Windows Vista Task Manager

The Windows Task Manager allows you to view and monitor various activities that occur on your computer. Examples of information available in Task Manager are running applications, CPU and RAM usage, startup apps (Windows 8 and 10 only), and services. Warning Computers running Windows Vista Home do not have access to Group Policy (gpedit.msc) This method shows you how to Disable/Enable Task Manager from Group Policy Please perform the following steps. Before you start Objectives: learn how to use Task Manager in Vista. Prerequisites: you should know about Task Manager in general. Key terms: task, manager, application, process, service, user, network, performance, information Open Task Manager In our case we will open Task Manager by right-clicking on Taskbar and selecting Task Manager option.

Topics Map > OS and Desktop Applications > Operating Systems > Windows

Although you can use the Task Manager to monitor when things are going wrong with your system, this isn’t very useful if the system is so locked up that you can’t open it. One way to avoid this problem is to set Windows Vista to automatically run the Task Manager when it starts up. The Task Manager is a handy tool that lets you monitor the way applications are using your computer’s resources and close “frozen” programs. You can place the Task Manager in the Windows Vista system tray if you want to keep it handy while you work but you don’t want to. The Task Manager is a handy tool that lets you monitor the way applications are using your computer’s resources and close “frozen” programs. You can place the Task Manager in the Windows Vista system tray if you want to keep it handy while you work but you don’t want to have it open on your desktop all the time.

This document provides basic information about how to use Windows Task Manager to start programs, to end processes, and to monitor the computer's performance.

You can use Task Manager to start programs, to start or to end processes, and to view a dynamic display of your computer's performance.

How to start Task Manager

To start Task Manager, take any of the following actions:

Press CTRL+ALT+DELETE, and then click Task Manager.
Press CTRL+SHIFT+ESC.
Right-click an empty area of the taskbar, and then click Task Manager.

How to use Task Manager Help

Everything that you might want to know about Task Manager is included in the Task Manager Help file. Some of the help topics are intended for a general audience. Other topics are intended for a more advanced audience. To view the Task Manager Help file, follow these steps:

Press CTRL+ALT+DELETE, and then click Task Manager.
In Task Manager, click Help, and then click Task Manager Help Topics.

In the 'Task Manager overview' topic, you can read about the features and uses of Task Manager by clicking the following topics and reading the topic and all related topics:

Programs that are running
Processes that are running
Performance measures

How to exit, switch to, or start a program

The Applications tab displays the status of the programs that are running on the computer. To exit, switch to, or start a program, follow these steps:

Click the Applications tab.
Do one of the following, as appropriate for the action that you want to perform:
- Exit a program: To exit a program, click the program that you want to exit, and then click End Task.
  Note: When you exit a program in this manner, any unsaved data in that program is lost.
- Switch to another program: To switch to another program, click the program that you want to switch to, and then click Switch To.
- Start a program: To start a program, click New Task. In the Create New Task dialog box, click Browse, locate and select the program that you want to start, click Open, and then click OK.
  Note: This procedure is very similar to starting a program by using the Run command on the Start menu.

How to end a process

The Processes 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.

To match a process with a running program, right-click the program name on the Applications tab of Windows Task Manager, and then click Go To Process.

Click the Processes tab.
Do one of the following, depending on the action that you want to perform:
- If you want to end a single process, click the process that you want to end, and then click End Process.
- 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, and then click 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.

How to monitor your computer's performance

Click the Performance tab to view a dynamic overview of the performance of your computer. This includes the following measures:

Task manager windows vista funktioniert nicht

Graphs for CPU and memory usage
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.
The total number of kilobytes (KB) that are used for physical, kernel, and commit memory

Note: Your system administrator may have implemented a local policy on your computer to disable Task Manager. In this scenario, you should contact the system administrator or your help desk if you need local process control or the ability to monitor the computer's performance.

This document was adapted from the Microsoft Knowledge Base article 323527.

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 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. Like with most keyboard shortcuts, press the Ctrl, Alt, and Del keys at the same time to bring up this screen, which includes an option to open Task Manager, among other things. 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 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.