hey All -

I was wondering why my Task Manager shows so much memory being used (982MB), but if I add up the amount shown on the "Processes" tab, it doesn't come close to 900 - more like 350MB. I just noticed the high (900) numbers this week - usually it's around 300MB when I first turn on the machine - now it goes right up to 950MB, or even more.

How do I find what's hogging all the memory? Or is there something obvious I'm overlooking?

I can't think of anything new I've added lately.

does the Processes tab in Task Manager normally show everything, or are there a bunch of hidden processes? Because even before these crazy high numbers, the amounts never added up to what was shown on the Commit Charge on the Performance tab.

Any ideas on how to proceed?
Thanks very much for any ideas you can share.

XPsp2Home, 2.2, 1G Toshiba Satellite 5205-S505

Task Manager may not be showing memory usage for all process owners. Consider running Process Manager to get a more accurate assessment as to what is using your computer's memory.

thanks, I found Process Explorer v11.04 - I guess that's the same thing? Anyway, it shows a lot more info than Tsk Mngr does, so I'm able to see the size of the memory draw for each process/app, including the virtual memory allocation.

I restarted AVG, which was using almost 200MB of RAM, and it went down to 41MB, so that was a big improvement (a simple restart after a scan), but I'm still up around 880MB - don't know what / why I'm drawing so much - never used to be like this...I only have 1G of actual RAM installed, and before I restarted AVG, the Commit Charge was over 1.1G. As I understand it, that means I'm using this slow 4200rpm laptop HDD as "virtual memory."

I'll keep looking, thanks again for your help.

Yes that should read "Process Explorer".

I've moved this to General Computer Problems forum since this appears to be a software-related issue.

okay, thanks.

Are there any good memory monitors out there? From what I've read, it's not a good idea to "optimize" your RAM, as the system itself does the best job all by itself.

But I've got to find out why I'm using up 880MB with only firefox and a couple explorer windows open. Usually I don't see high numbers like that until I open Photoshop or Illustrator.

Isn't 880MB unusual?

Actually, a typical XP installation will have at least 500, and usually more, files loaded and running in the background while doing pretty much nothing. Neither Task Manager nor Process Explorer shows everything, including all exe, dll and sys files loaded and active. For a complete picture, download, install and run this:

http://www.whatsrunning.net/whatsrunning/main.aspx

The reason we don't use this tool as often as the others is that it shows more than what we usually need to see. It is a good tool, don't mistake that, but sometimes less is more.

In Process Explorer, under Physical Memory what is total and available amounts? And under Commit Charge, what is the current and limit amounts?

thanks guys - I will definitely download the "whatisrunning" utility, maybe it will show what's eating up all the memory. I didn't realize XP took quite so much - I'm almost positive my numbers were in the 300s, with nothing open...

but when I get home, I will post the numbers from Tsk Mngr.

thanks again!

okay, so i got home and rebooted, and here's the numbers, which look normal to me:

Physical Mem
Total - 1047904
Avail - 613908

Commit Charge
Total - 328956
Limit - 2519812
Peak - 438016

is the PF Usage the same thing as the Total Commit Charge? that shows 321MB. And, should the Total Commit Charge + the Available Physical Memory = Total Physical Memory? Just wondering...


Anyway, last night those PF Usage, and Total Commit numbers were all tripled - the PF was 1.1GB at one point. But now it all seems to have calmed down. I don't have much open right now, but all the usual things are running...

Any thoughts? Should I worry about programs that seem to "hold on" to memory, even after they're closed?

On a different note, I was wondering. If Toshiba says the memory limit of this laptop is 1GB, is there anything I can do to increase that limit?

Thanks a lot for taking a look. I appreciate it.

It might also be a good idea to check your startup items, if you are running things that are not needed. An easy-to-use tool for this is Startup Inspector.

thanks again everyone - for the links and for your help! it is much appreciated.