Windows and its Task Manager

In Windows parlance, every running program is a ‘task’ and since Windows can run several programs at once, it’s known as a ‘multi–tasking’ operating system.

At any one time, Windows is juggling dozens of tasks – some are programs started by the user, some are ‘background’ tasks started automatically by other programs to provide useful features (such as virus protection), while others are essential components of the operating system that usually stay out of sight.

All tasks take up computing power and resources though, and some can run amok causing stability problems. Fortunately, it’s easy to take charge of Windows’ tasks with a useful tool called, naturally, Task Manager – and in this Back to Basics article we’ll explain exactly what it can do.

Starting Task Manager
The Task Manager has been a part of Windows for years, but most people have little reason to use it. When Windows and its programs are working normally there’s no need to use Task Manager to see what’s really going on.

Unfortunately, Windows is not always so well-behaved and not only can Task Manager provide some valuable insight into why it isn’t working as expected, but it can also be used to fix it.

Restart Windows to close any running programs, then open the Task Manager by right–clicking a blank part of the Windows Taskbar and selecting Task Manager in Windows XP and Vista, or Start Task Manager in Windows 7.

If that’s not possible (perhaps because Windows isn’t responding), hold the Control (Ctrl) and Alt keys and then tap Delete (Del). In XP, this launches Task Manager directing; Vista and 7 users will need to click to select it from the displayed options or use the Control + Shift + Escape keyboard shortcut.

When the Task Manager dialogue box opens, click its Applications tab. The list here shows the programs that have been manually started by you, the user.

As Windows has just been restarted, the list should be empty. Launch an application, such as Notepad, from the Start menu and it will appear in Task Manager’s Applications list under its own name.

Ending applications
Task Manager’s Applications list should tally with the windows open on the Windows Desktop and each entry should have ‘Running’ next to it in the Status column – a sign that everything is working normally.

If the list is out of step with running programs though, or an application has ‘Not Responding’ in the Status column, there’s a problem.

One of Task Manager’s main uses is to close programs that are not responding to the mouse or keyboard and the End Task button on its Applications tab essentially does the same thing as a program’s Close button.

If, however, this doesn’t work (programs won’t always respond to this polite request from Task Manager to exit), then more drastic action can be taken using the Processes tab.

Terminating a process
The Processes tab shows a list of all running tasks, which includes programs started by the user, background tasks started automatically and essential operating system tasks. This makes the Processes list much longer than the Applications list, but the list can be sorted alphabetically by clicking the Image Name column header.

Look in the image name list for the file name of the program that’s causing problems, and then click the End Process button to terminate it. Rather than ask a program to close itself, this method forcibly terminates it: as such, it doesn’t allow the program the chance to save any unsaved work, so use it with care.

The Processes tab also shows two more useful pieces of information about each running task – the amount of processor time (‘CPU’) it’s commanding and the amount of memory (‘Mem Usage’ in Windows XP and ‘Memory (Private Working Set)’ in Vista/7) it occupies.

Neither is particularly notable in normal circumstances, but if Windows or a program is running slowly (and isn’t listed as ‘Not Responding’ on the applications tab), take a look at its two values here before closing it.

Low-level information
Any program that’s using 90 per cent or more of the processor’s time is likely to slow Windows down considerably and while this is usually fine for a demanding program such as a 3D game or video editor, it suggests something is amiss if it’s an otherwise idle Internet Explorer window, for instance.

Excessive memory use is also problem, since gobbling up large amounts of memory for no obvious reason is a sure sign a program is running out of control – try using a search site such as Google to look for the responsible program’s name along with ‘memory leak’ to shed more light on this particular problem.

An overall view of processor and memory use can be found on the Task Manager’s Performance tab. This shows two constantly updated graphs, along with other live data about what Windows is doing.

The CPU Usage History chart shows how busy the processor is at any one time and even if several programs are open, it should only hover around two or three per cent if they’re not actively doing something.

In Windows Vista and 7, the Physical Memory Usage graph shows how much total memory is in active use. Windows XP instead shows a less–useful ‘Page File Usage’ chart, but all three operating systems show more detailed memory use data below the graphs.

Interpreting these values is beyond the scope of this Back to Basics, but don’t be too worried if there appears to be little ‘Available’ or ‘Free’ memory under the Physical Memory section – Windows is designed to use as much memory as possible, even when it doesn’t appear to be doing anything demanding.

More than meets the eye
We haven’t touched upon all Task Manager features here, but its other options are best left to advanced users. See the box on Resource Monitor for more about another useful tool in Windows Vista and 7, though.

Task Manager in Windows Vista and 7 also has a Resource Monitor button on its Performance tab. Click it and a more detailed Windows performance-monitoring window will open.

Much of the information is too technical to cover here, but the live graphs for CPU, Disk, Network and Memory (on the Overview tab in Windows 7) are worth monitoring if Windows or an application isn’t behaving as expected – prolonged peaks on any of the graphs that coincide with Windows slowdowns or freezes may indicate a problem with that particular part of the PC.

Ending problem programs with Task Manager

 

1  To close a running program that isn’t responding to the mouse or keyboard, right-click the Taskbar and choose Task Manager (Windows XP/Vista) or Start Task Manager (Windows 7). Alternatively, press Control + Alt + Delete and, in Windows Vista/7, select Start Task Manager.

 

 

2  Click the Applications tab and click to highlight the program to be closed. Click the End Task button and a confirmation dialogue box will open. Depending on the state of the program, it may then offer to save any unsaved work before closing down, but don’t count on this.

 

 

3  If End Task has no effect, click the Processes tab and look in the Image Name column for the filename of the program – ie explore.exe is Internet Explorer, for example. Select the program and click the End Process button to kill it more or less immediately, clicking Yes to confirm.