Task ManagerThe Task Manager Utility has many different uses including monitoring your computer's performance, viewing graphs and data on memory and CPU usage, checking the status of the programs that are running, and even closing programs that have stopped responding. HOW TO START TASK MANAGER Task Manager can be started several different ways. One way is to press the CTRL+ALT+DELETE keys on your keyboard at the same time. You'll then be presented with the security window. In the middle of the bottom row of buttons is the "Task Manager" button. Just click on it to begin.Another way to start it is to find an empty area on your taskbar (that's the bar along the bottom of your screen where the START button resides), and right-click on it. You'll then see a pop-up menu with "Task Manager" as one of the choices. Once open, click on the Applications tab if it isn't already selected. This is where you can view all of the applications (tasks) running on your computer, excluding any processes and services. To the right of the tasks list is a "Status" column. If a task is running normally, you'll see the word "Running" in the status column. If a task has stopped working you'll see "Not Responding" in the status column. To end the unreponsive task, click once on the task name to highlight it, and then click on the "End Task" button near the bottom of the window to end it.
Sometimes even though you click on the "End Task" button, the program will still not close. You'll then see a warning message like the one below telling you that the program is not responding. You'll then have two choices. First you can click the "Cancel" button which will takes you back to Windows so you can check the status of this program. Or, you can click the "End Now" button to continue trying to close the program.
Once the program closes, it should free up your system resources and bring your computer back to life. If it does not, click START>SHUTDOWN and choose RESTART from the drop-down menu. After restarting, your computer should be back to normal. MEMORY HOGS Another possible reason for your computer to become unresponsive is that you have an application running that is using most or all of your available memory. Memory hogs can bring your system to a virtual standstill.
To check for a memory hog open Task Manager and click on the "Processes" tab. Make sure you check the box near the bottom of the window that says "Show processes from all users". You will see a window similar to the one shown above. The column that we are interested in is the "Mem Usage" column on the far right. If you do not see the Mem Usage column, go up to the toolbar and click on the "View" button. From the resulting menu click on "Select Columns..". This will open up the Select Columns window with all of its possible choices. In this case we want to make sure that the "Memory Usage" box is checked. Click OK when done to go back to the Processes tab. You should now see the Mem Usage column.
To find out which process is using the most memory click on the words "Mem Usage" at the top of the Mem Usage column twice, or until the larger numbers appear at the top. Now you will see which process is using the most memory at the top of the list. If you recognize the filename as being a program that you have loaded on your PC, then try to close it normally. If you cannot close it because it appears to be frozen, you can stop it from running by highlighting the program in Task Manager and clicking the "End Process" button at the bottom of the window. You will then see a warning message window which will warn you about stopping processes and the adverse effect it may have on the program. Click YES to continue ending the process. You may have to click it more than one time as explained earlier. Keep going until the process has stopped. Once stopped, your PC should return to normal function. Return from Task Manager to the Tutorials Page
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