Task Manager is a powerful system utility that provides task management, startup application management, and other advanced features. The version now found in Windows 11 has, of course, been simplified and so it is a bit prettier to look at but also a bit harder to use.

There are several ways to find and start Task Manager:

Taskbar context menu. If you right-click the Taskbar, you will see a "Task Manager" item in the context menu that appears.

Keyboard shortcut. Type CTRL + SHIFT + ESC.

Quick access menu. Right-click the Start button to display the Quick access menu (or, type WINKEY + X) and then select "Task Manager."

Search. Open Start, type task, and then select "Task Manager" from the search results. If you use this app enough, you should consider pinning it to Start or the Taskbar.

CTRL + ALT + DEL. Type CTRL + ALT + DEL and choose "Task Manager" from the short list that appears. This is actually the best way to start Task Manager because it works even if the Windows user interface is corrupt or unavailable.

Where did it go?
In previous Windows versions, Task Manager was displayed in a simplified view by default and you could click a "More details" link to see the full experience. But the simplified view is no longer supported in Windows 11, and there is no workaround. Instead, you will use the full Task Manager experience as God intended.
Get to know Task Manager
Task Manager previously provided a tab-based interface in which each of its main functional areas was available in its own tab. But this application was given a more modern look and feel in Windows 11 that uses a navigation bar on the left instead of tabs on the top. And so each functional area is now available via its own view.
The problem with this design is that each item in the navigation bar is represented by an icon instead of text, and so it is sometimes hard to tell which icon does what. You can expand the navigation bar to display the name of each area, but there is no way to pin it so it stay open: the next time you run Task Manager, the navigation bar will be collapsed again.

Not all of the design changes are bad: Task Manager now includes a command bar at the top that features commonly-needed commands related to the functionality provided by each view.
One command, Run new task, appears in the command bar of every view. This command is described later in the chapter.
The following views are available in Task Manager:

Processes. This default view is used to manage running apps and services, and it provides a high-level view of how your PC's key resources are being utilized. We discuss this view in more detail in the section Use Task Manager to manage apps and processes below.

Performance. This view provides dynamic graphs displaying real-time statistics and and other information about the usage of the PC's CPU, memory, disks, network connections, and graphics processors (GPUs). There's no interaction to be had here. Instead, ...