Windows Task Manager.......can someone advise on how to interpert the information?

I was wondering if someone could advise me about:

Totals
Handles
Threads
Processes

Threads - I've no idea. Processes would be "programs" running, right?

For Physical Memory I understand Total and Available but what does
System Cache indicate? As long as there is some Available that is
good, right?

Commit Charge Kernal Memory
Total Total
Limit Paged
Peak Nonpaged

Ok, I'm clueless here. I don't know what it means or what it tells
me. I THINK I read something somewhere that said certain numbers or
ratios indicated a need for more RAM.

I'll also be searching the web for this info, but if someone has a
firm enough grasp of this subject matter to assist me, I would greatly
appreciate it.


One last thing:
Sometimes when I run a program, the program seems to take forever to
do its thing, YET, when I check the Windows Task Manager, under
processes, I see that the System Idle Process is between 80-95% which
tells me the computer is doing a whole lot of nothing. How can the
System Idle Process be so high if the computer is dragging?

Thank You

RC
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Windows Task Manager.......can someone advise on how to interpert the information?
    ... Gives an indication of the amount of OS resources used. ... System cache is "unused" memory allocated to cache files off the hard ... Peak is larger than total Physical memory then ... System Idle Process be so high if the computer is dragging? ...
    (alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt)
  • Re: Windows Task Manager.......can someone advise on how to interpert the information?
    ... For Physical Memory I understand Total and Available but what does ... System Cache indicate? ... I'll also be searching the web for this info, ... System Idle Process be so high if the computer is dragging? ...
    (alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt)
  • suddenly slow XP machine -- software or hardware?
    ... My girlfriend's Gateway has been running horribly lately. ... been crashing but it is taking forever to do just about anything. ... app or System Idle Process eating up all the cycles. ... subsequent boots until you let it sit off for several hours. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • Re: FASTER PERFORMANCE
    ... When I said forever, I mean, it's like a minute or two for some programs. ... You really need more RAM. ... how much CPU time is being used when the system ... NOTE - "System Idle process" is not a program! ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • System Idle Process
    ... It sometimes happens that my computer is verrrryyy slow. ... When opening Windows Task Manager and go to Processes, System Idle Process is running at anything from 80-95 of CPU usage. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)