The Performance Monitor console, as shown in the figure, has two distinct parts: the System Monitor and Performance Logs and Alerts. You must have administrative privileges to access the Performance Monitor console.
The System Monitor displays real-time information about the processors, disks, memory, and network usage. Use the System Monitor to display detailed data about the resources that you are using when performing specific tasks or multiple tasks. The data displayed can help you understand how the computer workload affects system resources, such as the CPU, memory, and network. You can easily summarize usage data with histograms, graphs, and reports. The data can also help determine when an upgrade might be necessary.
Performance Logs and Alerts allows you to record the performance data and configure alerts. Alerts notify you when a specified usage falls below or rises above a threshold. You can set alerts to create entries in the event log, send a network message, begin a performance log, run a specific program, or any combination of these.
To open the Performance Monitor console in Windows 7, use the following path:
Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Performance Monitor
In Windows Vista, use the following path:
Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Reliability and Performance Monitor > Continue
In Windows XP, use the following path:
Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Performance
Windows Memory Diagnostic is an administrative tool that checks the physical memory that is installed on a computer for errors.
To access Windows Memory Diagnostic in Windows 7, use the following path:
Start> Control Panel > Administrative Tools> Windows Memory Diagnostic
To access Windows Memory Diagnostic in Windows Vista, use the following path:
Start> Control Panel > Administrative Tools> Memory Diagnostic Tool
The Windows Memory Diagnostic is not included in Windows XP.