Mem test

[Thomas Blasejewicz]

Good evening
I was advised to run a "Mem test" on my machine.
After some study to find out how that is done, I started it last night.

This test is running now for 17 hours and keeps going .. no end "in 
sight" (there is no indication when this ends)
(while the numbers at the top of the screen keep chaning, at the bottom 
it saysä
***** Pass complete, no errors, press Escape to exit *****)

17 hours! Is this normal?
What is this thing checking, that takes so long? (HDD = 320 GB)

Just wondering whether I should "escape" ...

Thomas