Introduction
To diagnose and enhance performance on a Windows 11 machine a good place to start is with the Task Manager in Windows 11. Task manager displays a user friendly interface that can help you gain more insight into your computer's performance. You can use it to stop problematic applications, manage which applications start automatically when your computer starts, and troubleshoot a slow computer.
Procedure
1.) To start Task Manager, you can simply search for Task Manager in the Windows search bar. Or, you can right-click the Windows icon on the taskbar and select Task Manager from the resulting menu.
2.) Task Manager automatically opens into the Processes tab. This will display a list of applications and show you which ones are using the most resources from your Central Processing Unit (CPU), Memory (RAM), Disk, and Network. If you click on one of the categories, they will be organized by the amount of resources they are using from highest to lowest usage.
3.) Take note of which applications are using the most resources. You can then close unnecessary applications. If the applications won't close normally you can select them in task manager and then click "end task" at the top right corner of the Task Manager window or you can simply right click them in the list and select end task. This will force the application to close. (Tip: in cases where unwanted pop ups prevent you from closing a web browser like Edge, Chrome, Or Firefox, you can use this method to force the web browser to close.)
4.) Select the Performance tab in Task Manager. This tab will give visuals and collect other data that will show you in real time which resources are being used or overwhelmed. If you suspect a certain application is causing slow performance you can open it and close it with this tab open to determine how it is effecting your computer performance in real time. Click each category to see data specific to that resource. If an unnecessary application or feature is hogging resources you can close it, uninstall it, or disable it. If the application or feature is necessary you can troubleshoot the specific application/feature, update it, find an alternative application, or consider upgrading hardware such as Memory, or Disk space to accommodate it.
5.) Select the App history tab in Task Manager. This will let you see which applications are used the most on your computer. Click the Network tab to see which applications use the most bandwidth and click CPU time to see which applications use CPU resources for the longest amount of time. You may find that there are applications or features you do not use that are using resources.
6.) Select the Startup tab in Task Manager. This tab will display a list of applications that start each time you boot Windows and continue to run in the background. You can disable unnecessary applications from booting when you start your computer by selecting them in the list and clicking the disable option on the top right hand corner of the Task Manger window. Or you can right click them and select disable in the menu. The status category will show you which applications are enabled or disabled.
8.) Click the Users tab in Task Manager. This will display a list of user profiles that are currently logged in to your system. From here you can disconnect users who may have forgotten to log out of the computer to free up computer resources. NOTE: These users may lose unsaved work when choosing to disconnect them, so use discretion when utilizing this feature.
