On Windows and Windows 7's Task Manager, why Memory is 1118MB Available but only 62MB Free? [closed]

Posted by Jian Lin on Super User See other posts from Super User or by Jian Lin
Published on 2011-02-28T06:45:09Z Indexed on 2011/02/28 7:26 UTC
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windows-7

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Windows

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memory

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task-manager

Possible Duplicate:
Windows 7 memory usage

What are the "Cached", "Available", and "Free" memory in the following picture (From Windows 7's Task Manager).

If it is 1118MB Available, then why isn't it Free (to use)? As I understand it, if a bowl of noodle is available, that doesn't mean it is free... it may still cost $7. But what about in the Task Manager, when it is Available, it is also not Free? Does it cost $2 per MB?

What about the "Cached"... What exactly is the Cached Memory? We may put some hard disk data in RAM and so we cache the data in RAM, for faster access (that's the operating system's job). So the Total Physical RAM is 6GB, what is the 1106 Cached? Cached in where? Caching physical RAM in ... some where? It is also strange that the Cached value is sometimes higher and sometimes lower than the Available value. Can somebody who is knowledgeable about this shred some light on these meanings?

enter image description here

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