Page 370 - Windows 10 May 2019 Update The Missing Manual: The Book That Should Have Been in the Box

If you click “More details” to expand the Task Manager into its beefed-up

state, and you’re a power geek, then hours of fun await you. Read on.

Heat Map

Microsoft noticed that people often sorted the Task Manager by CPU (how
much of your processor’s attention is dedicated to each program) or

memory (how much memory each program is using). When your computer
slows down, it’s often because one out-of-control program is hogging the

system—and that’s how you can figure out which one.

The Task Manager’s “heat map” effect saves you the trouble. The “heat
map” uses darker shades of color to flag the programs that are using the
most computer resources—not just CPU cycles or memory, but also

network bandwidth and disk space. In other words, you can now spot the
resource hogs without having to sort the columns or even understand the
numbers.

Similarly, when one resource is being gobbled up disproportionately, Task
Manager darkens that column title (CPU, Memory, Disk, Network) to get
your attention. If your computer has been slowing down, check that column

first.

Tip

The Task Manager tries to use plain-English names for the programs and processes it displays—a
welcome change from the old days of cryptic, programmery names. But you’ll still see unfamiliar
items listed here. Fortunately, you can right-click anything in the list and, from the shortcut menu,
choose “Search online.” You’ll go directly to a page of Bing or Google search results to read about
the mystery item.

The Other Tabs

The Task Manager offers seven tabs. They’re crammed with information

that’s either really useful or really useless, depending on just how technical
a person you are.