What is the Task Manager?

The Task Manager is exactly what it sounds like. This is where you can see what programs and applications are running and what percent of memory and CPU usage those programs are consuming. You also have the ability to end programs that are not responding and to “kill”, or end, certain processes that are running when they shouldn’t be. The Task Manager is accessible by hitting the Ctrl, Alt & Delete keys simultaneously. Doing so brings up a window where you select the Task Manager button. This way, you can see what is going on with your system.

Why is Task Manager useful?

Once you are in Task Manager, you can view what is running on your computer. This is very important for several reasons. First, if you have a program that is not responding, you can usually end it in the ‘Applications’ tab; however, sometimes that program will not show up as an application and you must try to find it in the ‘Process’ Tab. Microsoft had the forethought to be sure that Task Manager has some safeguards built into it. For example, it will not allow you to kill a critical system process such as csrss.exe. This is a good thing, because doing so will render your computer inoperable; however, you can still get into trouble by ending programs through Task Manager and any data not previously saved will be lost.

If the file is in the middle of an update and the program crashes, you may not be able to recover the file if you ended the process through Task Manager. If your system is running slow and seems generally unresponsive, you can check Task Manager to see what is eating up all of your resources. Is a program loading that consumes most of the available memory? Does one of the processes running use a majority of the CPU’s resources? Task Manager can alert you to these problems and then you can investigate why these situations are happening. Doing so will allow you to use Task Manager as a tool to help ensure your computer is running correctly.

How does Task Manager work?

There are 3 tabs within the Task Manager:

The first is the ‘Applications’ tab. Sometimes, nothing will show here. This means that you have no actual applications running in the foreground, like accounting software, office software, desktop publishing, communications, or games. If there are programs listed here, you can see if they are running or not responding. You can end a program that is not responding by clicking on it and choosing ‘end’. It is guaranteed that you will lose any unsaved data in those applications when terminated this way.

The next tab is the ‘Process’ tab. The information under this tab is extremely useful. This is where you can tell what processes are running and how much memory and CPU they are using. You will even see the numbers changing as the program uses more or less resources. Most of your background processes are listed here, as well as anything running in the foreground. Your system processes are also listed here. Files such as csrss.exe, spoolsv.exe, svchost.exe and a myriad of others will be listed and you can view how much or your computers resources they are using; however, you will not be able to end any of these processes through the Task Manager.

The third tab is the ‘Performance’ tab. This is a graphical interface that gives you information about current memory and CPU usage, graphs out the history of these usages, and other committed resources and threads. There is a lot of information to be gleaned from this tab.

What are the possible problems with Task Manager?

Task Manager does have its shortcomings. Although it tells you what processes and applications are running, it does not give you the file path nor does it tell you which process called those files. When a problem is detected, you must track down the exact location of these files on your computer on your own. This is a time consuming task and there is no guarantee that you will get it right. You can perform a general search for the files, but certain system and temporary files may not be easily accessed or located. If you have a virus or worm, it may not show up at all or it may show up as a critical system file.

A great way to get around this is to have registry repair software like RegCure. This software will show you the complete file path of problem files, allowing you to easily track them down. If it is a file you need, you can chose to leave it alone or, if it is a file that is causing trouble, you can easily remove it. This way you can keep your computer running smoothly, without the hassles created by files eating up your computer’s resources unnecessarily.

We recommend trying the Free Regcure scanner to see if your errors originate in the Windows Registry, as they most often do!

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