Windows 11 Task Manager gets major revamp with this ‘most requested feature’

Microsoft has rolled out important updates to Task Manager in Windows 11, the window that lets users peer into active processes on their PC. 

The key change to Task Manager is process filtering, one of the most highly requested features by users, but the update also includes some nice visual changes, including a Task Manager-specific dark mode setting. 

Users can filter processes in Task Manager by the binary name, PID or publisher name to isolate the process being queried. The filter is even applied when users switch between pages.

“We are bringing process filtering to Task Manager. This is the top feature request from our users to filter/search for processes. You can filter either using the binary name, PID or publisher name. The filter algorithm matches the context keyword with all possible matches and displays them on the current page,” Microsoft says in release notes. 

“The filter is also applied as you switch between pages. You can also use the keyboard shortcut ALT + F to focus on the filter box. This is a helpful feature if you want to single out a process or a group of processes and want to take action or just monitor the performance of the filtered processes.” 

Dark mode can be selected in a new Settings portion for “App Theme”, so that Task Manager can be set to dark even if the rest of Windows is not. It’s available in the setting page in Task Manager. Users can select light, dark or the system setting theme. 

Task Manager also supports dark themes for in-app dialogs. “All dialog except for “Run new task” and Properties dialog now support themes and will adhere to either app specific theme or Windows theme,” Microsoft notes. 

Task Manager now also supports themes for in-app dialogs. All dialog except for “Run new task” and Properties dialog now support themes and will adhere to either app specific theme or Windows theme.      

Microsoft has also updated Task Manager’s Efficiency mode dialog box to make it easier to apply Efficient mode with a new choice to opt-out of the confirmation dialog by unchecking “Don’t ask me again”. Users can enable and disable it in Task Manager settings. 

The updated Task Manager is part of the release of Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22621.891 and Build 22623.891 (KB5020040) to the Beta Channel. 

Now that it’s in beta, general Windows 11 users should see it in a future update.