or disk." I do the other steps in 5 & 7 monthly.
After rebooting and opening the same applications as yesterday, most of the
readings in Task Manager are about the same. In msconfig, Startup, there are
30 selected startup items. The top VM sizes are: iexplore: 66M, ccSvcHst:
32M, sqlservr: 28M, explorer: 23M, svchost: 13M. I don't have time now to
reboot and compare the VM sizes, but I will do that as soon as possible.
Regards.
--
J150


"Daave" wrote:

For how you are currently using your system, you could use more RAM. The
reason is that 54 MB of your RAM seems to be used right off the bat by
your onboard graphics card. So you really only have 458 MB of RAM
available, which again is normally fine (at work, I only have 256 MB,
but since I don't multitask or use RAM-hungry apps, I'm fine), but your
Commit Charge and Peak values reveal you're relying on your pagefile,
which slows things down.

Sure, more RAM will definitely help. I suggest going to crucial.com to
determine the *exact* type you need.

However, it's also possible to run more lean, which might eliminate the
need for more RAM. Visit that link I gave you in the other post. Since
you already scan with AdAware and Spybot S&D (they are both updated,
no?), you've got Step 3 covered. So, concentrate on Steps 1 and 10 (5
and 7 are important, too, but they don't address your RAM usage).
Assuming you have no viruses, trojans, etc., Step 10 will be most
helpful. When you run msconfig, which processes do you have in the
Startup tab?

Also, back in Task Manager, Processes, click View and select Columns.
Check the Virtual Memory Size box click OK. Now you have a Virtual
Memory column next to your Mem Usage column. Click on the heading twice
so the largest VM uses are at the top. What are the values for the top
five (or ten)? Reboot and run the same combo of apps. Look at the values
again. Are they lower?



J150 wrote:
Thank you for the information. With a typical application load, I see
CPU Usage average ~4%; Physical Memory:458M Total, 172M Available,
234M System Cache; Commit Charge: 500M Total, 1081M Limit, 560M Peak.
Looking at Processes, Internet Explorer is the largest at 49M, there
are two at 14M, and the rest are 6M or less. I run Ad-Aware and
Spybot scans monthly and occasionally delete the temp files. I will
look at the article you referred me to tomorrow, but from what I
describe, does that sound to you like my 512M of RAM is sufficient?


J150 wrote:
I have 512 MB of memory and want to know if there are built-in tools
in WinXP Home to tell the memory usage. I am concerned that my PC is
running slowly when I have too many applications open due to this,
and may need to add more memory. Thanks for any information.

512 MB of RAM is generally enough, but there are some exceptions.
Image and video editing can use up lots of memory. So can Virtual
PC. And running many apps at the same time could be problematic.
Finally, memory leaks can occur, so rebooting every 24 hours
(assuming your PC is always on) can address that issue.

It's possible that you do need to add more RAM. This will lessen your
reliance on your page file, which resides on your hard disk and is
considerably slower than RAM.

But before you purchase more RAM, a little bit of diagnostics is
necessary. First, open Task Manager (ctrl+alt+del). Select
Performance tab. Under Commit Charge, what are the values for Total,
Limit, and
Peak? By the way, Total represents your total virtual memory (that
is,
RAM plus pagefile) being used currently. Limit is the total virtual
memory available. And Peak is the most you have used since your last
reboot.

(Note: some people define virtual memory as the pagefile only. Again,
I'm defining it as RAM *plus* pagefile.)

Also click on the Processes tab. Click on the Mem Usage heading
twice.
Now you can see the biggest memory users at the top. Do you see any
particular memory hogs?

There are other causes of a slow PC. The most common ones are
malware,
too many unneeded processes running in the background, and too many
temp files. See www3.telus.net/dandemar/slowcom.htm for methods to
speed up your PC. For starters, concentrate on Steps 1, 3, 5, 7, and
10.




.

Relevant Pages

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