If you’ve switched to using Chrome OS from Windows or just started using Chromebook, you may be surprised to find that Chrome OS also has a Task Manager very similar to Windows.
Similar to Windows OS, you can use it to monitor all your running processes and system resources your PC is using. You can also use Task Manager to forcibly close running applications, extensions, and tabs on your Chromebook.
If you want to learn how to open and use Task Manager in Chrome OS, we have covered all the necessary information in this article.
How to Open Task Manager on Chromebook?
There are two simple ways you can use to open the Task Manager on Chromebook. You can either do so from the Chrome browser itself, or by using shortcut keys.
Using Chrome Browser
The Chrome operating system is based around and emulates the user interface of the Chrome browser. The Task Manager in Chrome OS isn’t an application like the Task Manager in Windows but an additional browser feature.
You can use this browser feature to monitor and force quit any process running in the Chrome OS. Follow the steps below to open Task manager from the browser
- Open Chrome browser.
- Click on the vertical ellipses (three dots) in the upper right corner of the browser.
- Select More Tools and click on Task Manager.
- The Task Manager should open, showing all your running processes.
Using Shortcut Keys
Another simple way of opening Task Manager in Chrome OS is using Shortcut keys. Depending on your Chrome OS, you can use the Search + Esc or Shift + Esc hotkeys to open Task Manager.
As soon as you press the shortcut keys, the Task Manager should open in Chrome OS, even if your Chrome browser is closed.
How to Use Task Manager on Chromebook?
The Task Manager mainly functions as a monitor program that provides information about the currently running processes in Chromebook. It shows a handful of resource usage overview columns by default, which are mainly Memory, CPU, and GPU memory.
The Memory and CPU column shows the usage of these two resources by the different processes in your OS. The GPU memory shows the video card usage. It goes up when any app is performing graphics-demanding functions. The PID column shows the process identifier number of any running software.
To look up more information in Task Manager, you can right-click any column headings at the top and enable an overview of other resource usages. If you want to know how you can monitor other types of resource usage and information about any process, here’s how you can do so
- Right-click any of the column headings.
- Select the column information you want to add.
- A new column header showing that information should be added to Task Manager.
For example, the File Description column of the running process isn’t shown by default in Task Manager. You can select it to add an extra column showing the File Description of every running process.
Additionally, one of the significant functions of a Task Manager is to close an application forcibly, and here’s how you can do so
- Open Task Manager.
- Select the application or process you want to forcibly close.
- Click on End Process.
You can also close multiple processes by selecting them while holding the Ctrl key and pressing End Process. Also, double-clicking on any extensions in Chrome Task Manager will give detailed information about that extension.
