explained

Task Manager: the four tabs that answer 90% of 'why is it slow'

Processes lies to you by default sort; Details' columns hide the real answers; App history tracks per-user resource cost. A Socratic tour of the built-in diagnostic.

ProofTune Project··5 min read
Explained illustration Explained

Startup tab — what's connected to boot time

Trust its “Startup impact” (measured, not editorial) and the Status column; chase E_PENDING mysteries with the impact thresholds post. Disable via right-click — it writes the approval blob, just as the command line stays intact for re-enable.

Performance tab — idle health in one glance

Memory “Committed X/Y” is the pressure number, not %. Disk active-time spikes correspond to maintenance and index work. GPU columns exist since 1903+; engine labels matter (3D vs Video Decode) for the “YouTube makes the fan spin” class.

Details tab — the forensics tool nobody opens

'Elevated' column exposes which processes hold admin tokens; 'Name' + 'User name' tells you precisely which account each service claims to run for. Sortable by any column: identify what's not you without external tooling.

App history tab — the per-user ledger

Per-user recordings of CPU time and metered network per app — “which April updaters were hungry” by total cost, not by last-process-sighting superstition. Use it before concluding anything needs to be uninstalled.

ProofTune ProjectEngineering notes — every claim here names the bytes a real tool touches. Verify first, install second.
ProofTune logo

See these exact settings inside the real tool

The browser replica runs the same strings and states as the installed app — click around before you ever install anything.