However, restarting Explorer can actually prove to be helpful. But what happens if you end Windows Explorer in the Task Manager?Īs it turns out, terminating Windows Explorer will not only close any open File Explorer windows, but it will also render the Start menu, Taskbar, and System Tray unusable. This entry doesn't hold Windows together, but it does handle much of the graphical interface you use every day. Regular problems with this entry could indicate a hardware problem. If you need to restart System (maybe when troubleshooting high CPU usage), you should reboot your computer normally.

Since vital drivers like accessing your disks and USB devices rely on System doing its job, closing it will lock up your system and require a hard reboot. You can imagine the consequences if you were to terminate this. System handles tasks at the kernel level, such as hosting drivers to make sure that software can communicate with hardware. That's because it's vitally important to the internals of your device. Windows won't let you kill the confusingly named System entry through the Task Manager. In later versions of Windows, right-click one and choose Properties to see its executable name. If you're using Windows 7, you'll see the executable file names. Note: The newer Task Manager in Windows 8.1 and later refers to most system entries with friendly names, like Windows Logon Application instead of winlogon.exe. What do these processes do, and what would happen if you ended them? Let's look at some of the most important entries in the Windows Task Manager. Have you ever browsed the Windows Task Manager and wondered what some of the entries were for? The Windows system process section, which is at the bottom of the list in the Windows 10 Task Manager, holds some processes that are critical to your computer running properly.

Task manager keeps crashing