The Windows Task Manager is the first aid tool for troubleshooting. As seen, if the PC crashes or if the computer goes slow, the first thing to do is open the task manager and check if there is a process or a program that is taking up too much CPU or too much memory.
In Windows 7, the task manager was called, in Italian, Task Manager and is a little more powerful than that of Windows XP.
There are several things you can check on the Windows 7 Task Manager and it is therefore interesting to look at the different lesser known tricks for performing different types of tasks with the "Task Manager" .
READ ALSO: How many things does the task manager on Windows 10 and 8 PC
To quickly open the Task Manager, right click on the taskbar and select " Start Task Manager ".
You can also open the task manager by pressing Ctrl + Shift + Esc .
These are not really special tricks, but 10 ways to use the Task Manager on Windows 7 to find out what your computer does, to see how it uses its resources and to use the tools it makes available.
1) Organize and move windows
The Applications tab of the Windows Task Manager shows the windows of open programs.
By right clicking on one of them you can minimize or maximize, show or hide the window.
It is also possible, and this is the trick, to select multiple windows by holding down CTRL and then right-click on one of them to activate the other options and to place the selected windows side by side or vertically or horizontally.
2) See which applications have used the most processor power (CPU) .
The Processes tab shows the use that active processes make of computer resources in real time.
To see which processes have used multiple CPUs on your computer you need to enable the Time column which is hidden.
Then press on the View menu, then on "Columns" and select that Time (CPU).
Click on the CPU Time column to sort the processes by the time they spent the most resources.
It does not indicate the time since that process was active but how long it has been the one that has consumed the most resources.
The first will always be the idle process.
However, this only indicates the CPU resources used by running programs and not by already closed programs.
3) Manage process priorities
Windows develops priorities to define the importance of one process over another.
A high priority process becomes the first to use the CPU when it needs it while a low priority one will have to wait for its turn, with the percentage of CPU remaining available.
If you want an application to have high priority, you can edit it in the Task Manager.
From the processes tab in Task Manager, right-click on a process, and set a priority.
To quickly find the process related to an open program, right click on the application in the Applications tab of the Task Manager and select Go to process .
Playing with the priorities we have seen in other articles some programs and tools to speed up the execution of high priority programs on Windows .
4) On multi-core computers, you can limit the use of processors for some applications .
Windows assigns the ability to use all CPUs to each process. However, some programs and especially older video games do not work properly if they run on all CPU cores.
To limit one resource usage to one CPU for a program, click on the process and select Set Affinity and choose which CPUs should run that process.
5) Change the compatibility settings
If an application or a program does not work in Windows 7, you can try to run that program with the compatibility settings directly from the Task Manager.
Just select a process, right click and select Properties to activate Compatibility mode .
6) See which service a process is connected to .
In the Windows 7 Task Manager, if you right-click on a process, you can press " Go to Services " to find the one responsible for it.
This is particularly useful for seeing what's behind each individual " svchost.exe " process and seeing which service takes up the most CPUs.
It is also possible the reverse path, in the Services tab, to find out which process is related to it (right click and then on " Go to process ").
To learn more you can read the article What is svchost.exe and how to find the service that uses 99% of the CPU.
7) CPU monitoring icon on the taskbar .
The Task Manager can be used to monitor CPU usage in real time from the icon next to the clock.
When you open Task Manager, you may notice a green icon filling up based on CPU usage.
If you want to keep that notification but make the task manager window disappear, you have to press on Options and enable " Hide if minimized ".
Now you can iconize the task manager and hide it, keeping the monitoring icon.
If the icon is hidden, press the up arrow on the right corner of the desktop, press on the green square of the resource monitor and drag it, holding down, next to the clock.
8) Send a message to another connected user
The Users tab of the Task Manager indicates all those who are using the computer, even remotely.
Especially in companies and offices, it can happen that several people simultaneously connect to the same server from different locations remotely and can thus send messages.
9) From the Task Manager you can enter the Resource Monitor from the button on the Performance tab.
In another article, the guide to using resource monitoring in Windows 7 to analyze processes.
10) See the network speed .
In the Network tab, you can enable, in the View -> Columns menu, real-time control of the actual speed of the bytes sent and received.
With Windows 8 the task manager will have even more functions, it has been completely redesigned and will certainly be explained in the future.
If you are not satisfied with the standard Task manager, you can always install one of the programs to manage processes and activities on Windows in an enhanced way .
