Windows 10 Build 16241: Task Manager Process Groups

Microsoft published a new build of the upcoming Windows 10 Fall Creators Update today to the Fast Ring Insider channel.

While users should not expect major features being integrated into the new version of Windows 10 at this stage in development, new builds do feature gradual improvements over previous ones.

The last build featured for instance options in the UI to limit the upload and download bandwidth of Windows Update. While that is not a particularly new feature in itself, as it has been available as a policy for some time, its integration in the Settings application makes it available to all Windows users (even those who don't have access to the Group Policy).

Task Manager Process Groups

The Windows Task Manager in its current state on Windows 10 lists all processes by default when you open the Task Manager. These are sorted by CPU use by default, and you may notice that processes are not grouped in any meaningful way.

Chrome and Firefox processes are scattered all over the place for instance, and the only option you have to get some order into the chaos is to sort by name, as you get them listed next to each other in that case.

Windows 10 Build 16241 ships with a new grouping feature in the Task Manager that makes things a lot easier in this regard.

Basically, what it does is group all related processes, so that they are not all over the place anymore.

The Task Manager lists the main process name as the group title, and underneath it the processes that it contains. What's interesting about this is that the group title lists the cumulative resource usage of all processes.

Each individual process is listed with its resource usage as well, so that the information is still there if you need it.

Please note that it is no longer possible under the Processes tab to break groups up. If you click on CPU or Memory for instance, a group is always moved with all of its processes. This is different from how third-party programs such as Process Explorer handle this.

You can switch to the Details tab however in the Windows Task Manager to do that as groups are not supported on that tab in the Task Manager.

Microsoft introduced something special for Edge as well, as all of the browser's web page titles and components are listed now in the Task Manager (instead of listing them all as Microsoft Edge).

Other programs show up with their process names only. Let's hope that Microsoft will provide developers with options to use the same functionality that Edge uses to make the listings more meaningful.

Closing Words

The new groups feature of the Task Manager improves the program on Windows 10. Third-party solutions like Process Explorer have displayed processes in groups for a long time, but without sacrificing other functionality such as sorting all processes by resource usage (by breaking up groups for that effectively).

Now You: What's your take on the new Task Manager group feature?