8 T h i n g s Yo u D i d n ’ t K n ow Yo u C o u l d D o I n W i n do w s 7 ′ s Ta s k M a n a g e r

• The Windows Task Manager is often used for troubleshooting – perhaps closing an application that isn’t working properly or monitoring system resource usage.

• To quickly open the Task Manager, right-click your taskbar and select Start Task Manager. You can also press Ctrl+Shift+Esc to quickly launch the Task Manager with a keyboard shortcut.

Task Manager

From the Users tab in the Task Manager, you can see which users are currently logged into your computer. These can be either remote connections or locked local sessions.

You can also send a message to another logged in user from here – just select the user and click Send Message. If the user is currently using the computer, a message box with your message will pop up on their desktop.

Send a Message To Another Logged In User

THE APPLICATIONS TAB IN THE WINDOWS TASK MANAGER SHOWS YOUR OPEN PROGRAM WINDOWS. YOU CAN DOUBLE-CLICK ONE TO SWITCH TO IT, OR RIGHT-CLICK ONE AND SELECT MINIMIZE OR MAXIMIZE TO SHOW OR HIDE IT.

YOU CAN ALSO SELECT MULTIPLE WINDOWS (HOLD CTRL AS YOU CLICK EACH WINDOW IN THE LIST), RIGHT-CLICK THEM, AND TILE THEM HORIZONTALLY OR VERTICALLY.

Arrange and Manage Windows

• The Processes tab shows which processes are currently using CPU on your computer, but that’s only a small part of the picture. To see which processes have been using the most CPU on your computer, you can use the CPU Time column, which is hidden by default.

• To show it, click the View menu, click Select Columns, and enable the CPU Time option.

See Which Applications Have Used Your CPU The Most

Click the cpu time column to sort your processes by cpu time – the processes with the most cpu time have used the most cpu resources.

• Windows processes each have a priority setting – a high-priority process is first in line to use the CPU when it has something to do, while a low priority process will have to wait at the end of the line.

Manage Process Priorities

• If an application should be allocated more CPU resources – or less CPU resources – you can change its priority in the Task Manager. Just right-click a process, point to Set Priority, and select a priority.

To restrict an application to a specific CPU, right-click its process and select Set Affinity. In the Processor Affinity window, select the CPUs that should be allowed to run the process.

• If you use a multi-core CPU – or a CPU with hyperthreading – Windows gives each process the ability to use all your CPUs. Some programs – particularly older games — may not work properly if they’re able to run on all CPU cores.

Restrict Applications to Specific Processors

• If you have a problem with an application, you can change its compatibility settings right from the Task Manager. Just select a process, right-click it, and select Properties. Use the options on the Compatibility tab to modify the program’s compatibility settings.

CHANGE COMPATIBILITY SETTINGS

Svchost.exe is actually a Windows process that runs Windows services – if you want to see exactly which services a svchost.exe process is running, right-click it and select Got to Service(s).

• Have you ever wondered just what “svchost.exe” actually is? If you click the Show processes from all users button, you’ll see multiple svchost.exe processes using different amounts of memory and CPU.

View Linked Processes and Services

• You can also right-click a service on the Services tab and select Go to Process to view its linked process.

MONITOR CPU USAGE

The Task Manager includes a system tray icon, so it can be used to monitor CPU usage.

• http://www.howtogeek.com/124187/8-things-you-didnt-know-you-could-do-in-windows-7s-task-manager/

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