Windows (8 and 10) - Using the Windows Task Manager

To start the Task Manager, follow either of the following methods.

Method 1

1. On your keyboard, press ctrl + alt+ delete. 
2. Then select Task Manager from the menu list.

Method 2

1. Right-click an empty area of the taskbar, and choose Task Manager from the menu that appears.
2. If your task manager looks like the image below, click More details to expand.

The Processes tab displays the status of the programs that are running on the computer. To start a program, follow these steps:

1. Click the Processes tab.
2. Click File.
3. From the File menu, click Run new task. 
4. In the Create New Task dialog box, click Browse. 
5. Locate and select the program that you want to start, and click Open.
6. Click OK.

Note: This procedure is very similar to starting a program by using the Run command on the Start menu.

The Processes tab displays the status of the programs that are running on the computer. To exit a program, follow these steps:

1. Click the Processes tab.
2. Select the program that you want to exist.
3. Then click End Task at the bottom right of the window.

Note: When you exit a program in this manner, any unsaved data in that program will be lost.

The Details tab displays information about the processes that are running on the computer. A process can be an application that you start or subsystems and services that are managed by the operating system. To end a process, follow these steps:

1. To match a process with a running program, right-click the program name on the Processes tab of Windows Task Manager.
2. From the menu that appears, select Go To Details.
3. Click the Details tab.
4. If you want to end a singular process, select the process that you want to end, and click End Task. If you want to end a process and all processes directly or indirectly related to it, right-click the process that you want to end before clicking End Process Tree.

Note: Proceed with caution when you end a process. If you exit a program in this manner, data that has not been saved will be lost. If you end a system process, a system component may no longer function correctly.

Click the Performance tab to view a dynamic overview of the performance of your computer. Below is an overview of the individual components within the Performance tab.

Connections 

The connections graph displays upload and download speeds, connection information (adapter name, domain name, connection type, IP address). The image below is the Ethernet tab; machines with additional connections (e.g., WiFi, Bluetooth) will accordingly have additional tabs.

CPU

The CPU usage graph shows the total number of handles, threads, and processes that are running. 

• Handles are unique identifiers that allow a program to access system resources such as files, registry keys, fonts, and bitmaps.
• Threads are objects within processes that run program instructions.

Disk

The disk usage graph shows read and write speeds, active time and active response time, and disk capacity (size).

Memory

The memory usage graphic displays the total amount of memory that is both currently in use as well as available to use, the amount of committed memory, the amount of cached memory, and the memory speed.

1. To view a list of programs that start when Windows starts, click the Startup tab.
2. The Startup impact column on the far right side indicates how much each program slows your computer down during the startup process. To stop a program from launching at startup, select the program that you would like to disable.
3. Then click Disable at the bottom right corner of the window.