TMitchell wrote:

> Windows XP SP 3 on a Lenovo/ThinkPad T60P laptop with 2 Gb memory. Task
> Manager ALWAYS shows Page File usage to be above 1.21 Gb, and the
> computer runs everything very slowly. Is this amount of page file usage
> normal even during idle times of no program activity?

So what is consuming all your real system memory? In a command shell,
run:

tasklist | sort /+59 /r

where /+59 says to sort on the "Mem Usage" column. If your tasklist
output has this column start in a different position then you'll have to
adjust this number.

If you just want to show the top memory hogging processes, using the
filter parameter to the tasklist command, as in:

tasklist /fi "memusage ge 100000"

which shows only those processes eating up 100MB, or more. Change the
value to whatever cutoff you want. To see how to use tasklist.exe, run:

tasklist /?

So have you yet rebooted your host to restart Windows? Processes that
crash aren't releasing their memory allocation so if you have had lots
of crashes then lots of memory could still be allocated to remnant
processes or page space. The other problem is that you have a program
with a memory leak. It keeps consuming ever more memory (and eventually
page space). Add the "virtual memory size" column in Task Manager's
Processes tab to see the VM Size column.

Also read:
http://blogs.technet.com/b/perfguru/...k-manager.aspx

If you run the Performance Monitor (perfmon.exe) and then add a graph
for the [total] page file consumed, you might see the actual usage is
small.

J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:

>> In a command shell, run:
>>
>> tasklist | sort /+59 /r
>
> I get "'tasklist' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
> operable program or batch file."

tasklist.exe comes with Windows. It is under:

C:\Windows\system32

If you don't have it then your Windows installation is incomplete (it is
not a component you can omit using Add/Remove Windows Components). Did
you try to run it from there? If you are in some other folder and
running tasklist.exe doesn't have Windows find it under the system32
folder then your system PATH environment variable is screwed up. The
system PATH variable, by default, contains %SystemRoot%\system32.

> Any reason you suggested this over Task Manager itself, which produces a
> dynamic list?

Ever try to get a user to post the list from the Processes tab in Task
Manager? A lot easier to run tasklist and copy its output into a reply
post.

J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:
> In message <jnqimv$843$(E-Mail Removed)>, VanguardLH <(E-Mail Removed)>
> writes:
>> J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:
>>
>>>> In a command shell, run:
>>>>
>>>> tasklist | sort /+59 /r
>>>
>>> I get "'tasklist' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
>>> operable program or batch file."
>>
>> tasklist.exe comes with Windows. It is under:
>>
>> C:\Windows\system32
>>
>> If you don't have it then your Windows installation is incomplete (it is
>> not a component you can omit using Add/Remove Windows Components). Did
>> you try to run it from there? If you are in some other folder and
>> running tasklist.exe doesn't have Windows find it under the system32
>> folder then your system PATH environment variable is screwed up. The
>> system PATH variable, by default, contains %SystemRoot%\system32.
>
> I've just got
>
> C:\WINDOWS\system32>tasklist /?
> 'tasklist' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
> operable program or batch file.
>
> (Cut and pasted from a command window.) System is XP Home SP3, as it
> came new (at least, I certainly haven't removed that sort of thing). It
> isn't by any chance something not included in Home, is it? "dir task*.*"
> in ...\system32 gives taskman.exe and taskmgr.exe only.
>>
>>> Any reason you suggested this over Task Manager itself, which produces a
>>> dynamic list?
>>
>> Ever try to get a user to post the list from the Processes tab in Task
>> Manager? A lot easier to run tasklist and copy its output into a reply
>> post.
>
> Understood. If they've got tasklist.

Tasklist is available in WinXP Pro, but not in WinXP Home.

Someone took me to task months ago, when I suggested using that,
and then it was pointed out that not everybody had a copy. It
means I can't suggest "tasklist /svc" universally. I figured
since it was on my copy of Pro, everyone had one.

Paul

TMitchell wrote:
> VanguardLH wrote:
>> TMitchell wrote:
>>
>>> Windows XP SP 3 on a Lenovo/ThinkPad T60P laptop with 2 Gb memory. Task
>>> Manager ALWAYS shows Page File usage to be above 1.21 Gb, and the
>>> computer runs everything very slowly. Is this amount of page file usage
>>> normal even during idle times of no program activity?
>>
>> So what is consuming all your real system memory? In a command shell,
>> run:
>>
>> tasklist | sort /+59 /r
>>
>> where /+59 says to sort on the "Mem Usage" column. If your tasklist
>> output has this column start in a different position then you'll have to
>> adjust this number.
>
> Whenever I run "tasklist" from the "Run" command or from its ".exe"
> file, I see the "dos-like" screen pop up and produce a list of items
> then vanish in less than a second. How do I get the output file to
> pause so I can read it and/or save so I can print it out?

Start : Programs : Accessories : Command Prompt

When you do that, you get a permanently visible MSDOS window.

Then, in the MSDOS window, type your command.

When you're finished, dismiss it by typing "exit" as a command.
Or use the "X" in the upper right hand corner.

It's possible to do copy and paste from there.
The behavior seems to change with every OS revision,
so do some careful experiments first, before getting
carried away.

Paul

TMitchell wrote:

> Whenever I run "tasklist" from the "Run" command or from its ".exe"
> file, I see the "dos-like" screen pop up and produce a list of items
> then vanish in less than a second. How do I get the output file to
> pause so I can read it and/or save so I can print it out?

Follow Paul's advice. tasklist, like many utilities included in
Windows, is a console-mode program. It is a console program, not a GUI
program. That means it spews its output to what is called stdout
(standard output) which is what you see in the console ("dos-like
window"). When you run the program, it opens a console to show its
output; however, when the program exits then *it* doesn't need the
console anymore so it closes. To keep a console window loaded before,
during, and after running a console-mode program means YOU must first
open a console window. Do this by loading a command shell by running
"cmd.exe" which then opens its own console window. Then run your
console-mode program inside the shell.

Since you go a list of output from the tasklist command (and then the
window disappeared) makes it look like you have something better than
the Home Edition of Windows XP. "Windows XP SP-3" doesn't say if you
have the Home or Professional version. tasklist along with many other
utilities and functions are not available in the crippled Home version.

While you can run tasklist in a shell (so its console window remains
after tasklist exits), you'll end up having to copy-n-paste all the
output to put into a reply post here. Rather than try to copy by
dragging the mouse over the currently displayed lines and then have to
repeat for the other output lines that you have to scroll to, just
redirect the command's output to a file, as in running:

tasklist | sort /+59 /r > c:\mytasks.txt

Then run "notepad c:\mytasks.txt" to view the file and use Ctrl+A and
Ctrl+C to copy it all and then Ctrl+V to paste it all into a reply here.
Then delete the no-longer-needed c:\mytasks.txt file.

FYI: What the above command does is run tasklist, pipe its stdout to the
sort command which does a reverse sort starting on text in column 59 and
then redirects that sorted output into a file. All of this was to use a
command to get outputted a list that Task Manager won't give you. You
could even run that command line in Start->Run without having to first
open a console (by loading a command shell) since the console would
disappear but the output would get stored in the .txt file that you
could view with an editor.