This post originally ran in April 2008. I am reposting it now, as part of my throwback thursday project, to give some of my older quality posts some love. SysInternals Process Explorer is in common use the world around these days, and a tool I use a lot.
Search results for: “task manager”
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A better Task Manager
Windows Task Manager is a decent enough tool, but it doesn’t really give you all that much information, nor is it always able to do what you need it to, such as end certain processes. By default, the Processes view looks something like this:
While this is enough for most users, it isn’t always enough information, nor capability, for techies. A wonderful little company called SysInternals, now owned by Microsoft, has made a wonderful little utility called Process Explorer. Let’s have a look at the information it gives us:
Not only does it feature tree-structure of processes, but it also features windows to show live data and history of CPU usage, Commit history and I/O Bytes. Clicking any of these windows will display a full system information window, as shown below. These features are only the tip of the iceberg of what should make Process Explorer an essential part of any techie tool kit.
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Managing startup applications in Windows 10
In earlier versions of Windows, I – and I would assume many with me – used the Startup folder in the Start menu to manage startup applications. In Windows 10, however, this folder is no more, and so we must find other ways of dealing with them. There are three ways to do so, all of which are relevant.
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#TBT: Windows keyboard shortcuts
This post originally ran in April 2008. I am reposting it now, as part of my throwback thursday project, to give some of my older quality posts some love. Many of these, I still use daily, and yet others I had completely forgotten about. Useful stuff, though. Yes, even that last one. If you’ve ever had an IBM ThinkPad, you’ll know why…
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Toolkit essentials – Software tools part two – Executables
Like their physical counterparts, software tools are absolutely necessary for successful IT support. I usually divide them up into two categories; CD images and executables. In my last post, I covered CD images, now to the executables I bring with me: (more…) -
Resolving "An Error Was Encountered While Opening A Window" errors
Lotus Notes has a plethora of more or less (usually the latter) legible and understandable error messages. One of them I encountered the other day. The situation is as follows: a client of mine told me Notes had crashed, and she was now unable to restart Notes due to a rather cryptic error message: “An Error Was Encountered While Opening A Window”.
Now if we only knew why. The problem, it turns out, is that a process called NTASKLDR is still running. Knowing this, we also know how to resolve the problem. The solution is to kill the process called NTASKLDR. Open the task manager (CTRL+SHIFT+ESC, open the processes tab, find the process and end it. -
Firefox saving your tabs
With the release of Firefox 3, users have gotten a few nifty little tools to use, a few of which I noted in a previous post. Another tool, which I had missed was the ability to save the tabs of your current session, so that they’d open the next time you’d open Firefox. Before Firefox 3, to achieve this, you’d have to open the Windows task manager and kill the process.
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Windows keyboard shortcuts
Have you ever been in a situation where you needed to see the desktop of your computer quickly? Or maybe you wanted to open the Windows Task Manager quickly? You might have needed to see how much RAM your computer has installed, wanted to get Windows Explorer open, or even the Run-dialog box without needing to much about going to the start-menu?
There are many ways of doing all of these tasks, there are the ones most people know, and many tasks also have keyboard shortcuts. I prefer using the keyboard to using a mouse most of the time, and keyboard shortcuts, or hotkeys as they are often called, saves time. It has come to the point where I don’t think about the keyboard combination, but just punch it in.
There are many hotkeys around, and not all of them apply to every users needs. My needs are different to those of a user that spends most of their time in Photoshop. The keyboard shortcuts I have listed below are used in Windows, and are not dependent on any other software. If there are shortcuts you feel I’ve overlooked, feel free to tell me about them in the comment field.
Windows key+Pause – Opens the System Properties dialog box
Windows key+E – Opens the Windows Explorer
Windows key+D – Minimizes all windows and shows the Desktop, second use will revert to previous state
Windows key+R – Opens the Run dialog box
Windows key+L – Locks the computer
Windows key+M – Minimizes all windows
Windows key+Shift+M – Restores all previously open windows to how they were before you minimized them
Windows key+F – Displays the Find all files dialog box
Windows key+F1 – Displays the Windows Help Menu
Ctrl+Shift+Esc – Opens the Task Manager
Alt+Tab – Switches between windows
Alt+F4 – Closes the currently active window. If there is no active window this opens the Shut Down dialog box.
Ctrl+Esc – Opens the Windows menu -
Let’s make work outside business hours the exception
When I wrote my blog post about important features of a service management tool, I wrote “I am increasingly coming to believe that the change management process is perhaps the most important one for success in ITIL – not to mention DevOps – adoption” – and I stand by that assessment. Not because change management is such a revolutionary idea in and of itself, but because of what true management of change means for a business.
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