HELP: Task Manager!!!!!

Hi all,

I have been doing allot of research on Win7's Task Manager, in particular the Performance Tab because I am getting issues I am not understanding. I read an older thread on here explaining the Manager

(user:Brink - 18/01/09)

• Total is the amount of RAM installed on your computer, listed in megabytes (MB).
• Cached refers to the amount of physical memory used recently for system resources.
• Available is the total of standby and free memory from the Resource Monitor.
• Free is the amount of memory that is currently unused or doesn't contain useful information (unlike cached files, which do contain useful information).

What I don't understand is how is it possible to have almost NO 'Free' memory but have loads of 'Available' memory. I have attached a screen shot below. We are running Win7 on a Dell Precision 690.

Can anyone explain in more detail or suggest a link about these values I would be most grateful. Much appreciated.

Many thanks,
Nick.

niic said:

What I don't understand is how is it possible to have almost NO 'Free' memory but have loads of 'Available' memory. I have attached a screen shot below. We are running Win7 on a Dell Precision 690.

Can anyone explain in more detail or suggest a link about these values I would be most grateful. Much appreciated.

Many thanks,
Nick.

Hi Nick... It's possible because of the ultra silly "Superfecth" service. What this does is pre-load a mess of stuff trying to predict what you will need next as a means of improving apparent performance. All it really does is thrash heck out of your disk drive. The memory is considered "releasable" in that loaded modules not currently in use can be over-written (released) on demand.

If you go into Control Panel / Admin Tools / Services, find the Superfetch service... Right click on it, select properties and set it to "Disabled" then restart your computer you'll find most of your "available" memory will be shifted to "free" memory. You will also find your hard disk is considerably less active and, as a result, your system will run a little smoother.

(It's one of those "What WERE they thinking??" kinda things....)

Hi,

I see so 'Available' also deals with SuperFetch? I thought Cache was what SuperFetch dealt with?? Confused!

I read a few forums with people saying that Available = Standby + Free? They are not directly related?

What is the difference between 'Cache' and 'Standby' then?

Thanks for the help, much appreciated.

Cheers
Nick.

niic said:

Hi,

I see so 'Available' also deals with SuperFetch? I thought Cache was what SuperFetch dealt with?? Confused!

I read a few forums with people saying that Available = Standby + Free? They are not directly related?

What is the difference between 'Cache' and 'Standby' then?

Thanks for the help, much appreciated.

Cheers
Nick.

To be honest, I'm not entirely sure... Perhaps one of the local gurus can jump in and give us both some good information....

logicearth said:

CommonTater said:

...your system will run a little smoother.

How will it run smoother?

Because it's not thrashing the hard disk so much.

logicearth said:

Uh huh...

Ummmm... I'm here for two reasons... To share what I might know and to learn some of what I don't. If you can explain to me why I am wrong, please do so (Politely, of course) otherwise I'll just go right on assuming I'm right...

CommonTater said:

logicearth said:

Uh huh...

Ummmm... I'm here for two reasons... To share what I might know and to learn some of what I don't. If you can explain to me why I am wrong, please do so (Politely, of course) otherwise I'll just go right on assuming I'm right...

You are actually wrong - I think. Cached memory is available memory. Before you would get any hard page fault, the system would first have to populate all free and cached memory (the light and dark blue in Process Monitor). In a 3 or 4GB system with normal duties this will practically never happen - and I said "normal duties". If you throw some CAD at it, that is another story.

It is also a big mistake to disable superfetch (unless you operate on an SSD - and even then). The time to fetch an instance from RAM is many thousand times faster than getting it off the disk (even the SSD). And if your LOR (location of reference) is very narrow (meaning that you are using more or less the same applications all the time), then superfetch does a good service. It must be a weird operating environment where superfetch would be counterproductive.