How to open the Windows Task Manager, what it’s used for, and lots more
Task Manager shows you what programs are running on your Windows computer and offers some limited control over those running tasks.
What Is Task Manager Used For?
For an advanced tool that can do an incredible number of things, most of the time the Windows Task Manager is used to do something very basic: see what’s running right now.
Open programs are listed, of course, as are programs that are running «in the background» that Windows and your installed programs have started.
Task Manager can be used to forcefully end any of those running programs, as well as to see how much individual programs are using your computer’s hardware resources and which programs and services are starting when your computer starts.
See our article Task Manager: A Full Walkthrough for every detail about Task Manager. You’ll be amazed at how much you can learn about the software that’s running on your computer with this utility.
How to Open Task Manager
There is no shortage of ways to open Task Manager, which is probably a good thing considering that your computer may be suffering some kind of problem when you need to open it.
Let’s start with the easiest way first: Ctrl+Shift+Esc. Press those three keys together at the same time and Task Manager will launch.
CTRL+ALT+DEL, which opens the Windows Security screen, is another way. In Windows XP, this shortcut opens Task Manager directly.
Another easy way to open Task Manager is to right-click or tap-and-hold on any empty space on the taskbar, that long bar at the bottom of your Desktop. Choose Task Manager (Windows 10, 8, & XP) or Start Task Manager (Windows 7 & Vista) from the pop-up menu.
You can also start the Task Manager directly using its run command. Open a Command Prompt window, or even just Run (Win+R), and then execute taskmgr.
Task Manager is also available on the Power User Menu.
How to Use Task Manager
Task Manager is a well-designed tool in the sense that it’s organized and easy to move around in but is hard to fully explain because there are so many hidden options.
In Windows 10 & Windows 8, Task Manager defaults to a «simple» view of the running foreground programs. Tap or click More details at the bottom to see everything.
Task Manager Explained
Tab
Explanation
Processes
The Processes tab contains a list of all the running programs and apps on your computer (listed under Apps), as well as any Background processes and Windows processes that are running.
From this tab, you can close running programs, bring them to the foreground, see how each is using your computer’s resources, and more.
Processes is available in Task Manager as described here in Windows 10 and Windows 8 but most of the same functionality is available in the Applications tab in Windows 7, Vista, and XP. The Processes tab in those older versions of Windows most resembles Details, described below.
The Performance tab is a summary of what’s going on, overall, with your major hardware components, like your CPU, RAM, hard drive, network, and more.
From this tab you can, of course, watch as usage of these resources changes, but this is also a great place to find valuable information about these areas of your computer. For example, this tab makes it easy to see your CPU model and maximum speed, RAM slots in use, disk transfer rate, your IP address, and lots more.
Performance is available in Task Manager in all versions of Windows but is much improved in Windows 10 and Windows 8 compared to earlier versions.
A Networking tab exists in Task Manager in Windows 7, Vista, and XP, and contains some of the reporting available from the networking related sections in Performance in Windows 10 & 8.
The App history tab shows the CPU usage and network utilization that each Windows app has used between the date listed on the screen through right now.
This tab is great for tracking down any app that might be a CPU or network resource hog.
App history is only available in Task Manager in Windows 10 and Windows 8.
The Startup tab shows every program that starts up automatically with Windows, along with several important details about each, probably most valuable a startup impact rating of High, Medium, or Low.
This tab is great for identifying, and then disabling, programs that you don’t need to be running automatically. Disabling programs that auto-start with Windows is a very easy way to speed up your computer.
Startup is only available in Task Manager in Windows 10 and 8.
The Users tab shows every user that’s currently signed in to the computer and what processes are running within each.
This tab isn’t particularly useful if you’re the only user signed in to your computer, but it’s incredibly valuable for tracking down processes that might be running under another account.
Users is available in Task Manager in all versions of Windows but only shows processes per-user in Windows 10 and Windows 8.
The Details tab shows every individual process that’s running right now—no program grouping, common names, or other user-friendly displays here.
This tab is very helpful during advanced troubleshooting, when you need to easily find something like an executable’s exact location, its PID, or some other piece of information you haven’t found elsewhere in Task Manager.
Details is available in Task Manager in Windows 10 and Windows 8 and most resembles the Processes tab in earlier versions of Windows.
The Services tab shows at least some of the Windows services installed on your computer. Most services will be Running or Stopped.
This tab serves as a quick and convenient way to start and stop major Windows services. Advanced configuration of services is done from the Services module in Microsoft Management Console.
Services is available in Task Manager in Windows 10, 8, 7, and Vista.
Task Manager Availability
Task Manager is included with Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP, as well as with Server versions of the Windows operating system.
Microsoft improved Task Manager, sometimes considerably, between each version of Windows. Specifically, the Task Manager in Windows 10 & 8 is very different than the one in Windows 7 & Vista, and that one very different than the one in Windows XP.
A similar program called Tasks exists in Windows 98 and Windows 95 but doesn’t offer near the feature set that Task Manager does. That program can be opened by executing taskman in those versions of Windows.
Task Manager
The Task Manager is an operating system component found in all versions of Microsoft Windows since Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 2000. It allows you to view each of the tasks (processes) and the overall performance of the computer. Using the Task Manager, you can view how much memory a program is using, stop a frozen program, and view available system resources.
If you are more familiar with Apple computers, you can think of the Task Manager as the Activity Monitor.
How to open the Windows Task Manager
The Task Manager is opened by pressing Ctrl + Shift + Esc on the keyboard. You can also open the Task Manager by right-clicking the taskbar and selecting Task Manager.
Another way to open the Task Manager is by pressing Ctrl + Alt + Del on the keyboard and selecting Task Manager or Start Task Manager.
Windows 8 and Windows 10 users can also access the Task Manager by right-clicking Start or pressing the Windows Key + X to access the power user task manager. In this menu, you can access the Task Manager.
In Windows Vista and later versions, click Start, type taskmgr in the Search text box, and select the taskmgr.exe or Task Manager option in the search results.
In Windows XP and earlier versions, Task Manager can also be executed by running the taskmgr.exe file from the C:\Winnt\System32 directory or by clicking Start > Run, typing taskmgr, and pressing Enter .
Early versions of Microsoft Windows (Microsoft Windows 3.x, Windows 95, Windows 98) had a program called tasks to display the programs currently running. This program was executed by running the taskman.exe file from the C:\Windows directory.
Visual examples of Task Manager
Below are visual examples of the Task Manager in Windows 2000, Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 10.
Windows 10 Task Manager
Windows 8 Task Manager
Windows 7 Task Manager
Windows 2000 Task Manager
Explanation of the tabs in Task Manager
Below is an explanation of each of the tabs found in all versions of the Windows Task Manager window and its ability.
Applications tab
The Applications tab is included in all versions of Windows, except Windows 8 and Windows 10, and shows all open programs running on the computer. For most users of Windows 7 and earlier, the Applications tab is the most visited tab. It displays the programs running, including those that stop responding and require you to End Task it. Windows 8 and 10 users can find the End Task on the Processes tab.
Processes tab
The Processes tab is in all versions of Windows, including Windows 8 and Windows 10, and shows all Windows processes currently running on the computer. Starting with Windows 8, Microsoft combined the Applications and Processes tab, hence the reason the Applications tab does not appear in Windows 8 or 10.
Services tab
The Services tab shows all the Windows Services currently running on the computer.
Performance tab
The Performance tab displays the computer’s available system resources, including how much CPU, memory, disk drive, Wi-Fi, and network is used. Newer versions of Windows also show the chart of usage for each of these as they’re used. At the bottom of this tab is also a quick link to the Resource Monitor.
Networking tab
The Networking tab in all versions of Windows, except Windows 8 and Windows 10, shows network traffic happening on the computer, including any LAN or Wireless networking traffic.
In the Windows 8 and Windows 10 Processes tab, Network usage may be viewed in the Task Manager, under More details.
Users tab
The Users tab shows all the users logged in to the computer. In Windows 8, the Users tab also shows the processes that each user is running.
App history tab
The App history tab was introduced in Windows 8. It shows the overall history of each of the Windows Apps (not traditional Windows programs) that have run on the computer.
Startup tab
The Startup tab was introduced with Windows 8 and shows each program that starts with Windows and its impact on the load time. From the Startup tab, you can also disable the startup programs from this section of Task Manager.
Details tab
The Details tab was introduced with Windows 8 and has full details of each of the processes running on the computer.
What to do in the Task Manager?
One of the most common things done in Task Manager is using End Task to stop a program from running. If a program is no longer responding, you can choose to End Task from the Task Manager to close the program without having to restart the computer.
Why are there duplicate processes listed in Task Manager?
Some programs may break parts of the program out as a separate process. For example, the Google Chrome browser loads each of the open tabs into its own process to help make the program more secure and stable. There is nothing wrong with the computer if you see more than one of the same processes open at the same time.
Why am I unable to open the Task Manager?
If you’re encountering issues opening the Task Manager, the computer could be infected with a virus or spyware. There is known malware designed to cause issues with opening the Task Manager and end tasking them. If you’re not able to open Task Manager using any of the recommendations on this page, we suggest scanning your computer for viruses and spyware.
It could also be possible that the Task Manager file in Windows is corrupted, preventing it from running. To fix this problem, revert Windows to a previous restore point where the Task Manager was last working or run a Windows repair installation. For help with restoring Windows, see: How to restore Windows to an earlier copy.
How to get even more control of the Windows processes
The Windows Task Manager is an excellent tool for almost all Windows users. However, there are times where more experienced users may need additional details and information about the processes running on their computer. For these situations, we highly recommend the free Process Explorer utility from Microsoft that is part of the Sysinternals.
The Windows Task Manager (Core Windows Tools)
The Windows Task Manager is one of the core programs that ships with every version of the Windows operating system.
Designed to provide users with an overview of what is running and happening on the system, it is considered an advanced tool by many.
The Task Manager is more or less identical on Windows 7 and earlier versions of Windows while it has changed in Windows 8 and newer versions.
So how do you start the Task Manager on your system?
Probably the easiest and most common option is to use Ctrl-Shift-Esc to do so. This opens the Task Manager right away on the desktop.
There are however other options to open the Task Manager (not all may be available in all Windows versions).
Right-click on the taskbar and select (Start) Task Manager.
Use Windows-r to bring up the run box, type taskmgr and hit enter.
Press Ctrl-Alt-Del and on the screen that pops up (Start) Task Manager.
Common Tasks
You can use the Task Manager for a variety of tasks. Here are a couple of common ones:
Terminate programs that cannot be closed normally anymore (crashed but still running, closing has no effect..)
Check the cpu load and memory usage of the system or individual programs running on it.
Find out which processes are running on the system.
The Task Manager
The task manager displays the running processes under the current user account on run on Windows 7 and earlier, and all running apps on Windows 8 and later on start. Windows 8 users can click or tap on more details to display the running processes as well. It opens in a basic view mode on Windows 10 but remembers when you switch to the new mode.
Note that processes includes services as well that are running on the system at the time
Each process is listed with its name, cpu and memory load, user account it is running under and description by default. On Windows 10, you get the processes listing which groups processes and the details listing which does not do that.
The Windows 10 task manager
It is possible to add information to the table, for instance the process ID or I/O reads or writes. Check out this guide that explains how to do so in detail. Basically, what you do is right-click on the table header row to add or remove rows from the listing.
A right-click on a line displays a context menu with several options. Here are the most important ones (you find some of them only under Details in Windows 10):
Open File Location — This opens the file’s location in the default file manager, usually Windows Explorer or File Explorer.
End Process or End Process Tree — This terminates the selected process or the selected process and all other processes that it has started directly or indirectly. Useful if you cannot close a program window on the system the usual ways for example. A tap on the Del key while a process is selected has the same effect as End Process.
Set Priority — This changes the priority of the process for as long as it is running. You need to use third-party tools if you want to modify the priority of a process permanently.
Set Affinity — Force the selected process to use only select processor cores instead of all of them. This too is only valid for as long as the process is running.
Properties — Opens the properties dialog window of the selected file.
Search Online (Windows 8+) — Runs a search for the process in the default browser and search engine.
Processes can be sorted with a click on a table header. It is for instance possible to sort processes by cpu or memory use which can provide you with information on which processes use the most system resources.
The button «Show processes from all users» restarts the Windows Task Manager to display processes that are not run by the user account but by other users on the system.
Performance and Networking
A click on the performance tab displays performance related information including the current cpu and memory usage as well as the history, and additional information such as the available memory or the total number of processes, threads and handles.
Related to that is the networking tab which displays the network utilization.
The Windows 10 Task Manager: resources
Microsoft has merged network and performance under Windows 8 so that the information is displayed on the same screen.
The Windows 10 task manager displays more information, e.g. about hard drives.
Services
The third and final major component of the task manager is the services tab. It lists all services and their state, and provides options to start and stop services right from there.
The button services opens the Services manager of the operating system.
Windows 8+ specific
Windows 8 ships with three additional tabs in the task manager.
The first displays items that are loaded on start. This is limited to programs though. Options are available to disable the program so that it won’t be loaded on system start.
App History lists all apps that have been started on a system in the past 14 day period. The apps’ cpu time and network utilization are listed on the page.
Details finally is a detailed processes listing that offers additional information about each process.
Windows 10 specific
The Windows 10 Task Manager features additional options that previous Task Managers lacked. It has a new users tab that lists processes sorted by signed in user and some new bits of information such as the GPU performance or GPU temperature.
Additional Resources
Now You: Are you using the Windows Task Manager? If so, for what?
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The Windows 10 task manager
The Windows 10 Task Manager: resources
