Helpdesk Challenge – understanding the Windows Resource Monitor
When it comes to diagnosing problems – especially general performance issues – the Windows Resource Monitor is a great tool.
The Resource Monitor offers real-time information about all the various processes, applications and more that are going on in the background on your computer all the time.
How to use the Windows Resource Monitor
To get started with the Resource Monitor, click Start and type ‘resource’, then press Enter.
The main window is divided up into four headings: CPU, Disk, Network and Memory. Activity for each of these sections is displayed as a chart on the right.
Click the down-pointing arrows to the right of each heading for details.
The Resource Monitor doesn’t offer up any solutions, but it does provide a lot of useful information.
If a program is hogging lots of memory, for example, this could signify a problem, and tip you off on what issues you need to diagnose and repair.
Windows Event Viewer
Windows has a few other diagnostic tools in its arsenal, such as the Event Viewer.
The Event Viewer logs just about everything that happens on your computer and allows you to look back at a specific time or action to see what might have gone wrong.
Another option is to use the Windows Reliability Monitor, which shows you how stable your system has been over a period of time. This lists any errors, crashes or freezes which have occurred on your machine, and when.
Read more about using the Windows Reliability Monitor
Scam warning
Recently, we’ve been told by readers that phone scammers have used the Event Viewer as part of a phone scam, whereby PC owners receive a call from someone claiming to be from Microsoft.
The scammer then tries to convince the computer owner that their computer is suffering from a malware infection in order to gain remote access to the PC or extract money from the victim.
Part of the way that the scam works is by using evidence of an infection based on warnings in the victim’s Event Viewer, which the scammers navigate to once you’ve allowed them remote access.
The truth is that the Event Viewer routinely produces numerous warnings, many of which are relatively trivial. The scammers play on the fact that, unless you’re an expert, it’s easy to assume that these warnings are more significant than they are.
If you pick up the phone to a tech support scammer, we’ve had hundreds of suggestions for dealing with scam calls from Helpdesk Challenge readers.
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Tony
How can you publish this without saying WHICH versions of windows you are talking about. It is not available in XP (the most popular version)
simon grimsdell
I followed the instructon in XP and it worked immediately, select the start icon (coloured flag in circle) and type resource into the search field, it takes you straight there, good luck.
Jaytee
Should have gone to Ubuntu.
Martin
Which version of windows!!!!
eeb
Can’t find this in Vista either. Is “resource” a Windows 7/8 version of the Task Manager?
Anne
Go to windows task manager, (press control, shift key and delete), then select resource monitor, (bottom right hand corner. You will need an admin. password). This will give you the resource monitor, hopefully!
Chris
Typing Ctrl+Alt+Del all together will access task manager in XP which is similar
Tony
In Vista try typing perfmon.exe in the Search Box
Geoff
To get Task Manager you can “right click” with the cursor over the horizontal bar at the very bottom of the screen. Just select “Start Task Manager”. If you then select the “Performance” tab in Task Manager, you’ll see “Resource Monitor” as an option. Just click to start. This works for Vista and Windows 8.
TED
thanks
Glyn Jones
Doesn’t seem to be available/work on Windows XP?
kathleen fordham
THANK YOU WHICH YOUR ADVICE IS VERY HELPFUL
fred lewis
no go with vista
Bill
Right-clicking on the task bar and selecting Task Manager works for me on Vista and on Windows 7, and, iirc, on XP too. Always seemed to me to be the easiest of way of getting to it – just two mouse clicks. One further click on the Performance tab to get the graphs.