Applies to Windows 7

What do the Task Manager memory columns mean?

In Task Manager, you can monitor processes running on your computer by adding columns to the information displayed on the Processes tab. These columns display information about each process, such as how much CPU and memory resources the process is currently using.

  1. Open Task Manager by right-clicking the taskbar, and then clicking Start Task Manager.

  2. Click the Processes tab. Task Manager shows the processes currently running under your user account. To show processes running for all users, click Show processes from all users. Administrator permission required If you're prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

  3. To add more columns, click View, and then click Select Columns. Select the check boxes for the columns you want to see, and then click OK.

Column Description

PID (Process Identifier)

A number that uniquely identifies a process while it runs.

User Name

The user account under which the process is running.

Session ID

A number that identifies the owner of the process. When multiple users are logged on, each user has a unique session ID.

CPU Usage

The percentage of time that a process used the CPU since the last update (listed as CPU in the column heading).

CPU Time

The total processor time, in seconds, used by a process since it started.

Memory - Working Set

Amount of memory in the private working set plus the amount of memory the process is using that can be shared by other processes.

Memory - Peak Working Set

Maximum amount of working set memory used by the process.

Memory - Working Set Delta

Amount of change in working set memory used by the process.

Memory - Private Working Set

Subset of working set that specifically describes the amount of memory a process is using that can't be shared by other processes.

Memory - Commit Size

Amount of virtual memory that's reserved for use by a process.

Memory - Paged Pool

Amount of pageable kernel memory allocated by the kernel or drivers on behalf of a process. Pageable memory is memory that can be written to another storage medium, such as the hard disk.

Memory - Non-paged Pool

Amount of non-pageable kernel memory allocated by the kernel or drivers on behalf of a process. Non-pageable memory is memory that can't be written to another storage medium.

Page Faults

The number of page faults generated by a process since it was started. A page fault occurs when a process accesses a page of memory that's not currently in its working set. Some page faults require page contents to be retrieved from disk; others can be resolved without accessing the disk.

Page Fault Delta

The change in the number of page faults since the last update.

Base Priority

A precedence ranking that determines the order in which the threads of a process are scheduled.

Handles

The number of object handles in a process's object table.

Threads

The number of threads running in a process.

USER Objects

The number of USER objects currently being used by the process. A USER object is an object from Window Manager, which includes windows, menus, cursors, icons, hooks, accelerators, monitors, keyboard layouts, and other internal objects.

GDI Objects

The number of objects from the Graphics Device Interface (GDI) library of application programming interfaces (APIs) for graphics output devices.

I/O Reads

The number of read input/output operations generated by the process, including file, network, and device I/Os. I/O Reads directed to CONSOLE (console input object) handles aren't counted.

I/O Writes

The number of write input/output operations generated by the process, including file, network, and device I/Os. I/O Writes directed to CONSOLE (console input object) handles aren't counted.

I/O Other

The number of input/output operations generated by the process that are neither a read nor a write, including file, network, and device I/Os. An example of this type of operation is a control function. I/O Other operations directed to CONSOLE (console input object) handles aren't counted.

I/O Read Bytes

The number of bytes read in input/output operations generated by the process, including file, network, and device I/Os. I/O Read Bytes directed to CONSOLE (console input object) handles aren't counted.

I/O Write Bytes

The number of bytes written in input/output operations generated by the process, including file, network, and device I/Os. I/O Write Bytes directed to CONSOLE (console input object) handles aren't counted.

I/O Other Bytes

The number of bytes transferred in input/output operations generated by the process that are neither a read nor a write, including file, network, and device I/Os. An example of this type of operation is a control function. I/O Other Bytes directed to CONSOLE (console input object) handles aren't counted.

Image Path Name

The location of the process on the hard disk.

Command Line

The full command line specified to create the process.

User Account Control (UAC) Virtualization

Identifies whether User Account Control (UAC) virtualization is enabled, disabled, or not allowed for this process. UAC virtualization redirects file and registry write failures to per-user locations.

Description

The description of the process.

Data Execution Prevention

Whether data execution prevention is enabled or disabled for this process. For more information, see What is Data Execution Prevention?