- Windows 11 is getting a change to avoid confusion around different reports of CPU usage levels in Task Manager
- This is just in testing, but should be rolling out to Windows 11 24H2 and 23H2 soon
- A lock screen feature to give Windows 11 users the ability to pick and choose widgets is also inbound
Windows 11 has a new preview release which tinkers with Task Manager to make sure it correctly shows consistent figures for the breakdown of processor usage across its various menus.
This preview is build 26120.3360 which has arrived in the Dev and Beta channels for Windows 11 testers, and it also has a useful new feature for the lock screen (which I’ll return to later).
But first, that move for Task Manager, which is a core part of Windows 11 that can be summoned to perform all sorts of app-related functions. That includes managing which apps start automatically when you boot the PC, but one of its main uses is to see how your system resources are being used. (If you want to know more, we have an in-depth explainer on Task Manager).
Typically, you might invoke Task Manager when your PC is really chugging away and running very slowly, so you can see which app (or apps) are consuming either a lot of CPU, memory, or perhaps drive resources. (A handy shortcut for starting Task Manager is to hold down Ctrl + Shift + Escape together, by the way).
Now, you might not have even noticed this, but Task Manager is not consistent in the way it displays the percentage of the CPU being used across its various tabs. Those are the Processes and Performance tabs (and also Users panel), which can display different readouts.
As Windows Latest, which spotted this, points out, while the Processes tab could be reporting a 9% CPU usage, the Performance panel might say 14% – and that could be confusing, leading the user to believe that Windows 11 is being somehow inaccurate here.
In fact, this isn’t an error, but rather it’s a problem with consistency. The Processes tab uses a slightly different way of calculating the CPU percentage, which has now been changed.
In the blog post for the new preview build, Microsoft informs us: “We are beginning to roll out a change to the way Task Manager calculates CPU utilization for the Processes, Performance, and Users pages. Task Manager will now use the standard metrics to display CPU workload consistently across all pages and aligning with industry standards and third-party tools.”
It’s good to see this wrinkle being ironed out, as it may have caused some confusion when somewhat different percentages of CPU usage were reported via Task Manager. With this being implemented you’ll see the same percentage throughout Task Manager, whichever metric you’re looking at.
While this change is still in testing, according to Windows Latest, it’s expected to come through to the release version of Windows 11 soon. Indeed, the tech site asserts that we should see this refinement for Task Manager in a few weeks in both Windows 11 24H2 and 23H2.
If you prefer the old way of working, you will be able to change it back via an option in the Details tab of Task Manager. (The different measurement currently used on the Processes panel is called ‘CPU Utility’ and can be reenabled, should you wish).
Elsewhere in this preview build, there’s another useful tweak, but this one is a double-edged sword – mainly because it’s only happening in Europe (at least for now).
The move in question is with lock screen widgets and it’s the introduction of the much-wanted ability to choose which widgets are displayed (rather than having them all, or none of them). Unfortunately, that blanket-on-or-off rule will remain for everyone outside of the European Economic Area (EEA), but the better news is that full customization of lock screen widgets will eventually be rolled out to the US and other regions.
Still, we’ve been waiting far too long for this particular change to arrive in Windows 11, frankly – though as ever, better late than never.
