There are a number of ways to improve the performance of your computer, and one of these is to stay in control of the programs and processes that are running at any given time. Windows includes the Task Manager which includes fairly basic options for closing applications, monitoring system performance and keeping an eye on services.

If you are a power user, you will no doubt have found that Task Manager is a little on the basic side and if you are looking for greater control over your computer, Task Manager DeLuxe is a free alternative that not only provides you with more information and remains easier to use.

The program can be viewed as Task Manager on steroids, as it provides many of the same functions, but gives you more options to work with so you can easily monitor individual programs and processes as well as tweaking settings to improve the performance of your system.

Installation and Getting Started

Start by launching your favorite web browser and pay a visit to the MiTeC web site. Hover your mouse over the Applications link in the navigation bar at the top of the page and then click the Task Manager DeLuxe link in the menu that appears.

Click the Download link to the upper right of the page and save the zip file to the desktop.

Task Manager DeLuxe can be downloaded free of charge

Once the download is complete, right click the compressed archive and select the Extract All option from the context menu.

Click the Extract button and once the extraction process is complete you can choose to leave the file where it is, or move it to a folder – such as the Program Files folder.  You can then launch Task Manager DeLuxe by double clicking the TMX file.

As a portable app, Task Manager DeLuxe does not need to be installed to run

Monitoring Process and Programs

On the Processes tab, you can see a list of all of the programs and processes that are currently running – you can keep an eye on how much processor time each is using and how much memory they are occupying by looking in the CPU time and Working Set columns.

You might find it helpful to tick the AutoRefresh box to the upper right so that the list is constantly updated.

AutoRefresh ensures that you always see an up to date list of running processes and programs

You can opt to group together all of the processes that are related to each other so you can see which are reliant on others and better determine just how many system resources a particular program is using.

You can do this by ticking the Display as Tree box at the top of the program window.

Processes can be grouped together so you know which are related to each other

You can find out more about an individual program or process by clicking the + symbol next to the Process Details label at the bottom of the window.

In the slide-up panel that appears, you can discover much more about the currently selected process such as how long it has been running, which user it belongs to and much more.

Additional information is available in the Process Details section

If you have a particularly lengthy list of process visible you can use the Name filter box to the upper left to perform a quick search for what you are looking for.

This is great if you have a problem with a program that will just not quit as you can find it in the list and hit the Terminate process button at the bottom of the screen to kill it.

Troublesome programs that will not close normally can be quickly terminated

Managing Services

Terminating programs that have frozen can be used to force an application to quit and it is a great way to quickly free up memory.

Moving to the Services tab you can also use Task Manager Deluxe to keep an eye on which services you have running on your computer.

Task Manager DeLuxe provides an easy way to manage your computer's services

When you select a service from the list you can start it by clicking the Start button at the bottom of the window, or stop it with the Stop button.

Should you find that you have problems editing the settings for any program or service, click the Elevate privileges button to switch Task Manage Deluxe so that it is running as an administrator and then try again.

Controlling Autoruns

Many of the programs that start automatically with Windows do so because you find them useful – such as your preferred IM client and various utilities.

But over time it is easy to accumulate too many startup apps which ultimately slow down your computer. You can use Task Manager DeLuxe to keep an eye on how many programs you have starting with Windows by moving to the Autoruns tab.

You can quickly see a complete list of every program that start automatically with Windows

If there are any programs you can see listed that you would prefer did not start automatically, tick the box that appears next to the apps’ names and then click the Remove checked autoruns button at the bottom of the dialog.

Unwanted autoruns can be stopped to help free up resources

System Information

As well as enabling you to take control of what is happening with your computer, Task Manager Deluxe also provides you with a wealth of information about your system.

Move to the Environment tab and you can view a list of data such as the location of common folders, details about your processor and memory, and much more.

Head to the Environment section to view a list of helpful information about your system

Additional information such as your IP address, amount of RAM you have installed and how long Windows has been running. There are also two graphs similar to those found in Windows’ regular Task Manager, that keep you updated about CPU and memory usage.

The performance graphs give an easy to understand overview of processor and memory usage

It is worth pointing out the camera button in the program tool bar. If you make changes to any of the settings within Task Manager DeLuxe, or you just want to make a note of something, there’s no need to grab a pen and paper. Instead, hit the camera button and a screenshot of the current window will be saved to the same folder as the program itself.

This is a seriously useful tool that can be used to free up memory, improve performance and diagnose problems. It also has the advantage of being a portable app which means you can run it from a USB drive without the need for installation. This is definitely great addition to your software toolkit.

Thank you so much for reading and let us know what you think in the comments below!