WHAT IS A TASK MANAGER?

For an advanced tool that can do a large number of things, the Task Manager is used to do the most basic thing: see what is running RIGHT NOW

Open programs, are listed as are programs that are running in the 'background' that Windows and your installed programs have started.

Task Manager can be used to forcefully end any of the running programs, as well as to how much individual programs are running your computer's hardware resources and which programs and services are starting when your computer starts.

The easiest way of opening Task Manager is by using Ctrl+ Shift+ Esc.

Ctrl+ Alt+ Del which opens the Windows Security Screen is another way of starting or viewing the Task Manager.

TASK MANAGER: WALKTHROUGH

File Menu: runs new tasks through the Create new Task dialogue box, exits  will close the Task Manager position.

Settings: 

Always on top: keeps the Task Manager in the foreground at all times.

Minimize on use: will minimize the Task Manager when we choose the Switch option

Hide when minimized: will prevent Task Manager from showing up in the taskbar like a normal program.

Default Start Page: sets which tab is in focus when Task Manager is first launched

Show full account name: if selected, displays the user's real name next to the user's username when applicable 

Show history for all processes: if selected, shows data for non-Windows store apps.

View Menu:

Refresh now: when tapped or clicked, instantly update all the regularly updated hardware.

Update speed: sets the rate at which the resource data is updated throughout Task Manager.

Group by type: when checked, groups processes in the Processes app tab by App, Background process and Windows.

Expand all, collapse all and Status Values are some of the other features available through the task bar.

Processes Menu:

The Processes tab in Task Manager is like "home base" in a way—it's the first tab you see by default, gives you some basic information about what's running on your computer right now, and lets you do most of the common things people do in Task Manager.

This tab contains a list of all the running programs and apps on your computer (listed under Apps), as well as any Background processes and Windows processes that are running. From this tab, you can close running programs, bring them to the foreground, see how each is using your computer's resources, and more.

Processes is available in Task Manager as described here in Windows 8 and newer, but most of the same functionality is available in the Applications tab in Windows 7, Vista, and XP. The Processes tab in those older versions of Windows most resembles Details, described below.

Right-click or tap-and-hold on any listed process, and you'll be presented with several options, depending on the type of process:

Expand/Collapse — just another way to collapse or expand any grouped processes or windows - the same as using the little arrows to the left of the app or process name.

Switch to and Bring to front options — available via right-clicking on the window results under the Apps, both bring up the selected window. Minimize and Maximize do what you'd guess, only they don't necessarily bring the window to the foreground.

Restart — available for some processes in control of Windows, like Windows Explorer, and will close and automatically restart that process.

End task — no matter where you find it, does just that — it closes the task. If you End task from a process that has child windows or processes, they will close as well.

Resource values — has nested menus within it of Memory, Disk, and Network. Choose Percents to show resources as a percent of total available on your system. Choose Values (the default) to show the actual level of resource being used. Resource values are also available from the individual column options (more on this in the section below).

Create dump file — generates what's called a "dump with heap" — an often very large file, in DMP format, that contains everything going on with that program, usually helpful only to a software developer trying to fix an unknown problem.

Go to details — switches you to the Details tab and preselects the executable responsible for that process.

Open file location — opens the folder on your computer that contains the executable responsible for that process and preselects it for you.

Search online — opens up a search results page in your default browser for the executable file and the common name, hopefully serving up something useful.

Properties — opens the Properties of the processes' executable. This is the same Properties window you have access to from the file if you were to go there manually via the right-click menu in any file list in Windows.

By default, the Processes tab shows the Name column, as well as Status, CPU, Memory, Disk, and Network. Right-click or tap-and-hold on any column heading and you'll see additional information you can choose to view for each running process:

Name — the program or process's common name, or file description, if it's available. If it's not, the file name of the running process is shown instead. In 64-bit versions of Windows, 32-bit program names are suffixed by (32-bit) when they're running. This column can not be hidden.

Type — shows the type of process in each row—a standard App, a Background process, or a Windows process. Task Manager is usually configured to Group by type already, so this column isn't usually helpful to have open.

Status — will note if a process is Suspended, but only if Task Manager is configured to Show suspended status from the View > Status values menu.

Publisher — shows the running file's author, extracted from the file's copyright data. Nothing is shown if no copyright was included when the file was published.

PID — shows each process's process id, a unique identifying number assigned to each running process.

Process name — displays the actual file name of the process, including the file extension. This is exactly how the file appears if you were to traditionally navigate to it in Windows.

Command line — shows the full path and exact execution of the file that resulted in the running of the process, including any options or variables.

  

Source: lifewire.com