How to open Task Manager in Windows 10

The Windows Task Manager helps in getting information about computer performance, running applications, processes and more. In short, you can use the handy Windows tool to start certain programs or end them. It is more of a troubleshooting tool for beginners, which is broken up into multiple tabs. Each tab is associated with a particular category such as the running applications, running processes, Windows Services, the computer's performance, network utilization, and the users that are currently logged in. If you are connected to a network, you can also use Task Manager to view network status and see how your network is functioning.

The Task Manager has evolved with time right from Windows 3 to Windows 10 and the new Windows 10 Task Manager, now offers a lot of information. We have already seen how the Windows 7 Task Manager works and also the features of the Windows 10 Task Manager, including how to understand the heat map of the Task Manager in Windows 10/8.  In this post we will see ways to open the Windows Task Manager, using the keyboard shortcut, CMD, Run, Taskbar, WinX Menu, etc.

Open Task Manager

1] In Windows XP, you hit CTRL+ALT+DEL key combo to get the Task Manager running! Things changed with Windows Vista onwards. Now if you hit CTRL+ALT+DEL, you see a dialog/screen, from where you can select 'Start Task Manager'.

2] To bring up the Task Manager directly in Windows Vista, Windows 7 & Windows 8, Windows 10, press CTRL+SHIFT+ESC instead. This is the Task Manager shortcut in Windows 10.

3] In the most recent version of Windows - Windows 10, you can also access the Task Manager from the WinX Menu.  All you need to do is Press Win+X in combination to bring up the 'Power Task Menu'. From there, you can select the 'Task Manager' option.

4] It goes without saying you can still always simply right-click the taskbar and select Task Manager.

5] Then again, while on the Start, you can search for Task Manager or  Taskmgr.exe and click on it. Use this executable to run it using the Run box or a Command Prompt. Create a desktop shortcut, if you wish! It is located in the C:\Windows\System32 folder.

6] Open a command prompt, type Taskmgr and hit Enter to open the Task Manager.

7] From the WinX Menu, open the Run box, type taskmgr and hit Enter.

Tips:

1. See this post if you cannot open the Task Manager.
2. Use the Task Manager like a desktop widget with its Summary View.

If you are looking for more features, perhaps these Task Manager alternative software will interest you.