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Control Alt Delete Keys in Operation

If you press the control key and the alt key and the delete key on your keyboard at the same time, a usefull Window will pop up. This is called the Windows Task Manager .It has five tabs across its top.The various tabs contain information that can help you find which stuff is causing trouble, soimetimes.

The first is called Applications and it shows the currently running applications (programs) and allows you to end them if they are frozen At the bottom of the window see End Task. Here below I have the screen capture program Snagit running and nothing else.

At the Top of the Window 5 over from the right edge is Shut Down which you can use to try and shut down if the entire system is locked up. See the image below..

The next tab is called Processes. These are the services and processes that run in the background. They are automaticly launched. You can end these processes but it is sort of important to know what they are, rather than flailing away just shutting things down. The processes really necessary to run Windows are often less than the full spate you will find here.

The next tab is the Performance tab. It shows the use of the system resources memory and cpu activity. It is usefull to see if the computer is over worked for some reason. It is a good computer doctors tool. If you are not running any programs and the cpu use is still high, maybe you have a virus or spyware or some other crazy thing ruining your computers operation.

The next tab is the Networking tab. It shows information about your network activity if any. In this illustration I have no Network stuff active.

The final tab is the User tab. It shows information about who is logged on as a user. You can force a log off here for people who have gone off but did not sign out.

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