A new battery-saving Efficiency mode and other changes to the Task Manager in Window 11 make it more powerful than ever. We show you how to get the most out of it.
PC hardware is nice, but it’s not much use without innovative software. I’ve been reviewing software for PCMag since 2008, and I still get a kick of seeing what's new in video and photo editing software, and how operating systems change over time. I was privileged to byline the cover story of the last print issue of PC Magazine, the Windows 7 review, and I’ve witnessed every Microsoft win and misstep up to the latest Windows 11.
PC power users have long made use of the Windows Task manager for insight into just what’s going on in their system. In Windows 11, the Task Manager is all new, with redesigned icons, a fresh-looking window, and new features that help you reduce the power draw of apps running in the background.
So what can the new Windows 11 Task Manager do? We walk you through some of the most helpful ways you can make use of this utility. But first, we show you how to get to it.
The easiest way to open Task Manager is to press its keyboard shortcut: Ctrl-Shift-Esc. You can also right-click the Start button and choose it from the resulting context menu. Simply typing Task in the Start menu will show it as the top option. Clicking that opens it.
In a future version of Windows 11, you’ll also be able to summon the Task Manager by right-clicking on the Taskbar and choosing it from the resulting menu.
As a last resort, you can use the good-old emergency keyboard shortcut, Ctrl-Alt-Del, and choose Task Manager from its full screen menu.
Now let's look at what you can do with the Task Manager in Windows 11.
One of the more frequent uses for Task Manager is to find the culprit when your PC is sluggish. Open the Task Manager and click on the top of the CPU column to sort by CPU usage. If an application is hogging the CPU, it could be the culprit.
Another thing to look at is Disk. Sort by that column with the highest MB amounts on top to see whether an app is overly taxing your storage system.
For video games and video editing, you want to add the GPU column, which doesn’t display by default. Right-click anywhere in the header column and click to the left of GPU. Now you can sort by each application’s GPU usage to see which ones are taxing it.
If you’re running a program that’s not responding and not letting you close it, Task Manager is your best friend. Just click on the entry in the program list and tap the 🚫End task button or right-click and choose End task. That bypasses any code in the program preventing you from shutting it down the normal way.
Note that the next time you run the program, it may pop up a message saying something like, “The program shut down abnormally last time,” and possibly ask if you want to send its maker an error report.
Sometimes you can fix a nonresponsive app by shutting down a subprocess of the app rather than the whole app. The CPU and other usage stats might show high usage for some subprocess, which will point to the culprit. Just click on the arrow next to the entry and if one particular process is indicating high CPU or disk usage, zap that one. You can now zap an app with a shortcut key Ctrl-E.
Often when you install an application, it sets some processes to start up automatically with your PC. The result can be that a lot of processes are running even when you don’t want to use the associated applications. You can find such auto running processes In Task Manager’s Startup Apps section. If you find something in there that you don’t feel is necessary to be running every time you turn your computer on, it’s a simple matter to Select the process and then tap the Disable button. You can also right-click the process and choose Disable from the context menu.
Pro tip: Task Manager also has a Services page. A service is a process that runs in the background for all users and is managed by Windows—they don’t have user interfaces. They’re useful for running your printer service, antivirus software, or the system clock, to give a few examples. Some programs install them and leave them running whether or not you have the associated app open. If you don’t want anything from that program running, you can disable its services.
Instead of using the Task Manager to shut down unwanted services, I prefer the following method: Open the Start menu, type Run, and type msconfig in the resulting Run text box and switch to the Services tab. It’s a good idea to check the Hide All Microsoft Services checkbox, so that you don’t shut down essential system services. Then uncheck the unwanted services and reboot your PC for the changes to take effect.
By the way, for either of these shutdowns, you usually don’t have to worry about Windows not functioning afterward because Windows usually prevents you from disabling necessary processes and services, or the OS spins them right back up. That said, it’s not advisable to stop services that you don’t recognize. Also, be warned that the service won’t run the next time you run the associated application, so you may need to re-enable them for functionality.
If you suspect an application is phoning home through your internet connection, the Task Manager gives you a way to determine whether that’s the case. Look at the Network column and see if there’s any activity for the app or process in question. If you don’t see any activity at the moment but still suspect the app is connecting to the internet, head to the Task Manager’s App History tab. Here, you can see all the resource usage for the app during its last run session. For known streaming and syncing apps, of course you expect some network transfers, but apps that have no business sending data out from your computer may merit further investigation.
Another column you can add to the Task Manager’s list is Power Usage. It doesn’t show numbers, but rather Low, High, or Very High. It summarizes the app’s use of all the other hardware components you see individually in previous columns. Sometimes there’s no getting around using an app with high power needs, but you may see something in there that you don’t expect, and you can then shut down its process.
To use the new Efficiency mode, tap on a process entry to select it. Then click the Efficiency mode button at top right. A warning message tells you that turning on the mode will lower the process’s priority and possibly cause an associated application to run with instability. Note that you can only use this mode for processes, not on the overall app entry in the top list. Tap the arrow to expand an app entry to show its subprocesses, click on the resource-hungry process, and then select Efficiency mode.
I tried it with the Adobe Creative Cloud desktop app, which was taking up more than 35% of my PC's CPU processing power. After clicking the Efficiency mode button, it dropped to 15%. A new keyboard shortcut lets you put an app in the mode: Alt-V.
If you want to see the effects of running an app, app procedure, or game on your PC, head to the Task Manager’s Performance page. It shows you a live graph of CPU, Memory, Disk, Wi-Fi, and GPU usage. To copy the date to the clipboard in text format, you can either select the overflow menu (that is, the ellipsis or "...") at top right and choose Copy, or you can right-click on the CPU, Memory header and choose Copy. A right-click also offers a Summary view, which shows just the four performance entries in a small window.
A new feature of the Taskbar for Windows 11’s 22H2 version lets you see which UWP apps are paused to spare processing power and improve efficiency of power usage. The yellow Pause icon is your clue that an app that may appear to be running and using system resources is actually in pause mode. Note that this is only informational. You can’t pause and unpause the apps yourself, because that state is determined by the system based on the app’s activity. If you really want to do this manually, you have to open another utility, the Resource Monitor (type resmon in the Run box). There you can right-click on the app’s process to suspend or resume it. However, I don’t recommend doing it, as it could have unexpected consequences or cause system instability.
For more full coverage of Microsoft’s new operating system, read our in-depth Windows 11 review and be sure to check our Windows 11 page for the latest news, tips, and reviews. Finally, you can sign up for our Windows 11 newsletter.
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PC hardware is nice, but it’s not much use without innovative software. I’ve been reviewing software for PCMag since 2008, and I still get a kick of seeing what's new in video and photo editing software, and how operating systems change over time. I was privileged to byline the cover story of the last print issue of PC Magazine, the Windows 7 review, and I’ve witnessed every Microsoft win and misstep up to the latest Windows 11.
Prior to my current role, I covered software and apps for ExtremeTech, and before that I headed up PCMag’s enterprise software team, but I’m happy to be back in the more accessible realm of consumer software. I’ve attended trade shows of Microsoft, Google, and Apple and written about all of them and their products.
I’m an avid bird photographer and traveler—I’ve been to 40 countries, many with great birds! Because I’m also a classical fan and former performer, I’ve reviewed streaming services that emphasize classical music.
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