While you can press Ctrl + Alt + Del to open the security screen and launch the Task Manager that way, this is a slow method.
Here’s how to pull up the Task Manager quickly: use the Ctrl + Shift + Esc shortcut. This will instantly launch the app with no additional clicks needed. This is also how you bring the Task Manager to the front when it’s minimized.
Finally, you’ll find a shortcut to the Task Manager on the Power User menu. Right-click on the Start button or hit Win + X to open this. It’s a handy Windows Task Manager shortcut because it works well whether your hands are on the mouse or keyboard.
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Find Out Why Apps Are Frozen
To see which process is the real culprit, switch to the Details tab and find the process you want to look into. Right-click on it and choose Analyze wait chain to see the details. If that app is waiting on any other processes, you’ll see them in the resulting window.
Restart Windows Explorer
To do this, find Windows Explorer on the Processes tab of the Task Manager. Right-click it and choose Restart to kill the task and run it again. You’ll see your Taskbar and other elements disappear for a moment, which is normal. After they come back, everything should be back to normal.
Monitor Performance and Resources
Jump to the Performance tab to see these. Once you’re there, have a look at the following tips.
choose Summary View to display only that sidebar. You can instead right-click anywhere in the right panel and select Graph Summary View to display just the current graph.
Copy Diagnostic Info
Access Useful Details
Each resource type has some interesting details that might come in handy. Under CPU, you’ll find Up time, which shows how long it’s been since the computer restarted.
In Memory, you can check the number of Slots used to figure out if you have room to add more. The Read speed and Write speed under Disk give you an idea of how fast your storage media performs, too.
Open Resource Monitor
If you want even more details that the Task Manager doesn’t show you, click Open Resource Monitor at the bottom of the window. This utility is an advanced way to view real-time data about your system, including threads used, disk response times, exact breakdowns of RAM used by processes, and more.
Search Online for Suspicious Processes
Add Extra Columns for More Details
These include:
Type, which tells you if the process is an App, Background process, or Windows process.
Publisher, which shows the developer of the program.
Process name, which is often the executable file. These will look familiar if you’ve used the Task Manager in Windows 7 or earlier.
Manage App Windows
Task Manager is far from the best window management tool available, but it does have a few actions that you might find useful. To access them, you must click the arrow next to an item you want to manage in order to show all its processes. This only works for items listed under the Apps section of the Processes tab, and it didn’t work for all apps in our testing.
Once you’ve expanded an item to show all processes, right-click the indented entry and you’ll see these window actions for that app:
Switch to: Brings the app into focus and minimizes the Task Manager.
Bring to front: Puts the app in focus, but doesn’t minimize the Task Manager.
Minimize: Minimizes the program.
Maximize: Maximizes the application.
End Task: Kills the process.
Open App File Locations
Just right-click on any process and select Open File Location. This will take you directly to the folder that contains the process’s executable file. It’s quite convenient, especially since software can live all across your file system.
This works for Apps, Background Processes, and Windows Processes, allowing you to quickly access pretty much anything that shows up under the Processes tab.
Adjust Task Manager Options
Under Options, you can enable Always on top to keep the Task Manager above other windows unless you manually minimize it. Also on this menu, select Set default tab to choose what the Task Manager should show when you open it.
Look under the View menu to make the Update speed faster or slower. You can even pause it if you need to examine a snapshot in time.