Kernel memory

What is kernel memory and the three readings on the Peformance tab of Task Manager?

 

Kernel memory is memory which is used by the operating system's kernel. The kernel being the core operating system on top of which all other programs run. The kernel manages calls to hardware made by all other components, and manages driver allocation and other low level operations.

Total is the total memory used by the kernel
Pages is the memory which is allocated by the kernel in the page file (an a hard disk). This can also be in system RAM at any point.
Nonpaged is memory which resides only in volatile memory - i.e. system RAM.

Hope that helps

 

On my PC the kernel memory reading is 46k, paged is 35k and non paged is 10k. So that means most of the core operating system is in the page file. Does that mean open applications such as browsers and my pictures are completely in the RAM or is there page filing for these?

 

That means that 24K K (as you put it) is exclusively in the page file, and 10k K is exclusively in system memory.

This is what the kernel only is doing - and has nothing to do with any running programs. To work out what is going on with them, you should look at the Commit Charge:
Total refers to the total amount of physical and virtual memory the computer is using at that moment.
Limit refers to the combined limit of both the physical memory and the allocated virtual memory.
Peak refers to the highest total system memory usage during the session in which you are using the computer.

Another useful one to look at is Physical Memory. This tells you how much memory is being utilised by the system (so you can ensure that Windows is using all the system memory that's installed):

Physical Memory Total This number represents the total amount of RAM installed on your computer.
Physical Memory Available This number shows the amount of RAM available for CPU processes. This number will never go to zero because the operating system will swap data to the hard disk as the memory fills.
Physical Memory System Cache This is the amount of RAM being used by the file cache.

You can also track these things using the Performance Monitor. You can get to this via Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Performance. From there you can graph various different performance parameters, such as pagefile use and memory use.

 

How can I tell what application data is in the pagefile , not just OS data? Is there normally data like this in the pagefile--for example my pictures and my documents when opened all can't be in the system memory. You would think XP puts a lot of this on the disc.

 

I see that my total physicall memory is 261 mb and that 30 mb is available. My total commit charge is 563 mb. That means that about 231 mb is being used by the OS and applications, leaving about 323 mb committed. The 323 mb must be in the PF.