Can Somebody please explain the windows task manager performance tab!?!?

Question

I understand what CPU usage and memory usage are but what about the other stuff???

Handles
Threads
Processes
Commit Chaege
and Kernal Memory

What on earth are these things?!?

Answer 1

Keeping it simple:
Handles: number of current instructions the process is running
Threads: number of routes the handles are using
Processes: number of programs currently in 'process' or memory
Commit: amount in Kilobytes that the cache is using to run these processes
Kernel: The amount of cache memory on the processor.

Only worry about the totals: processes and the Physical memory: total

If you have performance problems look at total available memory and the number of processes running.
recommend: atleast 512mb for XP and under 40 processes for good performance.

Answer 2

Dont worry about any of these EXCEPT Processes, as those are for computer architects. Do keep a keen eye on processes, however, because monitoring that will help you tell if you are infected with spyware. Here is what to do.
When your computer is new, take a screen shot and save it with the task manager running on the processes page. Then you will have a "base" to know which ones of those are supposed to be running and which have been added by comparing your base to what is running now. If a process mysteriously appears, and you are sure you didn't start it, then you probably should type in the name of the suspect process into a google search to find out if it is spyware. Also, keep an eye on the NUMBER of processes. Over 50 means you are either infected with malware, or you have too many programs running at once. 36-50 is a danger zone and you should investigate what those are.
Below 35, your computer probably does not have malware.

Answer 3

Procceses is all actions the computer is working on.


Kernal Memory, How much memory on your motherboard total.