The Windows Task Manager has been one of the internal applications improved by Microsoft in the latest version of the operating system. Most users use this tool to end a frozen application that crashes the system.
How to Open Task Manager on Windows 10
However, it is a very important management tool that can be used for other uses as we will see today. Accessing the Windows 10 task manager is extremely simple and in several ways:
- Keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Alt + Del. This is the method that almost everyone knows about. It can be used but in Windows 10, the Task Manager does not start directly and you will have to do an additional click to start it.
- Ctrl + Shift + Esc keyboard shortcut. Much better than the previous one, it immediately launches the Task Manager and on top of it can be used with one hand.
- Taskbar. If you right click on the taskbar there is an option to access the administrator.
- Advanced user menu. Another quick access using the mouse. Right click on the start button to access the advanced menu and you will also find this Task Manager.
- Run. If you use the run command, open the dialog box with Wim + R and type “taskmgr”.
From here, you will have access to a series of management functions that can be very useful for professionals or advanced users who want to fully control their equipment.
Check why the app is frozen
As we mentioned, the most common reason to open the task manager is to end a frozen application. But, when you are in this situation wait a bit, it may not be frozen and it just takes a while to complete the process.
What’s new comes from a new feature called “analyze” that can help you identify the problem and avoid brute force kill the application, which can result in data loss. It is only available in the details tab.
Restart Windows Explorer
Sometimes some parts of the system are not responding (taskbar, file explorer, Start, etc.), while other applications are running fine. Restarting your computer will solve the problem, but restarting your browser may be sufficient. The task manager now has a special action for this. If you use it, it will finish the task and restart automatically.
Performance and resource monitor
This is where the Windows 10 Task Manager really shines. Not only does it provide an overview of all running processes and applications, it has several tools to effectively monitor system performance and how resources are allocated.
It includes a lot of information, from the resource monitor (RAM, processor …) that offers real time data visualization; diagnostic information with logs that you can share for evaluations; network details and other resources of interest.
Online search for suspicious processes
Sometimes you may see unknown processes in the task manager. Most of it will be legitimate, but if you don’t trust it, you can verify it by clicking on the suspicious process and activating the online search. This will start a browser search for the application name and process name, and help determine whether or not it is safe or malicious.
Add additional columns for more detail
By default, the new Windows 10 Task Manager only shows five columns when listing processes: Name, CPU, Memory, Disk, and Network. While they are the most important, you can actually add up to six more columns simply by right-clicking in the header area.
All of them can be useful in the right situation, particularly the process name because it makes it easy to detect suspicious applications by their process name.
Switch between values and percentages
When browsing the list of processes, the CPU column can show percentages, but in the other three columns by default you can change them to absolute values, more useful in some situations. Just right-click on any process, go to the resources submenu and you can switch between one and the other.
Manage Windows applications easily
The task manager is far from the best window management tool, but it has a couple of actions that can come in handy. To access them, click on the drop-down arrow next to the one you want to manage. The ones that work offer five actions, from bring to front, maximize, minimize, or finish the task.
Open application file location
Sometimes it is difficult to navigate to the installation location of a particular program. The file explorer is the general option but if the application is being used, from the task manager you can access it in record time.
Just click on any process and select “open file location”. This will take you directly to the folder that contains the executable file of the process. It works for applications, background processes, and Windows processes. Quick and practical.
Launch the command prompt directly
In the task manager you can go to the File menu and select “run a new task” to launch the run dialog. Most of the people who use this tool know about it because it is one of the ways to manually restart a frozen browser in older versions of Windows.
What not everyone knows is that you can access the Windows console in the same way by simply holding down the Control key. Very useful.