8 Task Manager Tips You Probably Didn’t Know About in Windows 11

The Task Manager is one of the most iconic tools in the Windows operating system. Whether you’re looking for information about system processes, checking how your CPU or RAM is functioning, or trying to close a troublesome program, it’s a really useful app.

However, like most Windows tools, you probably only know the bare minimum for daily use—and that’s truly a shame because Task Manager can do so much more. Here are some lesser-known tips and tricks for Task Manager that are worth knowing and will make you look like a real Windows pro.

1. Quick Start with a Keyboard Shortcut

You probably know that you can use the shortcut Ctrl+Alt+Delete to bring up the menu where you can open Task Manager, but did you know there are other quick keyboard shortcuts you can use to directly open Task Manager?

Simply press the Windows key + X to bring up the WinX menu (also known as the Power User menu) and then press the R key to start Task Manager directly without having to use the mouse. Alternatively, you can press Ctrl + Shift + Esc. This is a bit harder to do with one hand, but this command opens Task Manager directly.

2. Manage Your Startup Apps

If you have too many apps set to launch automatically when Windows starts, it can slow down your computer at boot. The solution? Review your startup apps in Task Manager and ensure that only the most essential ones are set for automatic startup.

With Task Manager open, navigate to the Startup tab in the left panel. Go through the list of apps that are “Enabled” and consider disabling those that you don’t need all the time, especially if their “Startup impact” is Medium or High.

To disable automatic startup for an app, right-click on it and select Disable. Once you’ve disabled all the unnecessary apps at startup, you can try restarting your computer to see how much it helped.

3. Jump to an App’s Program Folder

If you want to make manual changes to an app’s program files—or just want to know where they are for future reference—you can actually navigate there directly from Task Manager.

You can do this by going to the Processes tab in the left panel. Then, right-click on the app you want to find and select Open file location. A new Explorer window will then open, displaying the app’s program folder.

4. Restart Explorer to Fix Issues

There’s a lot that can go wrong with Windows, and one of the best solutions when it seems your computer isn’t functioning properly is simply to restart Explorer in Windows.

If certain files or folders are unresponsive, or if the taskbar has disappeared, or if the Start menu has stopped working, or if several other basic Windows functions are misbehaving, this trick usually suffices—and you can do it from Task Manager.

Select the Processes tab and scroll down until you find Explorer. It’s usually located at the bottom of the list of running apps. Right-click on it and select Restart to restart Explorer and give it a second chance.

5. Force Close Crashed or Frozen Apps

Task Manager has long been the go-to tool for shutting down troublesome or frozen programs, but the modern Task Manager has several options you can try for apps that are too stubborn to close properly. In the Processes tab, locate the app you want to close, right-click on it, and select End task.

If that doesn’t suffice, select the Details tab in the left panel and then look in the list of running processes for the app you want to close, right-click on it, and select End process tree. This should force the app and all related processes to shut down.

6. Allocate More System Resources to an App

If your computer has a weak processor or not enough memory, some apps can feel sluggish, especially when you have many apps or browser tabs open. In such cases, it can be beneficial to tell Windows to prioritize certain apps over others and provide them with more resources to work with. This can be particularly useful when gaming, as performance degradation can be clearly noticed in games.

To use Task Manager to change an app’s priority, open it and select the Details tab in the left panel. Locate the app you want to prioritize, right-click on it, hover over Set priority, and choose a priority level from the menu. Above Normal and High are good choices; Real-time offers the best performance but can cause system instability or crashes.

Similarly, you can deprioritize certain apps that consume too many resources or cause problems. Just repeat the above steps but select a lower priority; Windows will then allocate fewer of its resources to that app. Alternatively, you can right-click on an app and set it to Efficiency mode if you prefer Windows to automatically deprioritize it to save resources as needed.

7. See Which Apps Are Using Your Network

With Task Manager, you can quickly see how much of your wired and wireless network is being used, but it can also provide you a shortcut to more detailed information when you need it.

Select the Performance tab in the left panel of Task Manager, then select Wi-Fi or Ethernet to look at broader network usage.

If you want to see more details about which apps are using the connection, you can click on the three-dot menu in the top right and select Resource Monitor. In the new window, select the Network tab to see all processes using the network and how much they are consuming.

8. Monitor System Performance

If you need to keep an eye on how well a certain app is running or how well your computer can handle running certain apps and services, you can use Task Manager for monitoring and reporting.

Select the Performance tab in Task Manager and choose the component that you want to monitor, such as CPU, memory, disk, etc. Right-click on the large real-time graph and select Graph summary view to see a simplified graph without any extra menu options. You can then double-click it to return to the full view in Task Manager.

If you are going to monitor how apps run, you probably want this graph to run on top of all other apps, right? To do so, click on the gear icon in the lower left corner of Task Manager, scroll down to Windows Management, and check the box for Always on top.