What is the meaning of handles ,threads, processes?

Question

..What is commit charge? PID?

Everytime I open the task manager i findthese terms ..could never understand what they mean..

I am ok with slightly technical description...

Answer 1

I'll try keep it slightly less technical and more "English".... :)

A process is a piece of software that runs on your system which is designed to perform a certain set of tasks. If a process has no work to do, it will still run on your computer waiting for instructions on what to do next. Each process is given a PID (Process Identifier) by the operating system which is just a numeric identifer and can be different each time the process starts. Having a PID helps the computer differentiate between processes with the same name. Look in Task Manager and you'll see several processes called "svchost.exe". Each of these has its own PID, otherwise the computer would not know which "svchost.exe" it should be talking to.

When a process receives an instruction to go do some work, it will create a thread. A thread is a communication mechanism between the process and whatever comonents it needs to get in touch with to carry out the work. A process will open a thread so that it can send the instructions needed to carry out the work down that thread. Responses come back and when all work is completed, the process often closes off the thread again because all instructions needed to complete that set of tasks have completed.

A handle is way for a process to "reserve" resources for a process to ensure the process is not ignored and gets a response.

May make more sense in an example:

1 - You install AntiVirus software and the AV process starts up and runs on your computer. It is given a PID just in case there is another process using the same name.

2 - You tell your computer to run an anti-virus scan. The AV process will open (at least one) thread so that it can send instructions because it now has some work to do.

3 - The AV software sends an "open handle" request to your harddrive using the thread it created. A handle is opened to your drive so that the "scan files for virus" command coming from the AV process can be run on the drive.

4 - The AV scan completes on your computer. The AV process receives information saying "AV scan on this drive is completed and all is OK". The handle is closed because the AV process no longer needs access to the disk. The thread is closed because the AV scan has competed.

Commit Charge is just the sum of the available physical and virtual memory.

Hope this makes sense??

Very good question by the way!! 8o)

Answer 2

Commit Charge (K) - The values displayed in this section are in kilobytes (K/KB). To convert to megabytes (MB), divide by 1024.

Total: The total amount of physical (RAM) and virtual (Page File) memory currently being used by the operating system and all open applications. This value will increase as applications and files are opened and decrease when they are closed. Commit Charge is also displayed in the lower right side of Task Manager. Dividing the Total (183692) by conversion factor of (1024) yields 179 MB, or the same amount shown lower right by Commit Charge: 179M/1878M.

Limit: The total amount of physical (RAM) and virtual (Page File) memory that is currently available to the operating system and applications. There are two ways to change this value; install additional RAM or increase the size of the page file. Dividing the Limit (1923908) by conversion factor of (1024) yields 1878 MB, or the same amount shown lower right by Commit Charge: 179M/1878M

Peak: A combined measure of the physical (RAM) and virtual (Page File) memory that has been used during the current windows session. If the Peak value approaches the Limit value it's a good indication the system needs more memory.

PID=Process id given by OS for every process
Handles=are pointers system process
Threads=lighweight small unit of executable code...basically processess are divided into small threads to use CPU resource(so that it does not sit ideal)
Process=Heavyweight executable code...like notepad,windows media player...

Answer 3

Hi!

Commit charge = memory (virtual and real) usage.
PID = process ID (all processes are given an ID by the OS).
Handles = small tasks, such as comparisons.
Threads = larger tasks, made of handles. Imagine that a button is given one, or more threads.
Process = a collection of treads (and ultimately handles). A process is something that is taking place in a computer. Exe files generate processes. Also, processes are generated by DLL files and other executables.

I hope I've helped.

Answer 4

just read wat the others wrote its correct