How do I get back the old Task Manager (from Windows 7) in Windows 10?

38

8

There are some improvements in Windows 10 in Task Manager, but they also removed really nice stuff. For example, in the the old Task Manager you could sort the running applications by their path. So you can easily locate an application (by 'Program Files', 'WINDOWS', etc. folder).

So, how do I get back the old Task Manager?

Ultralisk

Posted 2015-10-16T11:59:10.923

Reputation: 1 749

I had a situation on Win8.1 where it opened the old style task manager when I was very low on RAM, haven't been able to reproduce this – chrki – 2015-10-16T14:39:46.347

2I expanded and copied taskmgr.exe from a Windows NT 4 CD I had laying around. Works just fine. – user530873 – 2015-10-17T04:06:39.463

I copied mine from Win7 32 bit in Win 10 64 and won't work. – Ultralisk – 2015-10-17T15:41:37.890

Excellent answer @magicandre1981. Check out WinAero.com. It has some other really nice tools also! – Ultralisk – 2015-10-18T09:58:59.857

Looks like A LOT of people HATE the new Win 10 GUI! – Ultralisk – 2015-10-20T10:06:55.927

Answers

43

The old Taskmgr is still part of Windows 8/10. It is part of the WinPE which is stored in the boot.wim on the DVD.

Winaero extracted the old Taskmgr and provides it in a download:

enter image description here

magicandre1981

Posted 2015-10-16T11:59:10.923

Reputation: 86 560

4While I agree that the other answers are more useful, this is the only one that actually answers the question. – ComicSansMS – 2015-10-17T17:22:47.040

1Excellent answer @magicandre1981. I really really like WinAero.com tools! – Ultralisk – 2015-10-18T10:01:06.963

53

I cannot find any functionality that is in the Windows 7 task manager that is not in the Windows 8/8.1/10 task manager.

There are some differences with naming though:

  • The "applications" tab is now called "Processes".
  • The "Processes" tab is now called "Details" (and moved almost to the end), and I could enable more columns to sort by, just like the old one.
  • The "Performance" and "Networking" tab are both in the new "Performance" tab.
  • Two new tabs ("App history" and "Startup") have appeared.

Also, I don't think I have to tell you this since you mentioned improvements (and without doing this I wouldn't really call the new task manager improved), but I'm going to do it anyway just in case: Don't forget to click the "More details" button at the bottom if you don't see any tabs at all ;)

To answer the specific question about how to sort by path:

  1. Right-click the column-headers, and select "Select columns":

Enter image description here

  1. Select "Image path name":

Enter image description here

Olle Kelderman

Posted 2015-10-16T11:59:10.923

Reputation: 1 013

Ahh they moved the Select out of View and stuck in on the column headers... Nice! – Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007 – 2015-10-16T13:19:33.320

I found one. I suspect the answer would be to copy taskman.exe over from Windows 7. – Joshua – 2015-10-16T22:09:08.173

7

Looks like a lot of other people consider the old task manager better. This guy has a list of 14 good reasons to get the old Task Manager back: http://winaero.com/blog/get-classic-old-task-manager-in-windows-10/

– Ultralisk – 2015-10-17T21:27:08.437

Old task manager did rememer the columns you selected, the new one does not. – Daddy32 – 2016-11-25T13:23:12.340

31

If you are truly unsatisfied with Windows' Task Manager (for any version/reason) then as an alternative I'd suggest using the well trusted Process Explorer from Microsoft.

ProcExpShot1

Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007

Posted 2015-10-16T11:59:10.923

Reputation: 103 763

9While process explorer is very good, IMHO it's overkill to replace task manager. Processed Explorer has so much information and advanced features that it's best suited for trouble shooting, not quick killing a non responsive task. – SilentVoid – 2015-10-16T14:11:59.723

3@CryptoMin While I get your point, if all the OP wanted was to quick kill processes (which is not what they asked for, or said), then Task Manger could easily be considered overkill too. What you may consider "overkill" may be what someone else considers "good options to have". ;) – Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007 – 2015-10-16T14:17:46.917

True, but usually if you need to find a process by location it's because you started a process that doesn't set a name and you have to find it to kill it. Although as you said, that's in my opinion. If you want to use process explorer, by all means do so. – SilentVoid – 2015-10-16T14:23:46.923

1Options->Replace Task Manager – crazypotato – 2015-10-16T19:13:21.963

@crazypotato - I have a window visible on screens and I need to figure out which app (exe file) corresponds to that window. I don't want to kill it. – Ultralisk – 2015-10-16T20:30:39.647

3@frosty sounds like process explorer and "find window's process" would do exactly what you want. – Martin Smith – 2015-10-16T21:39:00.390

however, process explorer has really prettty graphs and a great real-time icon for cpu usage - for these reasons alone, I use it . Windows 8>10 also looks pretty, but I'm unsure how to minimize it to the tray – Mikey – 2015-10-17T20:11:44.397

4

I'd also recommend you to take a look at a Process Hacker - similar open-source utility.

– ForNeVeR – 2015-10-19T04:56:08.547

Asked: 2015-10-16T11:59:10.923

Viewed: 14 412 times

Active: 2016-06-14T00:55:20.930