I’ve been posting Task Manager tips all week (here, here, here, and here), so I’ll finish up with a few of my favorite tweaks and techniques for this valuable utility.
First, I keep Task Manager running all the time. From the Options menu, I choose the Hide when minimized option, which keeps it from displaying a button on the taskbar. Instead, it minimizes to an icon in the system tray which glows green to indicate the percentage of CPU resources in use at any given time. If you see a bright green icon here, you know that something is sucking up the CPU.
I also set Task Manager to stay on top (Options, Always on Top) when it’s in use.
Next, I customize the display of columns on the Process tab. With the Processes tab selected, click View, Select Columns. Most of the choices here are fairly geeky, but the Peak Memory Usage and CPU Time columns can be useful.
Most people don’t realize the Task Manager window is resizable. Drag the right border to the right to make room for more information in each listing; drag the bottom border down to make room for more entries in the list.
Finally, if Task Manager’s menus and status bar disappear from view, don’t be alarmed. You double-clicked on a chart on the Performance or on a border of another tab. To return to normal view, double-click any empty space around the border.
Ah, for those who are following along at home and are wondering how Luke solved the problem, the secret is to double-click on the border surrounding the Task Manager dialog box.
I have the same problem as one of the fellows above. And I’m no way a boffin so am quite frustrated.
That is…I am using Windows XP. Recently I too have not been able to minimize any windows. When I attempt to minimize a window, it disappears. I can open the task manager and it is listed as an opened window but it is NOT displayed on the task bar on my desk top.
How can I reset this function so that I can have my minimized windows displayed on my task bar? What did I do to create this problem?
Please help.
Thanks,
Chris
Same as Enrico and Chris….i’m not able to minimize anymore…windows will go to the task manager rather than being minimized to the taskbar.
I’ve been googling the issue but couldn’t find any reference/fix etc. Different combinations of hiding/minimizing on the options menu of the Task Manager haven’t solved the problem.
Any suggestions? Thanks,
David
Having the WTM minimized to a small green icon is very useful. My headache is it often does not appear. I’ve tried all the above tips. What would stop the green icon from appearing? Is this just one of those annoying non-fatal flaws we can never resolve?