When you open Windows Task Manager and go to the Processes tab, there is a great deal of information available to you about the items currently running on your system. In addition to the default columns which are displayed you can view lots of other information by going to View > Select Columns. However, if you want to know what the values in these column actually mean, here is a guide which explains each.
While many of the columns are obvious, you may be curious, for example, about what each of the memory values mean. This is very valuable information to know if you want to get a bit more insight into your system without getting into very advanced tools.
In Task Manager, you can monitor processes running on your computer by adding columns to the information displayed on the Processes tab. These columns display information about each process, such as how much central processing unit (CPU) and memory resources the process is currently using.
1. Open Task Manager by right-clicking the taskbar and then clicking Task Manager.
2. Click the Processes tab. Task Manager will show the processes currently running under your user account. To show processes running for all users, click Show processes from all users. If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.
3. To add more columns, click View, and then click Select Columns. Select the check boxes for the columns you want to see, and then click OK.
PID (Process Identifier)
A number that uniquely identifies a process while it runs.
User Name
The user account under which the process is running.
Session ID
A number that identifies the owner of the process. When multiple users are logged on, each user will have a unique session ID.
CPU Usage
The percentage of time that a process used the central processing unit (CPU) since the last update (listed as CPU in the column heading).
CPU Time
The total processor time, in seconds, used by a process since it started.
Memory - Working Set
Amount of memory in the private working set plus the amount of memory the process is using that can be shared by other processes.
Memory - Peak Working Set
Maximum amount of working set memory used by the process.
Memory - Working Set Delta
Amount of change in working set memory used by the process.
Memory - Private Working Set
Subset of working set that specifically describes the amount of memory a process is using that cannot be shared by other processes.
Memory - Commit Size
Amount of virtual memory that is reserved for use by a process.
Memory - Paged Pool
Amount of committed virtual memory for a process that can be written to another storage medium, such as the hard disk.
Memory - Non-paged Pool
Amount of committed virtual memory for a process that cannot be written to another storage medium.
Page Faults
Number of times data has to be retrieved from disk for a process because it was not found in memory. The page fault value accumulates from the time the process started.
Page Fault Delta
The change in the number of page faults since the last update.
Base Priority
A precedence ranking that determines the order in which the threads of a process are scheduled.
Handles
The number of object handles in a process's object table.
Threads
The number of threads running in a process.
USER Objects
The number of USER objects currently being used by the process. A USER object is an object from Window Manager, which includes windows, menus, cursors, icons, hooks, accelerators, monitors, keyboard layouts, and other internal objects.
GDI Objects
The number of objects from the Graphics Device Interface (GDI) library of application programming interfaces (APIs) for graphics output devices.
I/O Reads
The number of read input/output operations generated by the process, including file, network, and device I/Os. I/O Reads directed to CONSOLE (console input object) handles are not counted.
I/O Writes
The number of write input/output operations generated by the process, including file, network, and device I/Os. I/O Writes directed to CONSOLE (console input object) handles are not counted.
I/O Other
The number of input/output operations generated by the process that are neither a read nor a write, including file, network, and device I/Os. An example of this type of operation is a control function. I/O Other operations directed to CONSOLE (console input object) handles are not counted.
I/O Read Bytes
The number of bytes read in input/output operations generated by the process, including file, network, and device I/Os. I/O Read Bytes directed to CONSOLE (console input object) handles are not counted.
I/O Write Bytes
The number of bytes written in input/output operations generated by the process, including file, network, and device I/Os. I/O Write Bytes directed to CONSOLE (console input object) handles are not counted.
I/O Other Bytes
The number of bytes transferred in input/output operations generated by the process that are neither a read nor a write, including file, network, and device I/Os. An example of this type of operation is a control function. I/O Other Bytes directed to CONSOLE (console input object) handles are not counted.
Image Path Name
The location of the process on the hard disk.
Command Line
The full command line specified to create the process.
Virtualization
Identifies whether User Account Control (UAC) virtualization is enabled, disabled, or not allowed for this process. UAC virtualization redirects file and registry write failures to per-user locations.
Description
The description of the process.
Data Execution Prevention
Whether data execution prevention is enabled or disabled for this process. For more information, see What is Data Execution Prevention?
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