Microsoft has redesigned the Windows 8 Task Manager; they have pulled off
the rare trick of providing more information, yet making it easier to
see what's happening with processes. Get stated by launching tm.exe.
Good news, the old keyboard tricks still work in Windows 8, so you can
launch the new Windows 8 Task Manager with the command: Ctrl +Shift, +Esc.
If that 3-key combination does not work, you could revert right-clicking on
the Metro UI and hiting 't' on your keyboard, Task Manager should appear
amongst the Apps beginning with 't'.
If none of these techniques work, it could be that a virus is preventing
task manager launching. Plan B try gpedit or regedit and check if the
task manager has been disabled.
The Windows 8 task manager has been given a make-over. Not only has the name
of the executuable been changed from taskmgr.exe to tm.exe, but also the
interface now displays the process information in columns. The second new feature
to note is the way
processes are grouped, starting with 'Applications' followed by 'Background
processes'. See screenshot below.
One reason for going to the Processess tab is to check the location of
suspicious executables. I realize that the Windows Task Manager itself is a
well-known program, however, you can use it as a vehicle to right-click then check
'Open File Locations', now you can see the path:
C:\Windows\System32\TM.exe.
If you find a process with 'Status suspended'; you can right-click
(this or any other process) and troubleshoot. One option to find out more
about
hanging programs is 'Analyze Wait Chain', however, you only get this option
to spot deadlocks if you right-click a process in the Details view.
Previously, I had only seen this Analyze Wait Chain in Resource Monitor, but here it
is the Windows Task Manager.
It's easier than ever to monitor the big 4 performance resources: CPU,
Memory, Disk and Network (Wireless and Ethernet). In particular the performance tab
is a great place for gaining insights into processes hogging memory or CPU usage.
Note: Information from the Windows 7 Networking tab is
now incorporated in the Windows 8 Performance tab.
Guy Recommends: SolarWinds' Log & Event Management Tool
LEM will alert you to problems such as when a key
application on a particular server is unavailable. It can also
detect when services have stopped, or if there is a
network latency problem. Perhaps this log and event management
tool's most interesting ability is to take corrective action, for
example by
restarting services, or isolating the source of a maleware attack.
Yet perhaps the killer reason why people
use LEM is for its
compliance capability, with a little help from you, it will ensure that your organization complies with industry
standards such as CISP or FERPA. LEM is a really smart
application that can make correlations between data in different logs,
then use its built-in logic to take corrective action, to restart services,
or thwart potential security breaches.
The 'Services' tab is a welcome addition to the Windows 8 Task Manager, I
like to
sort on the Status column and discover which services are
actually running.
Windows 8 Task Manager Startup Tab
Startup is another new tab in Task Manager. Although you can
examine and remove
programs that have bullied their way into a users Startup folder, MSconfig
is still available for a
more comprehensive analysis of what should happen before the Metro UI
initializes. See more on
MSConfig.
Use the Windows 8 Task Manager to Launch Programs
Sometimes the old tricks are the best, under pressure of absorbing new
stuff I tend to forget old faithful techniques such as using the task manager to Run
programs. This is particularly useful in the new Metro UI if you
haven't pinned the run command to the Metro UI.
Click on File (menu) select: New Task (Run ...). Naturally,
type the name of the executable, for example, I once lost the Windows shell
so I typed explorer. On another occasion I wanted to check a registry
setting so I launched regedit using this technique.
»
Task Monitor 'Hot Spots'
For multiple processors a colour gradition is easier to digest usage than
lots of individual traces.
The heat map comes into its own with large numbers of logical processors.
If your Windows 8 machine approaches the maximum 640 logical processors then
the scroll bar appears.
Windows 8 Set Affinity
Advanced Technique - Set Affinity. This is a high
risk, high reward strategy. The more logical processors you have the
better the chance that this performance tip will be effective. The
problem is that it may make your machine run slower.
Orientation: Launch Task Manager, select the Details tab, right-click a
process such as SearchIndexer, Set Affinity and choose one or more processors. It may
have already occurred to you that even if this tip is not suitable for the
SearchIndexer it may be worthwhile for other Windows processes.
Guy Recommends : SolarWinds'
Free VM Monitor
The great feature of this new this new version of SolarWinds VM Monitor is that it
checks Windows Hyper-V. Naturally, it still works with virtual machines on VMware ESX Servers. VM Monitor is an nifty
desktop tool that not only tests that your server is online, but also
displays the CPU and memory utilization for each node.
It's easy to install and to configure this virtual machine monitor, all
you need the host server's IP address or hostname and the logon info.
Finding the Windows 8 performance monitor is not easy. The
traditional method is to start at the Control Panel, however, the
Performance Monitor is hidden away at the bottom of the System section,
Performance Information and Tools.
The new Metro start screen foxed me; when I pressed 'p' for performance,
no icon appeared. However, as soon as I clicked on Settings, there was the
Performance Information and Tools.
You can launch the Windows 8 Task Manager with Ctrl +Shift +Esc, or else
find tm.exe. Once it initializes, check out the new tabs such as
Startup and Services.
If you like this page then please share it with your friends
