Speed up startup, reveal hidden information and rescue unsaved data
Diagnose and fix slow performance
The Performance tab has several useful tricks stuffed up its sleeve. First, try double-clicking on any blank part of the left-hand pane, which reduces all the performance statistics down to a tidy summary view (alternatively, right-click and choose ‘Summary view’).
To see a summary of a particular performance chart double-click in the right-hand pane, or right-click and choose ‘Graph summary view’. Repeat either action to revert to the full view. Finally, it’s useful to tick ‘Always on top’ in the Options menu to keep these summaries in permanent view when you’re trying to diagnose performance problems.
Rescue unsaved data
If a program is unresponsive, you can use Task Master to look behind the scenes and rescue any unsaved data. Select the Details tab, then right-click the affected program and choose ‘Analyze wait chain’. Look for entries coloured red: these are processes that have stalled and are causing the problem. You should always wait a few minutes to see if these processes and the affected program recover but, if you’re certain the freeze is permanent, ending troublesome processes might enable the associated program to spring back into life – giving you the opportunity to save your data. To do this, select a faulty process then click ‘End process’.
Reveal hidden information
Most Task Manager tabs show only a part of all the information that’s available. To see what else is on offer, right-click any column heading – then tick the relevant boxes to reveal more information. In the Details tab, for example, right-click and choose ‘Select columns’ to reveal the ‘Speed up slow startup’ box, which can be used to make Windows faster.
Monitor network traffic
Task Manager has a hidden tool that you can use to monitor how much data is flowing across both wired and wireless networks. Choose the Performance tab then select WiFi in the left-hand panel. Now right-click in the right-hand pane and tick ‘View network details’. If you’re worried about your broadband speeds, check the ‘Link speed’ row to see how fast your various networks are performing.
Speed up urgent tasks
It’s generally best left to Windows to manage its own multi-tasking, but if you need to speed up a particular operation – video editing, for example – then Task Manager can help. Select the Details tab, right-click the relevant tool, point to ‘Set priority’ and click an option higher than Normal. You can use this same method to slow down processes you consider less important, further boosting the speed of other important tools.
Gather troubleshooting statistics
Trying to isolate the cause of a problem? It can be useful to record key information about your computer as text. Select the Performance tab, followed by the relevant category in the left-hand pane, then right-click in the right-hand pane and choose Copy. Press (Ctrl)+V to paste this information wherever it’s needed – into an email to a PC technician, for example.
Speed up slow startup
Task Manager’s Start-up tab is no secret – it’s right there in plain view. And you’ve probably worked out already that it shows the programs and processes that launch with Windows. But it also has hidden features that helps you identify anything that slows your PC’s startup.
First, right-click any of the column headings and tick ‘CPU at start-up’ – this adds a new column with that heading. Next, click that new heading to sort the column by greatest first (indicated by a little down arrow above the heading). The items at the top are those that take the longest time to load, measured in milliseconds (so 11,284ms means 11.2 seconds).
Now look at the item name: if it has a right-pointing arrow then click this to see a breakdown of everything the item is doing during startup. Slow or unwanted items can be disabled by right-clicking them and choosing Disable – you should research online anything you’re unsure about.