task manager

A sluggish HP OmniBook 5 14 is usually fixable, but the reason matters: on a modern Windows on Arm laptop, performance bottlenecks can come from startup clutter, outdated firmware, storage pressure, poorly optimized apps, or software running under emulation. The good news is that most of the...

Windows 11’s Task Manager is finally learning how to speak the language of AI hardware, and that matters more than it may sound at first glance. In Dev build 26300.8142, Microsoft is adding optional NPU, NPU Engine, and NPU memory columns, along with an Isolation field that reveals AppContainer...

Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26220.8138 is less about flashy consumer-facing gimmicks and more about Windows continuing its slow pivot toward a security-hardened, AI-aware, and hardware-sensitive operating system. Released to the Beta Channel on March 30, 2026, the build arrives as a Windows...

Use Windows 11 Efficiency Mode to Free Up CPU and Improve Gaming Smoothness Difficulty: Beginner | Time Required: 10 minutes If your game feels a little choppy even though your PC “should” be fast enough, background apps may be stealing CPU time from the game. Windows 11 includes a built-in...

Windows 11 is very good at managing RAM on its own, but that does not mean memory pressure never becomes a problem. When cached data, startup apps, browser tabs, and background services all pile up, a machine can feel sluggish even though the operating system is technically behaving as designed...

How to Turn Off Efficiency Mode in Windows 11: What It Is, Why It Matters, and When You Should Leave It Alone Windows 11’s Efficiency Mode is meant to be a quiet helper: it lowers the priority of selected processes, nudges them toward more power-efficient execution, and helps laptops sip battery...

If Task Manager tells you the CPU is at 25%, the memory bar is at 90%, or the disk is at 100%, your reaction is predictable: something is wrong — but often the numbers are telling only part of the story. Task Manager is excellent for quick triage, yet it compresses complicated, layered system...

Dave Plummer — the engineer credited with creating the original Windows Task Manager — recently published a vivid, deliberately theatrical “what‑if” dashboard for his personal AI project, Tempest AI, showing what a Task Manager might look and sound like if reimagined through a retro‑futuristic...

Fix High RAM Usage in Windows 10/11: Find Memory Hogs, Limit Background Apps, and Stop Leaks Difficulty: Intermediate | Time Required: 20 minutes High RAM usage can make Windows feel sluggish, cause stutters in games, slow down tab switching, and trigger “Low memory” warnings—even on PCs that...

Windows 11 quietly ships with a built‑in "efficiency" switch that can free up CPU cycles, reduce memory contention, and sometimes make a sluggish PC feel dramatically more responsive — and you can enable it for individual apps in seconds using Task Manager. Background / Overview Windows...

When a Windows PC “suddenly” crawls, the root cause is usually not mystical—it's measurable: a runaway process, excessive background work, full storage, or simply hardware that’s being asked to do too much. The quickest, safest way to find the bottleneck is to stop guessing and start measuring...

Microsoft has quietly closed a puzzling lifecycle regression in Windows 11 that left invisible Task Manager processes running after you clicked the Close (X) button — the November cumulative update (KB5068861) restores the expected behavior and prevents multiple background instances of...

Closing a frozen app on Windows 11 can be a two‑second fix or a data‑loss disaster — knowing the right tool for the job, when to use it, and the risks involved is the difference between a smooth recovery and hours of troubleshooting. Background Windows 11 provides multiple built‑in ways to close...

Windows 11 users saw a surprising regression in late‑October 2025: closing Task Manager with the window’s Close (X) button could leave the underlying taskmgr.exe process running and, on repeated use, spawn additional Task Manager processes — a reproducible duplication bug tied to the optional...

Windows Task Manager — that small, utilitarian utility Windows users reflexively summon when something goes wrong — has quietly become the latest battleground for two simultaneous tensions inside Microsoft's product strategy: the drive for unified visual identity and the challenge of shipping...

I’ve used four simple, built‑in Windows 11 tweaks to bring sluggish machines back to life — no third‑party cleaners, no registry hacks, no risky downloads — and you can apply the same steps in 10–15 minutes to make your laptop or desktop feel noticeably snappier. Background / Overview Windows 11...

Task Manager is one of those built‑in Windows utilities that feels simple at first glance—and dangerously powerful once you learn its shortcuts, views, and hidden controls. Overview Task Manager in Windows 11 is no longer just a process killer; it’s a compact diagnostics console, a lightweight...

Task Manager is not just an emergency exit for frozen programs — it’s a compact control room that can reveal what Windows is doing, where bottlenecks live, and how to nudge resources toward the apps you care about most. The modern Task Manager in Windows 11 (and recent Windows 10 builds) packs...

Windows 11’s built‑in VPN client still gives you a fast, privacy‑focused route to a remote network — but it’s not a “one‑click” replacement for a commercial VPN app: you must supply the server details, pick the right protocol, and sometimes tweak advanced settings to make things reliable...

Microsoft’s November cumulative for Windows 11 quietly closes a cluster of irritating regressions that were more than mere nuisances — they could measurably chip away at system performance and handheld battery life if left unpatched. The patch addresses a particularly embarrassing Task Manager...