Windows 7 Task Manager – Processes
Posted – in: Maintain
For a more detailed view of your running programs, windows processes and background apps, check the Processes tab. This is perhaps the most useful tool you can use when it comes to solving computer performance problems. I tried to show the entire list of bloat (err…necessary programs), but my screen couldn’t even fit it in. This isn’t quite the default Windows 7 set of processes as I’ve put a few other applications on since installing, so don’t be worried if I have something you don’t.
In case it is unchecked, hit the “Show processes from all users” checkbox and you might find a few other processes that weren’t showing before. We can do quite a lot from here, it just takes a little interpretation.
Image Name – this is the actual application name. This used to be all we would get up until XP, but Vista and 7 have added a nice little Description column to the right hand side. Now you can actually tell what the program is without knowing every .exe name off by heart.
I’m running the 64-bit version of Windows 7 in this case, which is why you see some applications have *32 written after their names. This simply means that they are running in 32-bit mode, where anything else is in glorious 64 bit luxury.
User Name – on this test PC my account is called Billy for some reason – those are programs I have loaded up. The System account is a user account, only you can’t login with it and it has full access to the system. It generally runs things that Windows needs to run, even without someone actually logged in. Network and Local Service accounts are very similar, only they aren’t user accounts, they’re service accounts. Nothing to worry about for most people.
CPU – This shows you how much processing power each individual application is using right now. The higher the number, the more it is using. You can click the word CPU at the top of the column (or any other column) and sort by highest usage. This will make the whole list jump around as different apps request more or less CPU power, so it might be a bit harder to use that way.
As in the applications tab, you can right-click on any program and close it (End Process). This is not advised unless you actually know what you are closing, but then it won’t make your PC explode. Some are Windows processes that can break features such as networking, others might prompt the system to shut down instantly as a security measure. Either way, all will be restored with a restart. Ending a process tree is similar, but closes other applications that the app in question also started – but it doesn’t always work. I just go through one at a time doing the normal End Task.
Worth Noting: There is one process that will probably throw you – the System Idle Process. Basically, ignore it. When you system is idle it will be up to 98 or 99%, but that’s fine – that is the way it is meant to be. If you have any other program hogging a huge percentage of your CPU power then focus on closing that one, not the System Idle Process.
Memory (Private Working Set) – In a nutshell this is the amount of RAM each process is using. It’s not entirely true and you can put another column in which shows a more accurate figure (see below). Again, click the top of the column to sort with the highest at the top (click it again if it sorts the wrong way around).
How to get the most from the processes tab Go to the View menu and choose Select Columns. In here you can customize the columns that are shown in the processes tab.
I find that Memory – Working Set is better and more accurate to have on than Memory – Private Working Set. I also change the Image Path Name to Command Line (scroll down to find it). This is especially useful for things such as svchost.exe, which runs many different processes under one application. By adding in the Command Line rather than Path Name, we can differentiate between the different versions that are running, as shown below. Here you can see how each one is in fact running a different process, otherwise all called svchost.exe
In general if you close anything in Task Manager, it will load again next time you reboot, if it is set to do so. To set whether some of these Windows services load at boot-up, we should check the next tab – Services.
Tags: computer performance problems, exe name, maintain windows, service accounts, task manager, view running processes, Windows 7, windows processes
2 Comments
I see only the processes in my task manager. The tabbed interface is not there. Any ideas?
Hi Jon. If you’re not there yet, try double clicking on the edges of the Task Manager, that should bring back all the other tabs. Regards