When you open Windows Task Manager and go to the Processes tab, you see a lots of good information such as the actual process executable name and current memory/processor usage. Did you know you can customize the columns shown to include a lot more information?
Just go to the View tab in Task Manager and click on Select Columns. In this list you will find lots of additional information you can show. The columns I use are:
- Image Name
- CPU Usage
- CPU Time
- Memory Usage
- Peak Memory Usage
- User Name
- Base Priority
I find this is a good blend of a ‘quick and dirty’ view as well as troubleshooting information without being overwhelming.
Note: If you use Process Explorer, you can use this trick as well.
Jason Faulkner is the man who brings you our daily tips. He is based in Atlanta, Georgia.
I check my windows task manager all the time especially when I suspect malware in it. You can really uncover suspicious programs running without your knowledge. However, I never thought that I could really customize it. I actually tried it but I didn’t have the option “Select Columns”. I’m using Windows XP Sp2.
There are also some very generic items that pop up in Task Manager like svchost.exe that can really be associated with just about anything. If you are running XP pro or Vista you can go to a command prompt and type tasklist /SVC and you can see exactly what is associated with that svchost.exe.