Memory & Performance Monitoring

What does the CPU page show?

The number of cores and logical processors (HyperThreading), whether the system is multisocket, and whether virtualization is enabled

What do the CPU page statistics show?

Overall utilization, system uptime, and a count of the number of processes, threads, and handles

What do higher numbers for processes, threads, and handles indicate?

More activity

What can each process open handles to?

Files, registry keys, network pipes, and so on

What can each process run operations in?

Multiple threads

Are high peak values for utilization necessarily a problem?

No

What do sustained periods of high utilization mean?

You should consider adding more resources to the system or run fewer processes

When is the GPU page shown?

If the system has a dedicated graphics adapter

What does the GPU page report?

The amount of graphics memory available and utilization statistics

What does the Memory page report about installed modules?

Which slots have modules installed and the speed

What does "In use" refer to on the Memory page?

System (RAM) usage only

What does "Committed" report?

The amount of memory requested and the total of system plus paged memory available

What does paged memory refer to?

Data that is written to a disk pagefile

What does "Cached" refer to?

Fetching frequently used files into memory pre-emptively to speed up access

What do paged pool and non-paged pool refer to?

OS kernel and driver usage of memory

What is the difference between paged pool and non-paged pool?

Paged usage is processes that can be moved to the pagefile, while non-paged is processes that cannot be paged

Is high physical memory utilization up to the amount of system RAM necessarily a sign of poor performance?

No

What is more problematic than high physical memory utilization up to the amount of system RAM?

High pagefile utilization

What do the Disk pages report?

The type and capacity plus statistics for active time, response time, and read/write speeds

How is disk utilization measured?

Across all disk devices

What could 50% disk utilization mean?

One disk working at 100% and the other seeing no activity

What are common causes of poor overall system performance issues related to disks?

High disk utilization and slow response times

What can high disk utilization and slow response times result from?

Slow HDD technology, excessive paging activity, file/cache corruption, or a faulty device with bad sectors/blocks

What does the Ethernet or Wi-Fi tab report?

Send and receive throughput for the active network adapter plus the IP address and hardware (MAC) interface address

What additional information is shown if a wireless adapter is active?

The SSID, connection type (802.11 standard), and signal strength