CPU Usage

• The CPU Usage display is a dynamic bar chart that rises and falls second by second according to the workload on the computer's processor. The chart quantifies the processor's workload as a user opens new software applications, plays videos or music or performs any other action on the computer. When the bar chart is high, the user's activities are taking up a good deal of the computer's processing power.
  
  

CPU Usage History

• The CPU Usage History provides information about the computer's processor workload just as the CPU Usage display does, but from a different perspective. The CPU Usage History is a continuous line, scrolling from left to right, that displays the peaks and valleys of the processor's workload over time. If the line shows that processor usage is consistently high, the computer's processor is performing at high capacity.
  
  

Page File Usage

• The PF (Page File) Usage display is similar to the CPU usage display. The PF Usage bar chart shows how much of the computer's available page file is being used by the operating system at a point in time. The page file is space on the computer's hard drive allocated to the operating system, which uses the space as virtual memory to supplement the computer's physical memory. When the bar jumps up, the computer is engaging in a memory-intensive operation.
  
  

Page File Usage History

• The Page File Usage History charts page file usage over time based on the same data as the PF Usage display. A continuously high line indicates that the computer is using much of its physical memory. The page file size in Windows XP can be adjusted manually.
  
  

Totals

• The Totals display shows the number of handles, threads, and processes for all running programs.
  
  

Commit Charge

• Memory allocated to programs and the operating system. Because of memory copied to the paging file, called virtual memory, the value listed under Peak may exceed the maximum physical memory. The value for Total is the same as that depicted in the Page File Usage History graph.
  
  

Physical Memory, Kernel Memory

• The Physical Memory display shows the total physical memory installed on the computer as well as a snapshot of the amount available for use by the operating system and the amount being used to map pages of open files. The Kernel Memory display shows the amount of kernel and device driver memory available to the operating system, measured in kilobytes. The display shows the allocation of total memory to paged memory, which can be copied to the paging file in lieu of physical memory; and non-paged memory, which remains resident in physical memory.