Task Manager

10 min read

Task Manager shows what is running on the machine now: every process, which is a program that is running, with how much of the processor and memory it is using, what it belongs to, and who it runs as. What is defined to run, rather than what is running, is Services Manager's.

Start it from the launcher: Task Manager.

It looks at the machine as you, so it shows exactly what you may see of each process, and says what you may not, and why. It offers to change something only where you may.

Processes, Performance, Jobs and Signed in, in the bar, switch between its four views.

Find the right process before acting #

1. Open Processes. Use Find for a name, PID, person or service, or sort CPU or Memory to investigate resource use.
2. Select the process. Check its command, who it runs as, what started it, and the service or job it belongs to. Some details may be hidden by permissions.
3. Choose the scope of the action. To stop a service and everything it started, use Stop service; to stop a submitted job, use Stop job. Use End process when you intend to end only that process.
4. Read the confirmation and refresh the view to check the result. Ending a service's main process may cause peinit to restart it.

A process is one running program. A service is a persistent definition managed by peinit, and can start a new process after the old one ends. A submitted job is work someone asked peinit to run and watch. For those managed lifetimes, see Services and jobs. For process states and terminal signals, see Process lifecycle.

The processes #

Each process is listed with its name, its PID (the number the system knows it by while it runs), who it runs as, and its share of the processor (CPU) and the memory it holds. The CPU share is of the whole machine, since the last look, and is filled in from the second look on. The bar at the bottom gives the totals.

Group by chooses how they are arranged:

• None, which it opens with, lists them all together.
• Service puts each process under the service or job it belongs to, as peinit, the service manager, started it. A service's heading says its state; a job, which is a program someone asked peinit to run and watch, such as a person's desktop session, says who it runs as. Not in a service holds peinit itself.
• Person puts each under the person or service it runs as.

Name, PID, CPU and Memory, at the top of the list, sort by that. Find narrows the list to processes whose name, PID, person or service contains what you type.

The kernel's own threads, which no person runs, are left out; tick Kernel threads to show them.

The list is read again every two seconds. Refresh, or F5, reads it at once.

A process in full #

Select a process to see it in full on the right: what it is doing, how long it has run, its CPU, memory and threads, what started it (select it to go to it), the command it was started with, the service or job it belongs to and which part of it this is, who it runs as, the signed-in session it is part of, and its integrity.

Protection says whether the process is protected: signed as part of Peios, which closes it to every process not signed at its level, however much authority that process has. Mitigations are the hardening the process runs with, such as no memory being both writable and executable, each with what it does. See The process security block.

Ending a process, or stopping its service or job #

Below a process's details are what you may do to it:

• End process asks first, then asks the process to end. One that hasn't ended after five seconds is offered End it now, which ends it at once, without its finishing what it is doing. The process is held onto from the moment you ask, so another process given the same PID later can't be ended by mistake.
• Stop service, for a process that belongs to a service, asks peinit to stop the service, and everything it started. It stays stopped until it is started again. Ending a service's main process instead counts, to peinit, as the service crashing, and it may start it again; the window says so before you do.
• Stop job, for a process in a job, asks peinit to stop the job.

Each is there only where you may do it: End process where the process's permissions let you end it, and Stop where peinit says you may stop that service or job. Where you may not, the pane says why instead. A protected process can't be ended by any program not signed at its level.

Performance #

Performance shows the machine as a whole: how busy its processors are, how much of its memory is in use, and how fast each disk and network interface is moving data. Each is listed down the side with a small graph; select one to see it in full, with a graph of the last two minutes, newest at the right.

• CPU graphs how much of the processors' time is in use, and how much of that is the kernel's own work. Each processor gives each logical processor a graph of its own. Below are the processor's model and speed, the number of processes and threads, how long the machine has been up, and the load average: how many threads were running or waiting to, on average over the last 1, 5 and 15 minutes.
• Memory graphs how much is in use, and shows what all of it is made of: in use, cache the kernel gives back when programs need it, and free. Available is what programs could be given now. Committed is what programs have been promised, against how much may be.
• Each disk graphs how much of the time it was busy (its active time), and how fast it read and wrote. Its capacity, and what it has read and written since the machine started, are below.
• Each network interface graphs how fast it is receiving and sending, in bits a second as networks are measured. Its state, link speed and hardware address are below; its addresses and settings are Network Manager's.

The figures are the kernel's own, which anyone may read, so everyone sees the same view. Speeds are worked out between one look and the next, every two seconds. Nothing is kept once the window closes.

Jobs #

A job is a program someone asked peinit to run and watch, outside any service: a person's desktop session is one. Jobs lists them: what each is, its state, who it runs as, and how far it says it has got. A job in full shows what it last said of itself, its progress, its program and process, who it runs as and who asked for it, when it started and ended, and how it ended. Stop job is there where you may stop it.

peinit lists a job only to those who may see it: by default, whoever asked for it, and Administrators. The others are left out, and the window says so. A job that has ended stays in the list for a minute.

Who is signed in #

Signed in lists each session, which is one sign-in: who, how (at the machine, on the desktop, over SSH, or over the network), since when, and how many of its processes you can see. A session in full lists its processes, each of which leads to it, and its desktop session, if it has one. Services sign in too, each in a session of its own; tick Services' sessions to show them.

The full list is the kernel's, which only Administrators may read. Anyone else sees the sessions their own processes are in, and the window says so.

Signing someone out #

Sign out, in a session's details, ends the session: authd ends every process running in it, asking each to end and, after a few seconds, ending any that haven't. The window asks first, and says so when the session is its own. What came of it is said afterwards, including any process authd couldn't end, which keeps the session open.

You may sign out your own sessions, and anyone's the machine's permissions allow, which as shipped is Administrators. Where you may not, the window says why. A service's session ends when its service is stopped, and the kernel's own sessions never end. See Ending a session.

What you may see #

What you may see of a process is its own permissions' to say:

• Its name, CPU, memory and what it belongs to are visible to everyone, by default.
• Who it runs as, and the command it was started with, are visible to the person it runs as and to Administrators. Anyone else sees the process without them, and a note above the list says how many processes that is.
• A protected process, such as peinit or authd, is closed to everyone, Administrators included: only processes signed at its level may look into it. It is still listed, with its protection, and a note above the list says how many there are. Where peinit can say which service a protected process is, it is listed under that service.

A process in a job you may not see is listed under A job, and says so.

In a terminal #

The toolset documented here does not yet include ps; use Task Manager for the process list. The documented terminal tools cover these narrower tasks; replace PID, NAME and ID with the process, service or job/session you have checked.

The same access restrictions apply to terminal tools. logonse list can show only a partial view; a missing entry is not proof that nothing is running. Read Controlling services for service and job commands, and End, suspend, or resume a process before sending signals.

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