Task Manager in Windows XP
By SirjayEFX
Table of Contents
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Introduction
This tutorial will explain the methods to start, what it is showing you, and how you can use it to help troubleshoot issues on your computer.
How to Open
To open up Task Manager, there are several methods. The two most common ways are pressing <ctrl> + <alt> + <delete> on your keyboard at the same time or you can right- click the task bar and select Task Manager. Other methods include using run commands, but are rarely used. In very rare cases, The Task Manager may be disabled by the administrator of the computer. If you are the only user of your computer and you get this, use Google to assist you. Once it is open, you will see basic commands on the top of the screen, and five tabs below it and these are :Applications, processes, Performance, Networking, and Users.
Applications
The first thing you will see when you open up Task Manager is the applications tab. With the exception of Task Manager, this list will match all of the items that you have on your task bar, on the bottom of your screen. For the first time that you use Task Manager, you may have to click view -> details to see more then just icons. Under status, it will let you know if each task is running or not responding. If an application is not responding for more then 60 seconds, it is often a sign of it locking up. There are two different commands you can do with the tasks listed here. You can double left-click the task and it will bring the item back up on your screen, in the event that it is minimized. You can also right-click the task to bring up a menu. This menu will have more options such as go to process, which will enable you to see which task is associated with the image name under the process tab. For most purposes on this tab, you can simply single left-click a task and click end task from the bottom of the screen for those that are not responding.
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Processes
The Processes tab is one that will show you everything that is running on your computer, 'behind the scenes'. It can be both useful and dangerous information. Before we get started on what you are seeing, please do a few preliminary steps. On the bottom left of the screen, click the check box for 'show processes from all users'. Click view -> select columns and place a check in these boxes: CPU Usage, CPU time, Memory usage, peak memory usage, User Name, virtual memory size, and finally base priority, then click OK. Once you have these, it is possible that you may have to manually re-size the window. You can do this by placing the cursor on the extreme lower-right of the window until the cursor changes into two diagonal arrows and dragging it with the left mouse button. Click the Mem Usage heading to sort the image names in order from highest to lowest. The final step to prepare is to click view -> update speed ->high.
On the bottom of this screen, you will see Processes followed by a number. This is the number under Image Name. The CPU Usage also at the bottom, is the % of the CPU that is being used by all of the items under Image Name. The exception to this, is the Image System Idle Process. This specific image is how much of the CPU is actually waiting for you to do something, or how much of your computer is 'at idle'. You can also use the CPU Time on this image to see how long your computer has been up and running. The last value on the bottom is commit charge followed by a number as shown in picture, 315M/3995M. In this case, I am using 315MB memory out of maximum 3995MB. Commit charge includes both physical memory (RAM installed on your computer) and virtual memory (hard drive space reserved for memory uses).
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Up to this point, you have not made any permanent changes. You have only changed the way that the information is being shown on your screen. As you may be able to tell, you have more items to 'end process' that you did on the application tab. It is nearly impossible to determine every single possibility in this tutorial on which ones are bad and which ones are needed. It is highly recommended that you research on your own on the processes that you have on your computer before you make any changes. If you end the wrong one, it is possible that your computer will stop completely. As mentioned before, this image names are the files that are running 'behind the scenes'; however, it is a good indicator of something specific going wrong. In some cases, programs that can have a negative impact on your computer can be seen here.
When you see an image name that is taking up a large portion of your CPU or Mem Usage and you are absolutely positive that it is something negative, you can single left-click it, and click end process on the bottom-right. Do NOT under ANY circumstances right-click the image name and select End Process Tree-it is not the same thing as mentioned above.
Performance
This tab represents in a graph, the % of your CPU, and the amount of total memory in use. The amount of memory showed on this graph, is all of the different types that you have together. You can see the break down of the specifics on the bottom portion of this window. Many times, people will use this graph as a representative on the stability of their computer. If either of these are going up and down rapidly, then there is something causing it. When the lines are straight and moving very little, it is an indication of a stable computer.
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Networking
This tab will show you when information is being sent and received between your computer and the Internet. If you have more then one possible connection (such as a laptop), it will show both of them, with one of them being non-operational. To add basic information on this screen, click view -> select columns and place a check in these boxes: Network Utilization, link speed, state, bytes sent, bytes received, bytes sent/interval, and bytes received/interval. Also on the view screen, have a check on all three items that is under Network Adapter History. You may also want to click options and place a check on auto scale and show scale. This screen, you can not end process; it is meant as a visual to see how much of your Internet connection you are using. Please note, the screen shot shows that this computer has a networked hard drive. Your screen should not be this active unless you are doing something on line at the time. In the event that you do have a lot of Internet activity and are sure that you do not have any applications accessing the Internet, you may have an issue that needs to be fixed.
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Users
This tab shows all of the different users that are logged in the computer. This is used that you can disconnect a user name without having to log on their account. The ability to do this may be limited for someone who does not have an administrator account. You can also send messages from one user account to another by left-clicking their name and then click send message on the bottom-right. When they log back in, they will get the message, and can not continue to do anything else until they click OK. For people who only have one user account on their computer, they will not get much use out of this tab, but can be useful if the guest account is used from time to time.
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Conclusion
There can be many things that can slow a computer down. By using Task Manager, you can see what is going on and make changes accordingly. Often time, just by ending the task, it will be taken care of and you will not see it again. Other times, it is not that simple. With this application that is already in Windows XP(home and pro), you will have more knowledge on how programs use your CPU and memory. Having the knowledge of what is going on is only half the battle. Doing research on what you need and being able to eliminate the items that can hinder your computer’s performance will make for a greater computer experience.