what is commit charge?

Answer 1

Commit charge
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


In computing, Commit charge is a term used in modern Microsoft Windows operating systems to describe the total amount of virtual address space, for which the backing store is the pagefile. It may be thought of as the maximum potential pagefile usage.

Overview
The performance tab in the Task manager on Windows Server 2003.
The performance tab in the Task manager on Windows Server 2003.

The Windows Task Manager utility, in its Performance tab, shows three counters for commit charge:

* Total, is the amount of pagefile-backed virtual address space currently in use.
* Limit is the maximum possible value for Total; it is the sum of the current pagefile size plus the physical memory available for paging (this excludes RAM that is assigned to non-pageable areas).
* Peak is the highest amount that the total commit charge has reached since the computer was last rebooted.

The commit charge increases when any application or game is opened and used, and goes down when a program is closed.

In the Task Manager utility under Windows XP and Windows Server 2003, the graphical displays labeled "PF usage" and "Pagefile usage history" are actually reflecting not the pagefile contents but the total (or current) commit charge. The height of the graph area corresponds to the commit limit. Despite the label, these do not show how much has actually been written to the pagefile, but only the maximum potential pagefile usage at the moment. In Windows 2000, these same displays are labeled "Mem usage" but again are actually showing the commit charge.

In Task Manager's "Processes" display, each process's contribution to the "total commit charge" is shown in the "VM size" column. The total commit charge will always be larger than the sum of these values, as the total includes system-wide allocations such as the paged pool.

The "Mem Usage" column in Task Manager's "Processes" display shows each process's current working set. This is a count of physical memory (RAM) rather than virtual address space. It represents the subset of the process's virtual address space that is valid, meaning that it can be referenced without incurring a page fault.

The commit charge for each process does not include other major contributions to the process's virtual address space, such as mapped files. For this reason, the process's working set may be larger than its "VM size" (its contribution to "total commit charge"), and the total commit charge is not at all inclusive of the total memory (physical plus virtual) actually in use.

The commit limit may be increased by either creating additional pagefiles or, if pagefile expansion is enabled, by expanding an existing one. The operating system will expand the pagefile automatically, if possible, when the total commit charge approaches the limit. In such an event a popup window will be displayed stating that "The system is running low on virtual memory."

If the system ever runs completely out of commit charge (that is, if the total reaches the limit), a popup window will be displayed stating that "The system is out of virtual memory," and it may become extremely sluggish or even nonresponsive. Closing programs (if the user is still able to do so at this point) decreases the total commit charge and may thereby free up the system.

See also

* Memory management
* Paging
* Virtual memory

References

* (September 16, 2000) Inside Microsoft Windows 2000, Third Edition. Microsoft Press. ISBN 0-7356-1021-5.
* (December 8, 2004) Microsoft Windows Internals, Fourth Edition: Microsoft Windows Server(TM) 2003, Windows XP, and Windows 2000. Microsoft Press. ISBN 0-7356-1917-


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commit_charge

Answer 2

Depends on how it is used.
On some contracts, you commit to spending a certain amount of money with a supplier every month, if you dont spend that amount, they may have a right to charge you a small amount.

It could also mean the charge that it costs to cancel a service plan (think cell phones early cancellation charges).