I’ve been posting Task Manager tips all week (here, here, here, and here), so I’ll finish up with a few of my favorite tweaks and techniques for this valuable utility.
First, I keep Task Manager running all the time. From the Options menu, I choose the Hide when minimized option, which keeps it from displaying a button on the taskbar. Instead, it minimizes to an icon in the system tray which glows green to indicate the percentage of CPU resources in use at any given time. If you see a bright green icon here, you know that something is sucking up the CPU.
I also set Task Manager to stay on top (Options, Always on Top) when it’s in use.
Next, I customize the display of columns on the Process tab. With the Processes tab selected, click View, Select Columns. Most of the choices here are fairly geeky, but the Peak Memory Usage and CPU Time columns can be useful.
Most people don’t realize the Task Manager window is resizable. Drag the right border to the right to make room for more information in each listing; drag the bottom border down to make room for more entries in the list.
Finally, if Task Manager’s menus and status bar disappear from view, don’t be alarmed. You double-clicked on a chart on the Performance or on a border of another tab. To return to normal view, double-click any empty space around the border.
Ed Bott 
Ed, all of these tips about the Task Manager are great. Thanks for posting them.
Ken
Why do you keep it running all the time?
Mainly so I can tell (by the bright green bar) whether something is taking over the CPU.
I put mine up, too, and Firefox wigged out the other day, and I was able to quickly identify what was going on and to stop it. Thanks Ed!
Why would the CPU time in task manager be going up in increments of 2 on some machines and not others?
Good question! Your computer must have hyper-threading enabled. That simulates a dual processor, which results in two clock ticks on the CPU Time scale. one for each processor.
great article Ed.. thanks a ton! I have been having a strange problem with Task Manager with my newly installed XP.. when I bring up the Task Manager and even after making sure I check off all the options you have mentioned, it does Not appear in the system tray! I haven’t even install many programs and I am just scratching my head as to why it wont’ appear in the system tray (as you said, it’s much more space saving but still allows me to monitor the cpu usage). Any ideas? Thanks!
Henry, I had the same problem. Here’s what worked for me. Open task manager. Uncheck “Hide When Minimized”. Close Task Manager. Re-open Task manager, check “Hide When Minimized”.
Good luck..
Thanks Ed,
Your tip below was great. Couldn’t find a solution to this elsewhere. Many thanks.
Finally, if Task Manager’s menus and status bar disappear from view, don’t be alarmed. You double-clicked on a chart on the Performance or on a border of another tab. To return to normal view, double-click any empty space around the border.
Ed,
I’ve had the problem with task manager disapearing when minimized. It is still running, just doesn’t show up. When you start it again it shows that it’s recording past activity. I’ve seen this happen on multiple computers. Sometimes your fix works but I’ve got one that it won’t fix.
Joe
Joe, what happens if you try to start Taskmgr.exe from the Run box? Can you get to a Task Manager window and kill the other instance of Taskmgr.exe?
Hey Ed I Need to find out a way to start up taskmgr.exe in the minimized mode, any help is appreciated
Craig, just create a shortcut to Taskmgr.exe and then right-click, choose its properties, and set the Startup type to Minimized.
I have a user when the task manager come up, there is not a X on the display to close the task bar without rebooting the compter.
Hi,
I am using Windows XP on a Dell 4100. Recently I have not been able to minimize any windows. When I attempt to minimize a window, it dissappears. I can open the task manager and it is listed as an opened window but it is NOT displayed on the task bar on my desk top.
How can I reset this function so that I can have my minimized windows displayed on my task bar? What did I do to create this problem?
Please help. It is quite annoying not to be able to switch between opened windows.
Thanks,
Enrico
enricomad@yahoo.com
11-17-2006
Please help. It may be a dumb question but I’m the administrator of this computer and is says my task manager is disabled by the administrator I don’t know how i did it but I’m wondering how do i turn it back on? I have XP home edition
Thanks,
Brad
Hi Brad,
I’m a slow typer so check this URL for the solution. It’s pretty thorough.
http://www.windowsnetworking.com/kbase/WindowsTips/WindowsXP/UserTips/Customization/EnableDisableTaskManagerinWindowsXPHomePro.html
My Task Manager seems to open by all the normal methods, but, my performance bar is frozen with a spike just coming out of the cpu gate and showing 100% cpu usage, and the memory graph is blank and showing 342080 mem usage. The Processes tab shows cpu cycles being 50% to explorer.exe and 50% to taskmngr.exe Sometimes the latter is further divided 25% to taskmngr.exe and 25% to firefox.exe. Even though Firefox is running right this minute, the cpu useage is on a 50/50 split rather than 50/25/25. The Applications tab seems to be okay. If it matters, regedit is working okay. The pc is an ancient Dell Precision 410 with 2 P3 cpus, W2K with current updates, a Power Color Radeon 9250, ClamWin antivirus, and all the rest is pretty ordinary. The pc seems to be running okay, otherwise.
Ed, please help me…My end task menu does not have a Minimize square, or X sqaure to shut down the application (i think that is what it is called) when i end task the only way i can get to another program is to go to “switch to” then, i see a box on the bottom of my computer which has a computer icon in it… I have not way of closing this box. Not even (alt-F4) will work. what do i do to get the minimize, maximize and X boxes back up in the right hand corner. ? please help>!!
Ed, Never mind i figured it out…thanks…i reread an earlier posting you had….you rock!!
Ah, for those who are following along at home and are wondering how Luke solved the problem, the secret is to double-click on the border surrounding the Task Manager dialog box.
I have the same problem as one of the fellows above. And I’m no way a boffin so am quite frustrated.
That is…I am using Windows XP. Recently I too have not been able to minimize any windows. When I attempt to minimize a window, it disappears. I can open the task manager and it is listed as an opened window but it is NOT displayed on the task bar on my desk top.
How can I reset this function so that I can have my minimized windows displayed on my task bar? What did I do to create this problem?
Please help.
Thanks,
Chris
Same as Enrico and Chris….i’m not able to minimize anymore…windows will go to the task manager rather than being minimized to the taskbar.
I’ve been googling the issue but couldn’t find any reference/fix etc. Different combinations of hiding/minimizing on the options menu of the Task Manager haven’t solved the problem.
Any suggestions? Thanks,
David
Having the WTM minimized to a small green icon is very useful. My headache is it often does not appear. I’ve tried all the above tips. What would stop the green icon from appearing? Is this just one of those annoying non-fatal flaws we can never resolve?