Windows Task Manager: How to Open and Use Task Manager
The Microsoft Windows Task Manager is a powerful tool that can help you troubleshoot issues on your Windows computer. But if you're not familiar with its features and functionality, you might be missing out on its full potential. In this article, get a guide to Windows Task Manager, including what it does, how to open and use it, Windows Task Manager shortcuts, and other basic tasks you can accomplish with it.
What is Windows 11 Task Manager?
Like the Apple Activity Monitor, the Task Manager for Mac, Task Manager is a built-in system monitoring tool in Windows that provides real-time information about the performance, processes, and resource usage of your operating systems. It helps you identify and manage programs or processes that may be consuming excessive resources or causing system issues. It is created specifically for Windows systems, much like Windows BitLocker security system.
New features of Task Manager Windows 11
Task Manager in Windows 11 is new, with updated icons and a fresh look and feel. It also provides new features to help you optimize your computer. Efficiency Mode is one of these new additions; it's a feature that allows users to restrict a process to reduce its total load on the system's performance. It does this by limiting background processes used by that app.
It is essentially a rebranded version of Eco Mode from Windows 10. However, the key difference is that you can enable it straight from Task Manager. With Efficiency Mode, note that enabling it may cause apps to run with instability.
Additionally, in the latest 22H2 version of Windows 11, the Task Manager introduces a new feature that allows you to identify Universal Windows Platform (UWP) apps that have been paused to conserve processing power and improve efficiency. When an app is in pause mode, it may still appear active and using system resources, but you can identify this state through a distinctive yellow Pause icon.
Explaining Task Manager tabs
The rest of the Task Manager features mirror what already exists on Windows 10. The Task Manager tabs provide an overview of your system’s processes, resource usage, performance monitoring, startup management, user sessions, and service control. Each tab allows you to effectively manage and optimize your computer.
Processes tab
This tab provides a list of all running processes on your computer, including apps, background processes, and Windows processes. It provides details such as the process name, CPU and memory usage, disk and network activity, and user associated with each process. You can end processes, change their priority, or open their file locations from this tab.
This tab is useful in cases where tasks have crashed, as it allows you to select a task to force quit the task.
Performance tab
The Performance tab offers real-time graphical representations and detailed information about CPU, memory, disk, and network usage. Because of this, it helps you monitor resource utilization and identify any bottlenecks or spikes in system performance.
App History tab
The App History Task Manager tab presents resource usage statistics for apps over time. It shows the CPU time, network usage, and metered network data consumed by each app. It can help you identify which apps are consuming more resources than others.
Startup Apps tab
The Startup Apps tab lists the programs that automatically launch when you log in to Windows. It provides details about the startup impact. It allows you to enable or disable specific programs from starting with your computer, which can help speed up your startup process.
Users tab
This tab displays information about users and their active sessions. It shows the username, session ID, and status of each user session. Because it displays all of the user information, it can be useful for monitoring active user sessions and identifying any unwanted or suspicious activity.
Details tab
The Details tab provides detailed information about the processes running on your system, giving you a more extensive view than the information in the Processes tab. Similar to the Processes tab, you can right-click on a process to access options such as ending the process, changing its priority, or searching online for more information about it.
Services tab
The Services tab lists the system services running on your computer. It displays the service name, description, and status (running, stopped, or disabled). You can start, stop, or restart services, as well as modify their startup type.
How to open Task Manager in Windows 11
Launching Task Manager is much the same as previous versions of Windows. You can use several different methods to launch it, from keyboard shortcuts to searching in the Start menu. You can open Task Manager in Windows 11 by:
- Pressing Ctrl + Shift + Esc, which will then open Task Manager directly. This is known as the Task Manager shortcut.
- Pressing Ctrl + Alt + Del, which will then bring up a screen with various options including Task Manager. Click on "Task Manager" to open it.
- Right-clicking on the taskbar. Right-click on an empty space on the taskbar and select "Task Manager" from the context menu.
- Using the Power User menu. Press Win + X and select "Task Manager" from the Power User Menu.
- Using Command Prompt. Open the Command Prompt, type taskmgr, and press Enter.
- Performing a Start menu search. Search for "task manager" using the Start menu.
Once Task Manager is open, you can use it to manage and improve your system's performance, monitor your network, view users, and more.
Ways to use Task Manager
Task Manager has numerous benefits for users of all skill levels. Ways to use it to improve your computer system include:
- Monitoring system performance. Use the Performance tab to identify resource-heavy processes and monitor your system performance. This helps troubleshoot performance issues.
- Ending unresponsive processes. If a program crashes or becomes unresponsive, select it in the Processes tab and click the "End Task" button to close it forcefully.
- Managing startup programs. The Startup tab shows you programs that automatically start when you log in to Windows. Use Task Manager to enable or disable startup programs, which can improve system performance.
- Analyzing process details and troubleshooting. The Processes and Details tabs provide information about individual processes running on your system. You can right-click on a process to perform actions like ending the process, setting process priority, or opening the file location. Furthermore, this feature is helpful for finding tasks or processes that are responsible for issues with performance.
- Viewing users. Use the Users tab to view the currently logged-in users and their active sessions. It can be useful to check if there are any active user sessions or identify any unwanted activity.
- Managing system services. The Services tab lists the system services running on your computer. You can start, stop, or restart services, as well as change their startup type.
Remember that Task Manager provides powerful system management capabilities, so be cautious when making changes and terminating processes. Closing essential system processes can cause system instability, so exercise caution and ensure you know what you're doing.