Task Manager Help

For information about a specific help topic, click any of the items below:

Understanding the Task Manager
Monitoring Programs
Monitoring Processes
Monitoring Performance
Notes

The Windows CE Task Manager lets you view and control the programs and processes running on your handheld device.

The Windows CE Task Manager is a proprietary application. The unregistered version has some limitations of functionality. To register your copy of Windows CE Task Manager, visit http://www.vttoth.com/taskmanager.html.





Understanding the Task Manager

The Windows CE Task Manager is a handy utility familiar in function and appearance to the Task Manager found in Windows NT and Windows 2000. Its purpose is to let you view and control applications and processes running on your system, and to monitor performance.

The main window of the Windows CE Task Manager presents three tabs. The Applications tab lets you view all top-level windows. The Processes tab lists all the processes running on your computer, including system processes with no visible window. The Performance tab lets you monitor memory and processor usage.



Monitoring Programs

Under the Application tab, Windows CE Task Manager lists all top-level windows running on your handheld computer.

The Task Manager attempts to determine the running status of each task and display it here. A task marked as "Running" is detected as being responsive to user actions. A task marked as "Not Responding" is not processing user events. This may indicate an error, but some programs are known to remain unresponsive for a long time (such as when performing a lengthy computation).

You can end a running program by clicking the End Task button. When this button is used, the Task Manager attempts to perform an orderly shutdown of the selected program. You can also switch to a window by clicking the Switch To button.

Additional functionality is available through the context menu, which you can invoke by tapping a task's name while holding down the Alt key. In particular, you can jump the system process that owns the task's window by selecting the Go To Process command from the context menu.



Monitoring Processes

Windows CE is a multitasking operating system. At any given time, up to 32 processes may be running simultaneously on your Windows CE computer. Some of these processes are part of the operating system, while others are user programs. Some of these processes own visible windows (which are listed under the Application tab); other processes work in the background.

The Processes tab displays all running processes on your Windows CE system, along with some statistics, including CPU usage, CPU time used since the process started, and the number of threads in the process.

To pick the columns you would like to see displayed, tap the Select Columns command from the View menu.

The Processes tab can also be used to display the amount of memory used by each process. However, this is very computation intensive. Using the Memory Usage column can cause the Task Manager to run 100% of the time, quickly draining the batteries of your handheld device.

The End Process button can be used to terminate a process. This function terminates the process immediately, without letting the process perform an orderly shutdown. It can, therefore, cause data loss or leave your handheld device in an unstable state. Only use the End Process function as a last resort.



Monitoring Performance

The Windows CE Task Manager contains a simple performance monitor component. Two system parameters are monitored: memory usage, and processor usage.

Either memory usage or processor usage can be displayed under the Performance tab in graphical form. To select which graph to display, use the View menu.Processor usage is also displayed on the taskbar. The Task Manager's icon on the taskbar serves as a small performance graph, always indicating current processor activity.



Notes

If used with caution, the Windows CE Task Manager can be an invaluable companion to your Windows CE handheld computer. There are, however, a few precautions that you should observe when using this utility.

Power Consumption: Like any application, the Windows CE Task Manager utilizes your computer's processor when it runs. The more the processor is used, the more power it consumes, discharging your computer's battery more quickly. To avoid discharging your batteries too quickly, set the Update Speed option to Low, and make sure that the Memory Usage column under the Processes tab is not activated. You can use the Windows CE Task Manager to monitor its own use of CPU power; preferably, its CPU utilization should remain under 10%.

Ending Programs and Processes: Forcefully ending a program or a process can cause you to lose unsaved work and may also render the system unstable. Use these features as a last resort when dealing with unresponsive applications. Forcefully ending a system process (NK.EXE, filesys.exe, gwes.exe or device.exe) will cause the operating system on your handheld device to crash.