RSS Feeds
Start Windows Task Manager in the Tray
Posted by Kevin Purdy at 12:30 AM on December 20, 2007
Does the idea of hidden programs eating up RAM and CPU cycles give you occasional chills? Well, maybe not, but if you've been using Windows for awhile, you've likely gotten familiar with pruning applications in the Task Manager to keep those thoughts at bay. The How-To Geek blog offers a nifty trick for having the utility run at startup as a minimised program, giving you an icon that updates to show system load and the ability to quickly chop down unnecessary apps and processes with one click. Like any program, however, the Task Manager uses resources, so you could also simply create a shortcut to launch the program whenever you're ready to get neurotic efficient.
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
StrangeTikiGod
Posted 6:49 AM 19/12/07
Just a helpful comment..."Manager" in the post title is carrying an extra "a."
StrangeTikiGod
joelena
Posted 7:54 AM 19/12/07
@Kevin: Now we see just how far you're willing to go to avoid using "manger" instead of "manager" [lifehacker.com]
joelena
TheRabbi
Posted 7:20 AM 19/12/07
"...so you could also simply create a shortcut to launch the program..."
I haven't used Vista for a while now, but... can't you just use ctrl-shift-esc to launch the task manager when you need it?
TheRabbi
The How-To Geek
Posted 9:15 AM 19/12/07
@TheRabbi: You can definitely use Ctrl+Shift+Esc to launch Task Manager in Vista... some people prefer icons to shortcut keys, and the person that originally asked the question wanted to launch it at startup.
Personally I just use the shortcut key... but then I use shortcut keys for everything.
The How-To Geek
gamesover
Posted 11:07 AM 19/12/07
"DTaskManager" is better than the default Windows Task Manger program and offers:
- three (3) different ways to close a process
- ability to suspend and reactivate a process
- terminate multiple processes "simultaneously"
- no useless confirmations.
DTaskManager
[dimio.altervista.org]
gamesover
magikseadonkey
Posted 6:28 AM 19/12/07
I'm sorry. I really don't see the point of this. This is for the supposed "geek" but if you really are a geek you would know the shortcut key for taskmgr. (ctrl+shift+esc or ctrl+alt+delete if you have the standard xp setup) This takes 1 second to do than to move your mouse over and double click on this in your system tray.
It should also be noted that taskmgr does take up recources in windows (even if it's not a lot). This is pretty useless and you should learn the shortcut key.
magikseadonkey
wordsmith
Posted 12:43 PM 19/12/07
Hey Lifehacker, how about a article/tutorial on the usage of Process Explorer? I've had it installed a for ages, but never had the time to figure it out...
wordsmith
gamesover
Posted 12:12 PM 19/12/07
Process Explorer is pretty nice. I like the visuals and process trees. Check out the right-click menu on DTaskManager. You can trim memory usage on a single or all running processes. You can also kill multiple processes at once. That's kinda nice when my 3 year old launches 50+ notepad sessions while I'm not watching.
I think I actually start using both programs. The great thing is that these applications are free and portable (can run without having to be installed.)
gamesover
Conor
Posted 11:55 AM 19/12/07
Process Explorer from Microsoft (was originally SysInternals) blows Task Manager away. Can be run from a shortcut in your Startup folder with a /t parameter.
[www.microsoft.com]
Conor
mljones1947
Posted 4:45 PM 19/12/07
Slightly off-topic: I like to keep Task Manager minimized in the tray to keep track of CPU utilization. (It helps explain what's going on when the my older notebook bogs down.) Process Explorer has the same functionality, but I believe that it consumes more resources. I've found some single purpose tray utilities that display CPU utilization, but they are all limited to pre-XP versions of Windows. Does anyone know of something for XP?
mljones1947