Windows 7 - Resource Monitor

   Information

This will show you how to open Resource Monitor to view information about the use of hardware (CPU, memory, disk, and network) and software (file handles and modules) resources from processes and services in real time in Windows 7. In addition to monitoring resource usage in real time, Resource Monitor can help you analyze unresponsive processes, identify which applications are using files, and control processes and services.

   Note

Windows 7 Resource Monitor includes the following elements and features below.

Tabs

Resource Monitor includes five tabs: Overview, CPU, Memory, Disk, and Network. The Overview tab displays basic system resource usage information; the other tabs display information about each specific resource.

• Switch between tabs by clicking on the tab titles.
• If you have filtered results on one tab, only resources used by the selected processes or services will be displayed on the other tabs. Filtered results are denoted by an orange bar below the title bar of each table. To stop filtering results while viewing the current tab, in the key table, clear the check box next to Image.

Tables
Each tab in Resource Monitor includes multiple tables that provide detailed information about the resource featured on that tab.

• To expand or collapse a table, click the arrow on the right side of the title bar of the table. Not all tables are expanded by default.
• To add or hide data columns in a table, right-click any column label, and then click Select Columns. Select or clear the check boxes for the columns you want displayed. Not all columns are displayed by default.
• The first table displayed is always the key table, and it always contains a complete list of processes using the resource included on that tab. (The key table on the Overview tab contains a complete list of processes running on the system.)
• To sort table data, click the label of the column you want to sort by. To reverse the sort order, click the column label again.
• You can filter the detailed data in tables other than the key table by one or more processes or services. To filter, in the key table, select the check box next to each process or service you want to highlight. To stop filtering for a single process or service, clear its check box. To stop filtering altogether, in the key table, clear the check box next to Image.
• If you have filtered results, tables other than the key table will only display data for the selected processes or services.
• To view definitions of data displayed in the tables, move the mouse pointer over the column title you want more information about.
• A process that is no longer running, but that is included in the current displayed data, will appear as a gray entry in a table until the data expires.

Chart pane
Each tab in Resource Monitor includes a chart pane on the right side of the window that displays graphs of the resources included on that tab. Resource Monitor displays one graph for each logical processor and core.

• You can change the size of the graphs by clicking the Views button and selecting a different graph size of Large, Medium, or Small.
• You can hide the chart pane by clicking the arrow at the top of the pane.
• If you have filtered results, the resources used by the selected processes or services will be shown in the graphs as an orange line.
• If you have multiple logical processors, you can choose which ones are displayed in the chart pane. On the CPU tab, click Monitor, and then click Select Processors. In the Select Processors dialog box, clear the All CPUs check box, and then select the check boxes for the logical processors you want to display.

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