Sorting column headers is probably the single most powerful function in task manager.

Drag and drop the columns to re-order them double-click a column border to auto-size it.

I use this tab all the time to scan for processes using a lot of CPU or memory.

The Processes tab is a list of everything running on your PC, whether it has a visible window or not. Why guess when you can right click the application and select Go To Process? That will take you to the process tab and highlight the correct process. Sometimes it's hard to tell how applications map to processes.It's the most convenient way to interact with the applications in the list. You may want to turn off Options | Minimize on Use if you like doing this. Double-click an application to switch to it.Try it! This also works for End Task and Tile/Cascade from the Windows menu. It's not obvious, but you can multi-select applications on this tab.The Applications tab isn't a complete list of everything running on your computer, just a list of everything that has a visible main window. Just use the File | Run and Shut Down menus.* If explorer crashes, you can use taskman as a quick and dirty shell to restart your machine or launch a new process.Be sure to try these menus with each tab selected to see the various options available. The Options and View menus are tab-sensitive the menu items change depending on which tab is currently active.This is particularly useful on the tabs with graphs (Networking and Performance). Double-clicking the body of the tab area causes the tab to 'expand' to cover the entire dialog area.Task Manager has a tabbed interface, and there are a few rules applicable to all tabs: There are a few different ways to launch Task Manager:Ĭtrl + Alt + Del, then click or press the T key.

That's a testament to how well Task Manager was originally designed. Unlike virtually every other Windows OS applet of similar vintage** I still use it every day. Task Manager was introduced with Windows NT 4.0, and although it has changed little in the intervening nine years, it hasn't needed to. Everything you always wanted to know about Task Manager but were afraid to askĭoes anyone remember the Task List from early versions of Windows?įrom those humble beginnings comes my all time favorite windows applet, the venerable Task Manager.

Task manager process