Windows XP Task Manager

When you like to check, whether a program running on your system has stopped to work
("program is hanging") or if you like to get a quick overview on the system usage, you can use
Task-Manager :

Press CNTRL-Alt-Delete (at the SAME time) and select from
the pop-up window "Task Manager" or right-click on an
unused part of your task-bar and select "Task Manager"

	Tab : Application All programs and windows opened by the user will be listed here, with the indication in the status, if they are working properly ("running") or stopped improperly (Status : "not responding" ). You can use the button "End Task" to terminate programs not responding anymore.
	tab : Processes All programs , either started by the user or by the system itself, which also include system processes, like the SPOOLCV : handling printer queues
	I suggest to select from the menu : View / Select Columns... : and activate the display of "CPU Time": it will show you, if any program or process is mis-behaving and using up CPU time. Note : usually, the "System Idle Process" should have the highest time usage: If there is nothing else to do, the system will keep itself busy running the Idle-process
	tab : Performance The system will display the usage of the CPU ( " how busy is the system ? " ) and the memory usage. You should check that the memory usage is never coming close to the Limit of the Virtual Memory, defined by the size of the Paging File. If you are using a lot of programs simultaneously, you may need to increase the size of the Paging File (or better : install more physical memory chips !)
	tab : networking will show for each network adapter the utilization of the network. This is only a rough overview of the network usage, for a more detailed network utilization use the Performance Monitor.