Laptop slow? Check and end overloaded processes in Task Manager

My laptop is running slow and I want to check what is using up the resources.

The laptop is sluggish, fans run loudly, or apps take a long time to respond, and you want to identify and close whatever is overloading it.

Open Task Manager, sort processes by CPU or memory usage, and end any non-essential process that is overloading the laptop.

1. 1Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager directly (or Ctrl + Alt + Delete > Task Manager).
2. 2Click the Processes tab, then click the CPU or Memory column header to sort by highest usage.
3. 3Identify any process using an unusually high percentage of CPU or memory that you don't recognize or don't currently need.
4. 4Right-click the process and select End task - only end tasks you don't need, since ending essential system processes can cause instability.
5. 5If a specific application (e.g. a browser with many tabs) is the cause, consider closing unused tabs/windows instead of force-ending it.
6. 6Check the Startup apps tab in Task Manager and disable unnecessary apps that launch automatically and slow down startup.
7. 7If the laptop is still slow, restart it and check for pending Windows updates.
8. 8Contact IT if the same process keeps consuming high resources repeatedly - this could indicate malware or a failing application.