Have you ever wanted to see exactly how much physical memory your system has available, but aren’t sure how? While there are several ways to find this out, here is a very simple method:
- Windows 2000/XP: Go to Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > System Information. Under the “System Summary” section at the very top, note the “Available Physical Memory” value. This tells you how much of your physically installed memory is not being used and available to Windows. The higher the number the better.
- Windows Vista: You can use the above method, but another way is by opening Task Manager (Right click on the Task Bar > Task Manager) and note the value for “Physical Memory”. This shows you the percentage of your physically installed memory which is currently being used. The lower the number the better.
This is a simple tool to help you determine if your system might need some additional memory.

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My win xp summary shows in memory…. like 1024 memory installed, but only about 500 available…I asked for Sdram when I bought 1024 chips…is this dimm, or is this normal, and the other 500 is being used for something?
Virtual memory shows about 1.6 GB.
I am ignorant on memory and unable to find out from Micrsoft the info.
Total physical memory 128.00 MB
Available physical memory is 23.46 MB
why is physical memory so low, i deleted everything unnecessary off my windows 98/XP