Windows and Linux
System health and processes
Start here when a computer is slow or acting strangely. Click any command to copy it.
| Task | Windows | Linux |
|---|---|---|
| OS and version | or | and |
| Last boot and uptime | ||
| Hardware summary | in PowerShell | , and |
| Who is signed in | and | and |
| List running processes | or | |
| Live resource view | Task Manager, or | or |
| Memory use | , then compare the free and total memory fields | |
| Biggest CPU users | Sort Task Manager by CPU | , which sorts by CPU, or press inside it |
| Stop a hung program | first, then if it ignores that, or |
Try a plain kill before kill -9 on Linux. Kill -9 cannot be caught, so the program gets no chance to save its work or clean up.