Monitoring CPU usage in Windows helps explain slowdowns, fan spikes, battery drain, and sudden UI lag by pinpointing which process is demanding processor time.
The built-in Resource Monitor provides a process-level view of CPU activity using Windows performance counters, including instantaneous CPU use, a rolling Average CPU, and related details such as Threads and service groupings. Compared to Task Manager, the CPU tab makes it easier to filter down to a single process and correlate it with services, modules, and system-level load graphs.
CPU percentages are shown as a share of total available processing across all logical processors, so a single busy thread may appear as a modest percentage on systems with many cores. Closing suspected applications normally is safer than terminating system processes, since forcing critical components to stop can cause instability or require a restart.
Steps to monitor CPU usage using Resource Monitor:
- Open Task Manager using Ctrl + Shift + Esc.
Task Manager can also open from the taskbar right-click menu.
- Open Resource Monitor via Task Manager → Performance → Open Resource Monitor.
Resource Monitor also opens from Run (Win + R) using resmon.
- Select the CPU tab in Resource Monitor.
- Sort the Processes list by clicking the Average CPU column header.
Average CPU highlights sustained load, while CPU is more sensitive to short spikes.
- Select the checkbox next to a high-usage process to filter the lower panes to that process.
Filtering helps map a busy process to related services, handles, and loaded modules.
- Review the Services section for the filtered process to identify the service consuming CPU under a shared host process.
- Review the Threads column for the filtered process to spot unusually high thread counts.
A rapidly growing Threads count can indicate a stuck loop, runaway worker creation, or a plugin add-on issue.
- Observe the CPU Usage and Maximum Frequency graphs to correlate load with throttling behavior.
Consistently low Maximum Frequency can indicate power-saving limits or thermal throttling under sustained load.
- Close the suspected application from its window or system tray.
Avoid terminating unknown system processes from Resource Monitor, since forcing critical components to stop can crash Windows or trigger a restart.
- Confirm the process drops to low Average CPU or disappears from the Processes list.
Mohd Shakir Zakaria is a cloud architect with deep roots in software development and open-source advocacy. Certified in AWS, Red Hat, VMware, ITIL, and Linux, he specializes in designing and managing robust cloud and on-premises infrastructures.
