Windows XP Tips for Task Manager - Tracking Memory (Page 2 of 4 ) All the information from here on will be given in list form simply because there are steps you need to take in a specific order. So without further ado, the following will tell you how to track your computer's memory demand: First you need to open the Task Manager either by holding down Ctrl and Alt and hitting Delete or right clicking an empty part of the taskbar and clicking Task Manager. Once the Task Manager appears, click on the tab labeled Performance. The tables underneath the graphs show Windows keeping track of your memory usage. Voila! Under the table labeled Commit Charge there is a subgroup called Total. As you can probably guess, this shows how much total memory the computer is using (physical and virtual). The subgroup labeled Peak shows the highest Total Commit Charge value, since the last time you logged on to your computer. The PF Usage bar graph on the left side of the Task Manager is tracking the Total Commit Charge.
The following could be a sign that you need to add more memory for better performance: If the Total Commit Charge frequently surpasses the Total Physical Memory (top right table), you could add more memory chips or just replace the ones you have with larger ones to make your computer run faster. However, unless it is a rather large difference, the benefits probably won't be very noticeable. In correlation with the above statement, the Page File Usage History line graph will be consistently over the halfway mark if the preceding statement is true. This way of tracking memory usage isn't as reliable though. If the Peak Commit Charge is close to reaching the same value as the Limit Commit Charge, you're computer is running low on virtual memory.
In order to fix one of these problems quickly, because you need to have a faster computer right away and don't have time to purchase and add more memory, do the following: Click on the tab labeled Processes in the Task Manager and then click on the column labeled Mem Usage (click twice or until the list of running processes is shown from most memory usage to least). Close the programs using the most memory (except the ones you need to use at that moment) and exit the Task Manager. Keep in mind that this is only a temporary solution. I think it's pretty clear that memory shortage means you need to get more memory.
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