Windows Vista

Windows Task Manager has Performance and Networking dynamic graphs, that show you your computer’s CPU and network activity. They also show your CPU history and the amount of network traffic. (You can see this in Windows XP, too.)

You can get to these graphs by pointing your mouse cursor at a blank area of your taskbar at the bottom of your screen. You will see a menu appear. Click your right mouse button and select Task Manager. Then click on the Performance tab. You will see the performance graphs appear. As you watch, you’ll see your computer’s activity being charted.

The main use of these is to help you troubleshoot problems for your computer

To return the graph to normal size, double-click it again.

Clicking on the Resource Monitor button will give you even more information. Click on the CPU, Disk, Network, and Memory bars to expand them to see what is affecting any of these areas. You can also click on any of the help areas at the bottom to get help to create reports on your computer’s performance.