Windows Task Manager is a task manager or System monitor application included with the Microsoft Windows NT family of operating systems that provides limited information about computer performance and running applications, processes and CPU usage, commit charge and memory information, network activity and statistics, logged-in users, and system services (and as often is the case with software tools provided by Microsoft for Windows, 3rd party software is available which fills the requirements more thoroughly ,e.g, "Process Explorer", "Extended Task Manager", "Anvir Task Manager", "Process Hacker", and "System Explorer"). The Task Manager can also be used to set process priorities, processor affinity, forcibly terminate processes, and shut down, restart, hibernate or log off from Windows. Windows Task Manager was introduced with Windows NT 4.0. Previous versions of Windows NT included the Task List application, which had far fewer features. The task list was capable of listing currently running processes and killing them, or creating a new process. In Windows XP only, a Shutdown menu is also present that allows access to Standby, Hibernate, Turn off, Restart, Log Off and Switch User.
Earlier versions of Microsoft Windows (Microsoft Windows 3.x, Windows 95, Windows 98) had a program known as tasks to display the programs currently running. This file was executed by running the taskman.exe file from the C:\Windows directory.
Read more about Windows Task Manager: Launching Task Manager, Tiny Footprint Mode, Security Issues, Tasks Under Windows 9x, Windows Vista Changes, Windows 8 Changes, See Also
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