A Guide to Windows Task Manager

The task manager in Windows 10 is a utility program that helps the users in managing the running tasks. It manages startup programs, processes, shows graphs of resources running in background etc. Here is a complete guide to know how you can use the task manager.

Learn how to manage task manager in Google Chrome browser.

Using Task Manager in Windows 10

• Different ways to launch task manager
• Disabling tasks
• Monitoring system performance
• Check app history
• Enable or disable startup apps
• Check user specific programs running
• Details of individual processes
• Manage system services

Launching Task Manager

There are multiple ways through which you can launch the task manager.

• Press ‘CTRL+ALT+DEL’ shortcut keys together to open Windows lock screen and the choose ‘Task Manager’ option from the list.
• Right-click on the taskbar and choose the ‘Task Manager’ option.

• Go to ‘Start’ and type ‘Task Manager’ and hit ‘Enter’ key.

Disabling Tasks

When it comes to managing tasks, the ‘Task Manager’ does its job pretty well. We often have problems while using application and sometimes, they stop responding and stuck in between. You can end tasks for currently running applications as well as background processes.

• Open task manager, right-click on any application under the ‘Processes’ tab.
• Choose the ‘End task’ option to end it.

Remember not to end system and other tasks necessary for running Windows or running an application. For example, if you close Google Chrome app then the browser will close an you may loose all open tasks on the browser.

Monitoring System Performance

The second tab is the performance tab which shows the graphs and use of resources by your system.

• You can monitor the performance of your system by checking the CPU usage, memory, disk usage, internet speed, graphics usage, Bluetooth usage.

• At the bottom in ‘Performance’ tab, click on ‘Open Resource Monitor’. You can view the detailed information about the running tasks in your PC.

App History

This tab shows up the detailed history of the apps you were running in previous time.

• There is ‘CPU time’ column for each app which shows the CPU time consumed by that particular app.
• The ‘Network’ tab shows the internet data used by a particular app.
• There is a usage of network bandwidth data for every app shown under ‘Network’ column.

Startup

This tab shows all such programs which are triggered on Windows startup. You can check the impact of an application and disable it if its high and not required. To disable the startup app:

• Open the ‘Startup’ tab and right-click on the name of the application.
• Choose the ‘Disable’ option. From now, the app won’t be able to start again on Windows startup.

In order to reduce the Windows startup time, you can disable all unnecessary startup apps through ‘Task Manager > Startup’ tab.

Users

The user tab just shows up the data regarding the specific user. If the system has more than one user then it will show the status for all of them and their running processes. There are also different tabs as explained above to monitor Windows performance and take necessary actions to keep the system to work properly.

Details

This tab shows the details regarding the processes which are currently running in the system.

• When you are about to troubleshoot your PC and finding the exact location and process ID for that then you can always refer to this tab.
• It includes process priorities and you can also set them if you want.
• It shows the memory usage for an app, status as well as a description for it.
• You can also end that particular task from here also as shown previously.

Services

This one is the last tab of the task manager and it shows all the services running inside your PC. If you are having any trouble with any running service, then disabling it would be the best option. This tab allows you to stop/start/restart services.

• If you want to stop a service, then simply right-click on the service and choose the ‘Stop’ option.
• Similarly, choose the start/restart option to start/restart a service.

• By clicking on ‘Open services’, you’ll find more advanced options.

Don’t stop or start the services if you don’t know the purpose of it. This may affect the system operations.

Conclusion

Task manager is one of the easiest way to kill processes and services in Windows. Whenever an app or program stop responding you can simply kill that app from task manager.