The good old task manager seen on Windows XP has evolved over the years to become one of the most effective control tools available on modern computers. On Windows 10, for example, it allows you to perform numerous tasks and to provide invaluable information on running programs, on programs that start up and on the resources occupied by the system and software. In this complete guide we will see together what the Windows 10 Task Manager offers, how to best use it to control processes, how to read the individual screens . At the end of the reading the new task manager will have no more secrets and we can use Windows like never before. Before starting a necessary premise: even if the Windows 10 Task Manager is very similar to the manager on previous operating systems, many functions can only be found on the latest Microsoft operating system.
READ ALSO: How many things does the task manager on Windows 10 PC
Activate Task Manager
The easiest way to activate the task manager on Windows 10 is to right-click on the taskbar and left-click on the Task Manager item.
Alternatively we can access the manager by pressing on the keyboard CTRL + ALT + DEL and clicking on the respective item, pressing CTRL + SHIFT + ESC or by searching, within the Start menu, the Activity Management app.
Simplified mode
By default Windows 10 offers a reduced and simplified version of the task manager.
From this small window we can only view the programs open in the system and terminate those that we do not use, using the End activity button at the bottom right. To return to this view, simply click on the item Less details, when we are in advanced mode.
Advanced mode
By clicking on the More details item in a simplified mode, we will unlock the actual activity manager, the one we will explain in detail in the following chapters.
All the functions of the instrument are contained in the various tabs and menu buttons at the top.
Processes
In this tab we can see all the active processes on the operating system. We can sort the processes based on the Name (so as to immediately show the active ones at the top), or use one of the columns present ( CPU, Memory, Disk, Network, GPU, GPU Engine, Electric Consumption and Consumption Trend ) in order to view the resource consumption, showing at the top the heaviest processes, those that download the most data or that use the 3D resources of the video card more.Performance
In this tab we will have a series of graphs and numbers with which to check the actual consumption of resources by the processes ( CPU, Memory, Disk, Network and GPU ). We can also click on the individual graphs on the left to know in detail the most expensive processes, so that we immediately know what's wrong with the system.To access a more detailed window, we can always open the dedicated control tool, by clicking on Open Resource Monitoring at the bottom.
Application history
By opening this tab we will be able to see the uptime of each application or app present on Windows 10, so as to immediately find an excessive use of resources (we will only have to click on the right column to order according to consumption or time of use)Start
In the Startup tab we can check which programs can start with the operating system, their impact on the system and, in case of problems or slowdowns, remove this privilege. If we have too many programs in auto startup (more than 5 or 6) we recommend ordering them for the Startup Impact column and disabling automatic startup for heavier programs by selecting them and clicking on the Disable button in the lower right corner .In fact, this tab takes the place of the old Msconfig command, which we could launch on Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 to be able to manage programs at startup, as seen in the guide Check the startup of programs when the PC is turned on .
Users
In this tab we can see the consumption of resources per user account. If we have only one account configured, we will only see our user; if instead we have multiple users configured on the computer, we will see the resources committed by each of them (if active).Details
The Details tab is reserved for professionals and IT experts, since it shows the PID code, the status and other useful information to identify a process or its process tree, as well as indicating the presence or absence of virtualization (necessary to increase security when running some apps).
Services
The last tab allows you to view the system services, both active and disabled. To better manage this type of options, we recommend that you press down on Open Services and read our guide on Which Windows Services can be disabled to speed up your PC .Window menu
At the top of the Task Manager window we will have three menus: File, Options and View .
In the File menu, we can manually open a new process in Run new task (for example Explorer.exe, if it has been closed or crashed) or use the Exit key to close the manager.
In the Options menu, we can decide how the manager window should behave compared to the others opened on Windows: we will thus be able to decide whether to keep it in the foreground, whether or not to show the icon at the bottom right on CPU consumption or whether to hide the manager if minimized. The other items available only show full account name and show all job history (available only on some tabs).
Finally in the View menu we can choose to update the content of each tab (with the Update button), choose the update speed and manage the grouping (expanding or compressing the items that have a tree structure).
Conclusions
We have seen together how the Task Manager works on Windows 10, what the various tabs show and how to use the various columns or buttons inside the various tabs of the tool.If the task manager does not convince us or we want to try an alternative, we invite you to read our guide to the Alternatives to the Task manager to manage processes and activities on Windows .
If instead we notice that the manager no longer starts, due to corrupt files or viruses in the system, we can restore the functioning of this important tool by reading our guide on how to restore Task Manager, Registry, cmd and Windows functions after virus attack .
