How To Pin Task Manager To Start Screen And Taskbar In Windows 8

We all know that Task Manager is the central place to view and manage all running applications and services. It’s the one program or feature using which one can monitor network adaptor, start or stop services, view detailed information about processes and more.

The redesigned Task Manager in Windows 8 displays much more information and lets you perform basic admin tasks as well. The only problem with the new Task Manager is that user can’t launch it quickly on a tablet!

Users who have been running Windows 8 on a 10 inch screen tablet may have noticed that the touch keyboard doesn’t show Shift and Esc keys. And even if Microsoft adds an option to customize keyboard buttons, it would be painful as you will need to open the keyboard first to open Task Manager.

Though most of tablet users won’t need these keys, keyboard addicts who used to open Task Manager with Ctrl + Shift + Esc hotkey in earlier versions of Windows will now have to search the Task Manager in Start screen search.

While it’s possible to right-click on the Taskbar and select Task Manager option, user needs to switch to desktop mode first (when using Metro apps) to right-click on Taskbar. So, the best solution is pin Task Manager to both Taskbar and Start screen so that you can quickly launch it from both Metro mode and desktop mode.

Follow the steps given below to pin Task Manager to both Start screen and Taskbar:

Step 1: Open Windows Explorer and go to C:\Windows\System32 folder. Locate TM.exe, right-click on it, select Send to and then select Desktop option to place a shortcut of Task Manager on desktop.

Step 2: Now move the newly created Task Manager shortcut (TM.exe shortcut) on to the Taskbar to pin it.

To Pin the Task Manger to Start Screen:

Step 1: Switch to Start screen, type Task Manager to see Task Manager name in the search result.

Step 2: Right-click on Task Manager icon (or touch and hold and then move the icon a bit), and select Pin button (at the bottom right of the screen) to pin the Task Manager to the Metro Start screen.

Step 3: Task Manager tile should now appear at the end of Start screen apps list. Touch and hold the tile and then move it the extreme left of the screen and place it next to Control Panel or Windows Store tile for that you can easily access Task Manger.

You might also like to know how to enable Start menu in Windows 8.