Xbox Game Bar now has a full-blown Task Manager widget on Windows 10

By Jez Corden
last updated

You can now monitor resources and even close processes without leaving your game.

Xbox Game Bar Resource Monitor
Xbox Game Bar Resource Monitor (Image credit: Windows Central)

Have you ever played a game in full screen and noticed your FPS dipping, or your game stuttering and chugging? Back in the day, you might have to minimize your game and open up the task manager with CTRL+SHIFT+ESC to find out which process is hogging all your system resources. Thanks to the latest update to the Xbox Game Bar for Xbox Insiders, though, you can do it without leaving your game!

The Xbox Game Bar on Windows 10 is a built-in feature you can access by hitting Windows Key + G on your keyboard. It interacts with whatever process is running in the foreground, whether it be a game or any other program, allowing you to record clips or take screen caps. For more details about it, take a look at our ultimate Xbox Game Bar guide to get started, and make sure it's up to date by visiting it in the Microsoft Store over here. (opens in new tab)

Update: Sept 29, 2020: This update is only available for download via the Xbox Insider Hub on Windows 10 (opens in new tab) in preview. Join the program over here if you want to participate in the testing and feedback phase.

Source: Windows Central (Image credit: Source: Windows Central)

The new custom widget is effectively a lightweight task manager, currently in preview. It gives you an overview of what processes are currently running on your system. You can customize the widget between actual resources used and percentages, and even pin it to the screen if you want to monitor your processes while using other programs or games. It has a traffic light-style iconography for monitoring programs, with red showing a large impact on system resources, while green shows minimal. It also charts the impact by CPU, GPU, Disk, and RAM, just like the real Task Manager does.

If you do find a pesky program using too many resources, you can even slap the X button on it to close it. Problem is, it doesn't really do a consistent job of differentiating what is a Windows system background process or something that's a little safer to close, so be careful if you use it.

In any case, this is another handy little gadget added to the Xbox Game Bar, which now has third-party developer tools for custom widgets, on top of all the Xbox Live social features, Spotify integration, and much more. Be sure to check it out, and leave feedback in the Windows 10 Feedback Hub. (opens in new tab)

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Jez Corden
Jez Corden
Co-Managing Editor

Jez Corden a Managing Editor at Windows Central, focusing primarily on all things Xbox and gaming. Jez is known for breaking exclusive news and analysis as relates to the Microsoft ecosystem while being powered by caffeine. Follow on Twitter @JezCorden and listen to his Xbox Two podcast, all about, you guessed it, Xbox!

6 Comments
  • Just calling out that this feature only recently went to the Xbox Insider test rings, and is not available to everyone yet. Still many bugs to work out before it's ready for primetime - please test it out and file those bugs (Win+F)!
  • Ah my bad, will update
  • Ctrl + Shift + Esc? Thought everybody use Ctrl + Shift + Del...
  • Ctrl Shift Del does nothing lol. You must mean Ctrl Alt Del which brings up a menu including the task manager, but Ctrl Shift Esc takes you there directly.
  • Yep, sorry, I messed up :-) I meant Alt + Ctrl + Del, of course.
  • I didn't know about that one till just now, not that I would remember to use it. It isn't like one more click of a mouse is that bad.