How Computers Work – Course Information



EMMA HS1 Semester 2 Outline Week #13

Task Manager

Overview - Task Manager provides information about programs and processes running on your computer. It also displays the most commonly used performance measures for processes.

Applications - Exit program - Switch to another program – Start a program

Processes - On the Processes tab, you can monitor running processes using different counters, which can be displayed as column headings. To display a process as a column heading, on the View menu, click Select Columns. Select the check boxes that correspond to the processes you want displayed as column headings.

Default Columns

Image Name – Running Process

User Name - Process started by

CPU – The percentage of time that a process used the CPU since the last update

Mem Usage - Memory used by process in Kilobytes

Performance - Performance tab to view a dynamic overview of the performance of your computer

CPU Usage

CPU Usage History

PF Usage

Page File Usage History

Totals

Physical memory (K)

Commit Charge (K)

Kernel memory (K)

Networking - The Networking tab provides an indication of the network traffic for the connections on the local computer.

Homework

Online - Task Manager Quiz

Task Manager

Overview - Task Manager provides information about programs and processes running on your computer. It also displays the most commonly used performance measures for processes.

You can use Task Manager to monitor key indicators of your computer's performance. You can see the status of the programs that are running and end programs that have stopped responding. You can also assess the activity of running processes using as many as fifteen parameters, and see graphs and data on CPU and memory usage.

In addition, if you are connected to a network, you can view network status and see how your network is functioning.

If you have more than one user connected to your computer, you can see who is connected, what they are working on, and you can send them a message.

How to start Task Manager

To start Task Manager, take any of the following actions:

|• |Press CTRL+ALT+DELETE, and then click Task Manager. |

|• |Press CTRL+SHIFT+ESC. |

|• |Right-click an empty area of the taskbar, and then click Task Manager. |

How to use Task Manager Help

Everything that you might want to know about Task Manager is included in the Task Manager Help file. Some of the help topics are intended for a general audience. Other topics are intended for a more advanced audience. To view the Task Manager Help file, follow these steps:

|1.|Press CTRL+ALT+DELETE, and then click Task Manager. |

|2.|In Task Manager, click Help, and then click Task Manager Help Topics. |

In the "Task Manager overview" topic, you can read about the features and uses of Task Manager by clicking the following topics and reading the topic and all related topics:

|• |Programs that are running |

|• |Processes that are running |

|• |Performance measures |

How to exit, switch to, or start a program

The Applications tab displays the status of the programs that are running on the computer. To exit, switch to, or start a program, follow these steps:

|1.|Click the Applications tab. |

|2.|Do one of the following, as appropriate for the action that you want to perform: |

| |• |

| |Exit a program |

| | |

| |To exit a program, click the program that you want to exit, and then click End Task. |

| | |

| |Note When you exit a program in this manner, any unsaved data in that program is lost. |

| | |

| |• |

| |Switch to another program |

| | |

| |To switch to another program, click the program that you want to switch to, and then click Switch To. |

| | |

| |• |

| |Start a program |

| | |

| |To start a program, click New Task. In the Create New Task dialog box, click Browse, locate and select the program that you want to start, click Open, and |

| |then click OK. |

| | |

| |Note This procedure is very similar to starting a program by using the Run command on the Start menu. |

| | |

Processes

The Processes tab displays information about the processes that are running on the computer. A process can be an application that you start or subsystems and services that are managed by the operating system. To end a process, follow these steps.

Note Proceed with caution when you end a process. If you exit a program in this manner, data that has not been saved will be lost. If you end a system process, a system component may no longer function correctly. To match a process with a running program, right-click the program name on the Applications tab of Windows Task Manager, and then click Go To Process.

|1.|Click the Processes tab. |

|2.|Do one of the following, depending on the action that you want to perform: |

| |• |

| |If you want to end a single process, click the process that you want to end, and then click End Process. |

| | |

| |• |

| |If you want to end a process and all processes directly or indirectly related to it, right-click the |

| |process that you want to end, and then click End Process Tree. |

| | |

How to monitor your computer's performance

Click the Performance tab to view a dynamic overview of the performance of your computer. This includes the following measures:

|• |Graphs for CPU and memory usage |

|• |The total number of handles, threads, and processes that are running |

| | |

| |Handles are unique identifiers that allow a program to access system resources such as files, registry keys, fonts, and |

| |bitmaps. Threads are objects within processes that run program instructions. |

|• |The total number of kilobytes (KB) that are used for physical, kernel, and commit memory |

CPU Usage - A graph indicating the percentage of time the processor is working. This counter is a primary indicator of processor activity. View this graph to see how much processing time you are using. If your computer seems to be running slowly, this graph could display a higher percentage.

CPU Usage History - A graph showing how busy the CPU has been over time. The sampling displayed in the graph depends on the value you select for the Update Speed on the View menu. Updates occur with these possible values: High = twice per second; Normal = once every two seconds; Low = once every four seconds; Paused = display doesn't automatically update.

PF Usage - The amount of paging file being used by the system. If your computer is running near the maximum, you can increase the page file size.

Page File Usage History - Graph depicting the amount of page file used over time. The sampling displayed in the graph depends on the value you select for the Update Speed on the View menu.

Totals - Totals for the number of handles, threads, and processes running on the computer.

Commit Charge - Memory allocated to programs and the operating system. Because of memory copied to the paging file, called virtual memory, the value listed under Peak may exceed the maximum physical memory. The value for Total is the same as that depicted in the Page File Usage History graph.

Physical Memory - The total physical memory, also called RAM, installed on your computer. Available represents the amount of free memory that is available for use. The System Cache shows the current physical memory used to map pages of open files.

Kernel Memory - Memory used by the operating system kernel and device drivers. Paged is memory that can be copied to the paging file, thereby freeing the physical memory. The physical memory can then be used by the operating system. Nonpaged is memory that remains resident in physical memory and will not be copied out to the paging file.

Networking

The Networking tab provides an indication of the network traffic for the connections on the local computer. It is useful as a quick reference for determining the amount of network bandwidth being consumed. When multiple network connections are being used, it allows easy comparison of the traffic for each connection.

If you have multiple networking cards on your computer, the chart displays a composite index of all networks, representing all network traffic.

In order to show a visible line on the graph for network traffic on any interface, the view automatically scales to magnify the view of traffic versus available bandwidth. So in a low traffic situation, the full height of the graph may represent only 5% of available bandwidth for the connection. When traffic increases beyond that level, the scaling will be reduced to give a less magnified view of the current traffic (for example, to display 10% of the total available bandwidth). The greater the percentage shown on the graph, the less is the magnification of traffic with respect to available bandwidth. The scaling factor is indicated on the graph. To disable scaling, on the Options menu, click Auto Scale to toggle the value.

In addition, you can change the column headings that are displayed below the graph. These headings are described in the following table.

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