Windows 7 / Networking

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Task Manager

Task Manager (Taskmgr.exe) is a GUI tool that you can use to view or end a process or an unresponsive application. You can also use Task Manager to gather other information, such as CPU statistics. To start Task Manager, click Start, type Taskmgr, and then press Enter. Alternatively, you can right-click the taskbar and then click Task Manager.

The Windows Task Manager window contains six tabs: Applications, Processes, Services, Performance, Networking, and Users.

• The Applications and Processes tabs provide a list of applications or processes that are currently active on your system. These lists are valuable because active tasks do not always display a user interface, which can make it difficult to detect activity. Task Manager displays active processes and lets you end most items by clicking End Process. You cannot end some processes immediately; you might need to use the Services snap-in or Taskkill to end them. You can also customize Task Manager to increase or decrease the level of detail shown on the Processes tab.
• The Services tab displays running services and their PID. If you determine that a specific PID is using network resources and you find the PID on this tab, you know that a service is causing the network utilization. To stop a service, right-click it and then click Stop Service.
• The Performance tab graphically displays process and memory utilization. Viewing this tab quickly reveals the total utilization of all programs and services on the computer. The Performance tab also shows key performance counters including the number of processes, the number of threads, and the total physical memory installed in the system.
• The Networking tab shows the utilization of all network interfaces.
• With the Users tab, you can disconnect and log off active users.

To view detailed information about processes, follow these steps:

1. Start Task Manager and then click the Processes tab.
2. Optionally, click Show Processes From All Users.
3. On the View menu, click Select Columns.
4. Select or clear the columns that you want to add to, or remove from, the Processes tab.
5. Click OK to return to Task Manager.

To identify the cause of high processor utilization, follow these steps:

1. Start Task Manager and then click the Performance tab.
2. Click the View menu and then select Show Kernel Times (if it is not already selected).
3. Examine the CPU Usage History graph. If the graph shows values close to 100 percent, one process or multiple processes are consuming the bulk of the computer's process ing capability. The red line shows the percentage of the processor consumed by the kernel, which includes drivers. If the bulk of the processing time is consumed by the kernel, verify that you are using signed drivers and have the latest version of all drivers installed. If the kernel is not responsible for the majority of the processor usage, continue following these steps to identify the process.
4. Click the Processes tab.
5. Click the CPU column heading twice to sort the processes by processor utilization with the highest utilization at the top of the list.

The process or processes consuming the processor will show high CPU utilization values. When the processor is not being used heavily, the System Idle Process shows high CPU utilization.

To find the PID of an application, follow these steps:

1. Start Task Manager and verify that the Process ID (PID) column is displayed on the Processes tab. If it is not displayed, open the View menu, click Select Columns, and then select PID. Click OK.
2. Click the Applications tab.
3. Right-click the application and then click Go To Process.

Task Manager will display the Processes tab. The process associated with the application will be highlighted. The PID is shown in the PID column.

To stop a process, follow these steps:

1. Start Task Manager and then click the Processes tab.
2. Right-click the process you want to stop and then click End Process.

Task Manager will attempt to end the process. If Task Manager fails, use Taskkill.

To identify the network utilization, start Task Manager and then click the Networking tab. Task Manager shows the utilization of each network adapter. The percentage of utilization is measured in relation to the reported Link Speed of the adapter. In most cases, network adapters are not capable of 100 percent utilization; peak utilization is approximately 60 percent to 70 percent.