Whether you are trying to
optimize performance of a particular system or identify potential problems,
performance monitoring is a key step in both. The Performance applet in the
Administrative Tools folder of Windows 2000 Professional lets you monitor system performance through the
System Monitor node and configure performance logging and alerts through the
Performance Logs and Alerts node.

To monitor system performance:

  1. Click the System Monitor node.
  2. Then, to add performance counters, click
    the Add button on the toolbar.
  3. In the Add Counters dialog box, locate the
    object you want to monitor (such as Physical Disk or Processor) from the
    Performance Object drop-down list.
  4. From the Select Counters list, choose
    the counter you want to monitor and click Add.
  5. Repeat this step to add other
    counters as needed.

When you click Close, the counters you have selected appear
in the performance graph. You can add or remove counters as necessary.

To
remove a counter, click the counter in the list below the graph, then click the
Delete button on the toolbar or the [Del]
key on the keyboard.

If you are monitoring several
counters, you might need to occasionally focus on a particular one. To do so,
click the desired counter in the list below the graph and then click the
Highlight button on the toolbar. The Performance console highlights the
selected counter in the graph with a bold, white line.

On occasion you might need to
analyze the graph a little more closely. In these situations you can freeze the
display. Just click the Freeze Display button to stop updates. To update the
graph while it is frozen, click the Update Data button. Click Freeze Display
again when you want the graph to update dynamically again.

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