CLOSE THE PERFORMANCE WINDOW. CLOSE THE PERFORMANCE WINDOW.

25. Close the Performance window.

Chapter Summary

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Task Manager provides information about the programs and processes running onyour computer and the performance of your computer. You can use Task Managerto start programs, to stop programs and processes, and to see a current view ofyour computer’s performance. Task Manager contains four tabs:

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The Applications tab lets you view and terminate running applications.

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The Processes tab lets you view and terminate running processes. You canalso assign process priority and processor affinity on this tab.

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The Performance tab provides a real-time view of CPU, RAM, and virtualmemory performance.

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The Networking tab indicates the current network traffic on various networkconnections on the computer.

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The Performance console consists of two tools: the System Monitor snap-in, whichtracks resource use and network throughput in real time, and the PerformanceLogs And Alerts snap-in, which collects performance data over time and can haveWindows XP alert you when a particular performance threshold is crossed.

Exam Highlights

Before taking the exam, review the key points and terms that are presented in thischapter. You need to know this information.

Key Points

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Task Manager can show real-time information about the CPU, RAM, and virtualmemory, but the measurements are fairly limited. To collect more detailed infor-mation, use the Performance console. The Performance console also allows you tocollect performance data over a longer period.

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Changing the base priority of an application can be useful on application or fileservers, but you should use caution when changing priorities on a desktop com-puter. Setting the base priority too high can result in unstable system performanceor loss of data.

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Memorize the counters mentioned in this chapter, and understand the values ofeach counter that indicate a potential problem. In particular, you should remem-ber the three default counters used in System Monitor: Pages/sec, Avg. DiskQueue Length, and %Processor Time.