Before you start
Objectives: learn how to open and how to use Task Manager in XP.
Prerequisites: you should know what Task Manager is.
Key terms: process, priority, usage, application, cpu, running, real time, view
Open Task Manager
To open Task Manager we can right-click Taskbar and select Task Manager from the menu. Another way is to press CTRL+ALT+ DEL, and then select Task Manager from the menu.
Image 263.1 – Application Tab
Usage
The Applications tab gives us the list of running applications. As we can see we have Calculator opened and its status is ‘Running’. If the status of an application is ‘Not Responding’, we can end it by right-clicking on it and then selecting ‘End Task’ option.
Image 263.2 – Right-click on Application
If the program is not responding it will ask us for confirmation to end it. It will also ask us to send a bug report to Microsoft. The Processes tab lets us view processes. We can also view CPU and memory usage for particular process.
Image 263.3 – Processes Tab
To change the priority for process, right-click the process and go to ‘Set Priority’ option. Real-time is the highest priority. Priority is determined in relationship to the other tasks running on the machine. In our case we will set the priority to the Real-time. Click Yes on the warning.
Image 263.4 – Priority Options
Image 263.5 – Priority Warning
We can also end a process. To do that, simply select the process and click the ‘End Process’ button. Notice the warning message. Terminating a process can cause undesired results including loss of data and system instability.
Image 263.6 – End Process Warning
This is because when we end a process, it stopped immediately. The process is not given a chance to save any data. Let’s look at the Performance tab. Here we can see computer statistics such as CPU and Page File usage.
Image 263.7 – End Process Tab
The Networking tab displays networking statistics.
Image 263.8 – Networking Tab
Remember
Using Task Manager we can end applications that are not responding. We can also see running processes and their memory and CPU usage. We can adjust priority for particular process. Real-time is the highest priority. We can also end a process. Terminating a process can cause undesired results including loss of data and system instability.