You don't need to add memory for SP2, or even SP3 which is the current
Service Pack level now. XP typically runs very well with the amount of
memory you have installed. Unless you're experiencing some difficulties,
and it doesn't sound like you are, there's no reason to increase the amount
of memory you have in the system.

Malke

Lee

You're looking at memory usage / available from the wrong perspective.
Available RAM at any given time is less important than the extent to
which the system resorts to using the pagefile at any given time. You
can get some idea of pagefile usage by comparing the Peak entry under
Commit Charge to the total installed RAM. If the Peak is more than the
installed RAM, and this is a regular occurence, then you need to add
RAM. If the Peak is less than the installed RAM then the pagefile usage
is minimal. Some usage of the pagefile is inevitable because some
operations require pagefile memory.

You can get more accurate information on pagefile usage using
pagefilemon, a small freeware utility.

Use page file monitor to observe what is the peak usage. Start it to run
immediately after start-up and look at the log. Pagefilemon takes
snapshots. You need to run it at the beginning of the session at then
run it again at intervals throughout the sessions. The log is Pagefile
log.txt. If you right click on the file in Windows Explorer and select
Send to, Desktop (Create Shortcut). The same applies to
XP_PageFileMon.exe.

A small utility to monitor pagefile usage:
http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/xp_pagefilemon.htm

Note that programs using undo features, particularly those associated
with graphics and photo editing, require large amounts of memory  so if
you use this type of programme  check these first observing how the page
usage increases when they start and whether the usage decreases when you
close the programme.

--

Hope  this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

a lot of off the shelf
software is designed
for the typical off the
shelf computers having
512 megs of ram.

the need for additional
ram come into play for
software that recommends
more ram like for graphics,
video and computer
programming.

There IS a point of diminishing returns, but you run smack up against the
physical limitations of XP (about 3.5GB) before you reach it.

Memory almost never sits there unused. XP tries very hard to maximize memory
utilization under the theory that if not used now, the opportunity is lost
forever.

In the specific case you cited, adding RAM won't do anything but increase
the default swapfile size for your configuration.