The only situation that prompts most Windows users to open the Task Manager tool is when a program is running and you want to force it to close. But of course, Microsoft did not design the tool to help you in this situation only, there are many features that you may not know about in the task manager, especially after the additional improvements made in Windows 10. So, there is more than what you can do through this tool now.
Otherwise, there are tricks and hidden facts that are not known by many, even those who use Task Manager daily at work. So, the time has come to know it, we will take a look at what information you are missing about the Windows Task Manager from the lines of this article.
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| Things you don't know about the Windows Task Manager tool |
There are 8 ways to run the Task Manager
It's always good to learn different ways of doing things so that if you can't do something the way you used to, there is another way to do it. As with the Windows Command Prompt, which you can open in 10 different ways, there are also 8 ways to launch the Task Manager tool. Some of them are commonly used, but others are less known among Windows users. In general, we will list for you below all the methods that we know so far:
1- By clicking Ctrl + Alt + Delete: If you press these three keys together simultaneously, a screen will appear that contains 4 important options, including Task Manager.
2- By clicking Ctrl + Shift + Esc: If you press these three keys together, the task management tool will appear in front of you on the screen immediately.
3- Clicking on Windows + X: will display a menu containing a group of quick access options, including Task Manager. You can move the mouse cursor to click on it or press the letter T to open the tool directly.
4- Through the taskbar: By right-clicking on the taskbar, a menu will appear for you where you can add new options to the taskbar or control windows, in addition to the Task Manager option that you can click on with the mouse or click on the letter K to run the tool.
5- Through the Run window: by clicking on the Windows key + the letter R together, a Run window will appear, where you type the “taskmgr.exe” command and press Enter to open the Task Manager tool immediately. Note that the Run window keeps the newly executed commands, so next time all you have to do is press the Windows key + R + Enter key.
6- Through the Start menu: Press the Windows key on the keyboard to display the Start menu. On the left side, scroll down to expand the content of the Windows System folder to see the option to run the Task Manager tool.
7- Through the File Explorer tool: You can also launch the task manager through the main file by going to the C:\Windows\System32 path and running the Taskmgr.exe file by double-clicking on it.
8- Through the taskbar search: Type Task in the search bar next to the Start menu button, then press Enter, as the Task Manager tool will automatically be launched as the first result that appeared in the search results when typing Task.
Some methods are more intuitive than others, but if you are facing some different situations like the keyboard or mouse not working, Windows has stuck or the game you are playing has frozen- whatever, one of these methods will help you to open the task manager without problems.
You can change the default tab
Once you launch the Task Manager tool for the first time, the window will show you the currently open programs and there is a More button at the bottom. If you click on More, the main interface of the task manager will appear. But by default, the tool opens on the Processes tab, where you see all the currently open processes and tasks and monitor their consumption of device resources (processor, RAM, hard disk, graphics card).
But starting with Windows 10, version 1903, you can change that. Open the task manager, then click on the Options section of the toolbar and select from the Set default tab drop-down list the tab you want to default instead of Processes. In my case, I will set the "Performance" tab because it contains important information related to the current performance of the laptop. Every time I launch Task Manager it will open directly to the Performance tab.
Detect the most processor-consuming programs and applications
In the Processes tab, the consumption of programs and applications for the processor and RAM is displayed at present only, but if you want to know the most consuming programs for these resources at all times, the matter will be different. All you need to do is open the task manager, go to the App history tab, click on the Options section at the top, and select Show history for all processes. This will display all the tasks that were running on this computer, whether applications, programs, or Windows services.
Just click on the header of the CPU time column and the list will be rearranged so that it shows you the most processor-consuming processes at the first of the list. As shown in the image above, Google Chrome tops the list. Note that you can do the same with the Network column to find out which program is consuming the most internet.
Always monitor your computer's performance
When you go to the Performance tab in the task manager, you will be able to monitor the consumption of computer resources such as the processor, RAM, hard disk, network card, and monitor. This information is very important, as you should always keep an eye on the differences that occur to see if the computer or one of the resources suffers from high consumption that results in a decline in performance, or if everything is working stably. But instead of running the task manager and switching to Performance every time, you can install a panel on the desktop that shows you performance rates for all resources without relying on any third-party applications, just Task Manager with the Always on top option activated to make this panel always appear when navigating between programs and within games.
What does the "leaf" icon mean?
In Windows 10, when you open the Task Manager, you will notice that a "leaf" icon appears in front of some tasks and below the Status section, as shown above. Some may ask about the meaning of this icon, as it does not appear in front of all tasks, but rather specific programs and applications. Simply put, this icon indicates that the program is currently being suspended by the Windows system to save power consumption and make the laptop's battery life longer. When Windows detects that you have run a program and have not used it for a while it remains open in the background, it will suspend it and mark it with this icon in the task manager, unless the user clicks on it and uses the program again, then this icon will disappear.
