Task Manager is an integral part of the Windows operating system. It’s used to manage your startup applications, check what’s hogging system resources, and perhaps most often, terminate poorly functioning programs. But what happens when even Task Manager malfunctions?
Following a recent optional update, KB5067036, users noticed something strange: Task Manager was not shutting down properly. You can close the window as much as you want, but it will remain open in the background. If you reopened Task Manager, you are now stuck with two Task managers running in the background.
If you keep doing this enough, you might eventually bog down your PC completely, although it would take a long time: Task Manager doesn’t require many resources.
Who is affected?
Only users who downloaded optional update KB5067036 from October can be affected, and everyone who has the update will not be affected. We tested it on a few VMs and none of ours were affected. None of our personal machines were affected either.
It’s unclear why some Windows 11 PCs experienced the bug while others did not.
The quickest way to find out if you have been affected is to open Task Manager, close it normally, and then reopen it. If you see multiple task managers listed, you have the bug. Fortunately, it’s not very serious.
How do I terminate a failing Task Manager instance?
The quickest way to terminate multiple instances of an application is to use the Terminal. Open the terminal (PowerShell or Command Prompt, either works), then paste the following command:
taskkill /im /taskmgr.exe /f
Here’s what this command does:
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taskkill – asks Windows to complete a task
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/im — specifies that taskkill will target an executable
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/f — tells Windows to force close the application
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taskmgr.exe – the name of the Task Manager executable
You can also uninstall the update that is causing the problem.
However, given that the problem in question is not particularly serious, does not pose a security risk, and can be easily fixed using the command line, I would probably leave it alone. Plus, some of the update’s other features, like the revamped Start menu, are useful enough to keep.
Source: ArsTechnica, latest version of Windows
