Which is the best tool or method to use to determine if the new software is hogging computer resources?

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If your computer is running slowly or is producing a lot of heat, it’s likely that at least one program is hogging your system resources. Depending on which resources are being hogged the exact symptoms of the issue can vary, but if any resource is being hogged it can result in other programs running slowly.

The symptoms of resource hogging

Computers have five main resources: CPU, Memory, Disk, Network, and GPU. The CPU or Central Processing Unit is the core processor of the computer. If the CPU is being used heavily, other programs and the entire operating system can start to run slowly. Additionally, the CPU can output a lot of heat, causing your cooling fans to speed up.

Your computer’s memory is also known as the RAM, it’s used to store data that the operating system and active programs need to run. If one app takes up too much RAM, then some programs can end up having their data pushed out of RAM. This can cause those apps to become very slow to load or open back up if they were minimised, in some cases, it can also cause apps to crash.

The disk is the long-term storage or hard drive of your computer. If an app is hogging the use of a hard drive, then other apps trying to use that hard drive will be very slow as they can’t actively read or write data until the disk is free for new requests.

Network usage is the utilisation of your network connection. The percentage measure is not a measure of your device’s network usage as compared to your internet download speed, instead, it’s a measure against how fast your network card can transmit data. For example, if a network card can transmit data at up to 1000Mb/s but you only have a download speed from your ISP of 100Mb/s then you will only ever reach 10% utilisation. This means that you’re very unlikely to reach 100% even when your network connection is being hogged by a single app. If your network connection is being hogged, then you’re likely to see other apps being slow at loading data from the internet.

The GPU or Graphics Processing Unit is responsible for handing graphics tasks such as rendering your desktop, apps, and video games. If your GPU is being hogged, then it will likely produce a lot of heat. It’s unlikely that you’ll see much performance impact, however, as computers are very smart at determining which apps need priority access to the GPU. You may occasionally notice some graphically intensive tasks running slowly when the GPU is under heavy load, but this generally doesn’t happen outside of the app that is actively hogging the GPU.

How to identify which apps are hogging system resources

Identifying which app or apps are hogging system resources is generally pretty easy using the default Windows tool “Task Manager”. To open Task Manager press the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Shift + Esc.

Task manager should open with seven tabs available at the top: Processes, Performance, App history, Start-up, Users, Details, and Services.

Tip: If you can’t see these tabs you may be in the streamlined view. Click the “More details” arrow in the bottom-left corner to open the full Task Manager view.

To identify which apps are hogging system resources, you want to open the “Processes” tab. Here you can see a column for each of the previously mentioned system resources and the usage statistics for each app.

Tip: If you can’t see all of the mentioned system resource columns, then right-click on the column headers and tick the missing resources.

You can click on each of the column headers to sort the apps by resource usage, either in ascending or descending order. By sorting columns in descending order, you can see if any apps are using an unusually large amount of system resources.

How to deal with an app hogging resources

Realistically for the best performance in an app, you want it to be able to make the most use of at least one of the system resources, with the exception of the RAM. For example, an antivirus tool will scan your hard drive, if it’s not using most or all of the drive’s read speed, then it’s not running as fast as it could be. If a video game isn’t using 100% of your GPU, then you’re not getting the highest framerate or quality that you could be.

Obviously, if one app is hogging a system resource, then access to this resource is restricted for other apps, which can cause a system slowdown. If this access is necessary, and you want to speed up other processes, then you may want to consider ending the resource-hogging task, by right-clicking on it, and selecting “End task”.

Tip: Be careful ending tasks. Ending system tasks could cause Windows to crash. Ending other tasks like Microsoft Word, could also lead to data loss if you haven’t saved – always think before you end a task!

Are you having trouble connecting to Facebook or Twitter? Has your internet connection slowed down to the point that it’s become unusable?

Don’t blame your internet service provider just yet. The reason for this could be a program consuming bandwidth in the background.

In this post, you’ll learn how to monitor the bandwidth usage of your applications and how to put an end to it.

Method 1: Task Manager

The easiest way to monitor your network activity would be through Task Manager. This application shows all the programs that are currently running in your PC. This feature is available on Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 10.

Open Task Manager by hitting Ctrl + Shift + Esc. You can also right-click Start and select Task Manager.

For most users, the Task Manager will only display programs that are currently running. Click More Details to get more information.

The expanded view will not only show a list of running applications, but it also tells which are consuming the most resources — including network activity.

Clicking Network will arrange the column in ascending or descending order. Putting the list in descending order lets you see which programs are getting the most network usage.

To can force applications to stop. Right-click the program and select End Task.

Note: Some running applications are crucial for Windows to continue working. Ending these types of tasks will cause your computer to shut down.

Method 2: Resource Monitor

You can use Resource Monitor instead to find which apps are connecting to the internet. Resource Monitor is the better tool to use if you want to dive deeper into the details.

Open Run and type RESMON. Windows 8 users might have to type RESMON.EXE instead.

This will open Resource Monitor. Click the Network tab. This will show you all the network activity on your computer.

The Processes With Network Activity window is composed of five columns.

• Image – The name of the application
• PID – Shows you the process ID number
• Send (B/sec) – This is the average number of bytes per second the app sent in the last minute.
• Receive (B/Sec) – This is the average number of bytes per second the app received in the last minute.
• Total (B/Sec) – Total bytes per second the app used in the last minute.

If you’re seeing unfamiliar programs in the list, right-click on it and select Search Online.

Clicking Search Online will prompt Windows to do a web search of the application in question.

Should you find an application that’s using way too much bandwidth, right-click it and select End Process.

Method 3: Third-Party Tools

You can find a number of third-party programs online to help monitor your bandwidth usage. This is great for students or anyone who has a cap on internet usage.

While these apps give you more control over your bandwidth allocation, they can be pricey. Most of them aren’t free while others operate on a freemium model.

But still, if monitoring network usage is important to you then it could be worth spending money on a solution. For most people, however, the first two methods should