How to Use the New Task Manager in Windows 8

Task Manager now manages startup programs, shows your IP address, and displays resource usage graphs.

Launching the Task Manager
The Task Manager can still be launched by pressing Ctrl-Alt-Delete from anywhere and you’ll see a link to launch the Task Manager.

You can also right-click the taskbar and select Task Manager.


Managing Processes
The Task Manager’s interface lets you easily view and end active applications. It shows both Metro-style apps and desktop apps.

Click the More details button and you’ll see much more information.

You can expand an app to see its windows, if the app has multiple windows.

If you’re not sure what a processes is, you can right-click it and select Search online to search for it in your default search engine.


System Statistics
The Performance tab shows graphs of your system information. You can select options at the right to see more information.

You can actually see your system’s IP address going through the Control Panel.

You can still open the Resource Monitor application in one click. It shows even more information than the Task Manager does.


App History
The Processes tab only shows each process’s current resource usage.The App history tab shows how much CPU time and network bandwidth each Metro app has used, so you can identify the resource hogs.


Startup Programs
Startup Tab shows application that automatically start with your computer. It also measures how long each application is delaying your startup.


Users
The Users tab breaks down your system’s resource usage by user account.


Advanced Process Details & Services
The Details tab is the old Processes tab on previous versions of Windows. It exposes exposes advanced options not found on other tabs, including process priority and CPU affinity.


The Services tab includes an option to quickly restart services.


You can click the Open Services link to use the Services application, which contains the advanced options you won’t find in the Task Manager.