Make sure that the arrow that appears on the header points down to sort the data from highest to lowest CPU consumption. Select the CPU column header to sort the list by CPU usage.If you see a single list of process names in the Name column, you can expand any instances of grouped processes.

The Task Manager window defaults to the Processes tab.

Select Start, enter task, and then select Task Manager in the search results.

Use Task Manager to view CPU consumption to help identify the process or application that's causing high CPU usage: For that reason, it's important to understand the cause of sustained high CPU usage to be able to correct the problem, if possible. However, if you consistently see CPU usage remain at a high level (80 percent or greater) for prolonged periods, the performance of your system or application will suffer.

Keep in mind that you can expect CPU usage to increase as a process or an application serves requests. This article helps you identify the cause of sustained high CPU usage.

Process monitor logging