Microsoft Discusses Overhauled Task Manager in Windows 8

Either by necessity or interest, many Windows users find themselves staring the Task Manager in the face on a regular occasion. It could be that a program has stalled or that you simply want to know where your network resources are being hogged. The Task Manager has always proven to be a good one-stop shop for such information, and not surprisingly, it’s a key aspect of Windows that’s seeing an overhaul in 8.

Through interviews and active monitoring, Microsoft found that 85% of people who used the Task Manager accessed either or both of the first two available tabs: Applications and Processes. It was obvious that information was missing from Applications that was found in Processes, and likewise that the other tabs were rarely touched.

The Task Manager in Windows 8 is super-simple – it’s a list of active applications. From there, you can click on one that’s not responding and then click “End Task”, at which point it will do so without confirmation. For those needing more information, the “More details” toggle can be clicked to reveal the broader look as seen in the shot above.

In designing this updated interface, Microsoft wanted to deliver the most relevant information to the user from the get-go. Like previous Windows versions, it might be that the other tabs up top might not need to be used, as sufficient information could be supplied right on this screen. In addition to the application list, you will be able to see background processes and then subsystem usage on a per-app basis.

Improving this view further is a heatmap, where applications or services using a higher than normal amount of some resource will be presented in a darker color, making it easier to spot. I appreciate the fact that not only CPU and memory usage is included here, but also network. I have often had a bogged connection but could never figure out what application was responsible, and this view makes getting that information a lot easier than having to rummage through the Resource Monitor.

I’ve had limited experience with this new Task Manager, but so far it gets my approval. It’s almost too simple without clicking the “More details” option, but once that is toggled, a lot of useful information is presented to you right away. It’s my hope that the “End Task” option in Windows 8 will actually be more effective than it has been in any other version of Windows. It’s frustrating to end a task only to have it linger indefinitely – sometimes requiring a reboot to truly fix the problem.