It happens, sometimes, to turn on the PC and notice that it loads slowly and seems almost blocked. The first thing that should come to mind is the possibility that the computer may have been hit by a virus, but it could also be another problem, perhaps a process that takes a long time to load taking almost all the CPU processing capacity, thus blocking everything else.
As learned to do, to unlock windows if the pc freezes or if the computer goes slow you use the Task manager which, in Italian, is called " Task Manager ".
The task manager is one of those tools that you must know how to use even if you are a perfect ignorant of the computer because it always remains a life saver.
To open the Task Manager just press the right button on the toolbar or, when the PC freezes and you can't even move the mouse or click, you can press the keyboard combination " Ctrl + Shift + Esc on the keyboard ".
In the Processes tab, order them by clicking on the header of the memory or CPU column to see which one is occupying too many resources, press the right mouse button and then end the activity.
In Windows 8 the task manager has absolutely improved, with a detail tab and also indicating the use that the various activities do on the disk and on the network.
Some viruses are capable of hiding in the task manager and are designed to reset CPU consumption when you open the task manager.
An external program, an enhanced task manager such as Process Explorer becomes useful.
Process Explorer is a tool edited by Sysinternals, from Microsoft.
It is a simple tool to use and much more detailed to find out what is behind a process and find the program or service that is responsible for it.
For more information on computer activities, you can also use Process Monitor, also from Sysinternals.
Process Monitor is used to find problematic applications and to know exactly who they are and where they are.
Once opened, it could be confused because it shows a lot of different types of objects.
What you need is to open the Tools menu and then click on "Process Activity Summary" to graphically see the use of resources of each application used on the computer.
Expand the window and sort the items according to the Working Set (which would be the memory occupied) to find the process that causes Windows to hang and slow down.
That busy process can then be ended by the task manager.
Another useful program is Process Hacker, to close unnecessary processes and eliminate wasted memory on the computer, which also serves to know what is hidden behind the various services started on Windows.
In another article I had explained how to close processes that get stuck in one click, using the Taskkill command.
In another article it is finally explained how to recognize if the PC has been affected by a virus .
