Help me explain Windows Resources

[damonz28]

I was discussing memory vs. windows (win98) resources with a coworker. He thinks they're one and the same, but from what I understand, they're different. Can you help me explain this to him?

 

[Psychoholic]

Resources is a fixed area of memory, 64kb if I remember correctly. This is hard coded into Windows itself and no amount of memory added to the system will change this figure.

 

[AndyHui]

The resources figure present in Windows 95, 98, 98SE and ME is a legacy hold-over from Windows 3.1.

The actual "free resources" is the lower value of two 16-bit 64KB stacks, called the GDI and User. Because of the memory management model of the Win3.1/9x/ME, every program with a 16-bit component must take up some of the resources in the stacks.

The stacks are limited, non-expandable and completely independent of the amount of system RAM that you have.