Using the Task Manager

Windows Task Manager keeps tabs on your system and how it’s running. You can use Task Manager to get an overview of what programs and processes are running on your computer. You can also use it to switch to programs and to end programs that have stopped responding (in other words, programs that have frozen up on you).
To open Windows Task Manager, right-click the taskbar at a place where there are no buttons and then click Task Manager on the shortcut menu.
To switch to another program or window from Windows Task Manager, click it in the list box on the Applications tab and then click the Switch To button. Windows then minimizes Task Manager and displays the selected window on the desktop.
To end a process or program that has frozen up on you, click it in the list box on the Applications tab and then click the End Task command button. Note that you will probably get an alert dialog box indicating that the program has stopped responding. Click the End command button in this dialog box (as many times as you have to) to get Vista to kill the process.
The status bar of Windows Task Manager shows you statistics on the number of processes running under the program, the percentage of the CPU (Central Processing Unit, the big chip at the heart of the computer), and the memory usage of the program. If you like to look at schematics, click the Performance tab in this window to see a dynamic charting of the total CPU and memory usage on your computer (and to find really useful stuff like the number of handles, threads, and processes that are being run).

Arranging windows on the desktop

Normally when you open multiple windows on the desktop, they overlap one another, with only the most recently opened window fully displayed on top. As you open more windows, it becomes increasingly difficult to arrange them so that the information you need is displayed on-screen (this is especially true when copying or moving files and folders between open windows).
To help you organize the windows you have open, Vista offers several arrangement options. To rearrange the open windows with one of these options, you need to right-click the taskbar at a place that isn’t occupied by a window button and then click one of the following options:

• Cascade Windows to overlap the open windows so that the title bars are all displayed one above the other in a cascade
• Show Windows Stacked to place the windows vertically one on top of the other
• Show Windows Side by Side to place the windows horizontally side by side
• Show the Desktop to reduce all the windows open on the desktop to minimized buttons on the taskbar

Switching between open windows

The Vista taskbar makes switching between programs and other open windows as easy as clicking its minimized button. Doing this immediately activates the program by restoring its window on the desktop.
Don’t forget that you can preview the contents of a window by positioning the mouse over its minimized button on the taskbar. Also, you can quickly flip through all the minimized windows to find the one you want to activate by using the Flip and Flip 3D features (see “Flip and Flip 3D” earlier in this part).