Takeaway: The Windows 8 Task Manager Performance tab has many new features and provides users with more detailed information than ever.
Now you might think that I would want to start with the Processes tab because of all the impressive new features found there, but I’m not. Instead, I’m going to start with the Performance tab because I’ve discovered that by dividing the tab into separate sections for CPU, Memory, Disks, and Ethernet, as shown in Figure A, Microsoft has really packed a lot of information into this tab and I don’t want that fact to be overlooked. (I’ve combined the graphs into a composite image, so that at a glance you can see that each section on the tab is packed with information.)
In this edition of the Windows Desktop Report, I’ll delve into Task Manager’s Performance tab and take a close look at all the new features and detailed information displayed on each section of the Performance tab.
Figure A
The Performance tab shows data and graphs of the CPU, Memory, Disks, and Ethernet.
Before I get started, there is one outward change that I noticed right away and that is that the title bar for this tool used to read Windows Task Manager and now the title bar just reads Task Manager. Not sure how significant that change is or even if it is permanent, but, nonetheless, there it is.Editor’s note: To refresh your memory, in Windows 8 you can get to the Task Manager by pressing CTRL-ALT-DEL, selecting Task Manager, and clicking the More Details button.
CPU
On the CPU section of the Performance tab, the actual CPU is now specifically identified in detail with the brand, the model number, the speed, as well as the number of sockets, cores, and logical processors being prominently displayed, as shown in Figure B. You can tell at a glance whether processor’s hardware Virtualization technology is enabled. (An operation that not too long ago was difficult to perform and raised all sorts of confusion when it was required to run Windows XP Mode in Windows 7.) You can even find information about the CPU caches.Figure B
The CPU section of the Performance tab now identifies the CPU in detail.
The graph displays the percentage of your CPU’s utilization on a scale of 0 to 100 over a 60-second time frame. The Utilization number below the graph shows the percentage at any one point in time. On the next line down, you can find some of the information from the older Task Manager: Processes, Threads, and Handles and below that you’ll find the Up Time.Handles and threads are actually sub-objects of processes. The Handles value shows the number of object identifiers, or handles, that are currently in use by all the running processes. The Threads value actually refers to the number of sub processes running inside larger processes. The Processes value, of course, represents the number of currently running processes.
By default the CPU section displays a single graph showing overall utilization. If you want to see a graph for each logical processor, just right-click and select Logical Processors. If you want the graph to display kernel times, right-click on the graph and select Show Kernel Times. The composite image shown in Figure C shows both of these right-click menus. (I’ll cover some of the features found on the right-click menu in a moment.)
Figure C
You can reconfigure the graph to display all logical processors and to show kernel times.
Memory
On the Memory section of the Performance tab, the total amount of memory is prominently displayed along with the memory type, as shown in Figure D. You can also see the chip speed, the number of memory slots being used, and the form factor.How many times have you sat down at an unfamiliar PC and wanted to know that level of detail about the memory in the system? Well, now it’s right here in Task Manager. You can even see the amount of memory that is reserved for hardware.
Figure D
The Memory section of the Performance tab provides you with detailed information about memory usage.
As you can see, there are two graphs in the Memory section. The first graph shows memory usage on a scale of 0 to the total amount of memory over a 60-second time frame. The second graph, titled Memory Composition, shows the memory used by processes, drivers, or the operating system.Below the graph you’ll find the familiar measurements, such as the amount of memory in use and the amount of available memory. The Committed value is a simple measurement that shows Page File usage. Here, the first number indicates the total amount of physical and virtual memory currently in use, while the second number indicates the total amount of physical and virtual memory available on your computer.
The Cached value indicates the amount of physical memory used recently for system resources. (This memory will remain in the cache in case the system resources are needed again, but it’s available should other operations need it.)
The Paged Pool value indicates the amount of physical memory used by the operating system to store objects that can be written to disk when they are not being used. The Non-Paged Pool value indicates the amount of physical memory used by the operating system to store objects that cannot be written to disk but must remain in physical memory as long as they are allocated.
Disk
On the Disk section of the Performance tab, the model number of the drive and the type of drive are prominently displayed at the top of the section, as shown in Figure E. (No need to go to Device Manager to find that information any more). You can also see the disk capacity, how much of it is formatted, whether it is the system disk, and whether it contains a page file.Figure E
The Disk section of the Performance tab contains two graphs.
As you can see, there are two graphs in the Disk section. The first graph is titled Active Time and shows the percentage of your disk’s utilization (the percentage of time the disk is processing read or write requests) on a scale of 0 to 100 over a 60-second time frame. The second graph is titled Disk Transfer Rate and shows you the transfer rates between the hard disk and the system over a 60-second time frame.Below the graph you’ll find the Active Time value, which indicates the percentage of use at any one point in time. The Average Response Time value indicates the amount of time it takes the drive to actually transfer data to the system. Of course the Read and Write Speed values indicate how fast the disk is performing I/O operations.
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