PHM Task Manager Help

Concepts
Task Manager Overview
The tray icon
How to
Start a new task (application or process)
Change display options
Update Task Manager data
Activate, Hibernate or Stop a running application
Display information and terminate processes
Suspend, Reset or Hard Reset your Pocket PC
References
process counter column headings
Standard Pocket PC processes

Task Manager Overview

Task Manager enables you to monitor and control your Pocket PC and what's running on it.
It can be used as a simple task switcher or as an advanced monitoring tool.

- View and manage running applications
- View and manage running processes
- Suspend, Reset or Hard Reset

The tray icon

| Task Manager display an icon in the system tray (on the Today page).

This gives you a quick access to the task manager window.
When you click on the OK button or switch to an application from the task manager, it is still available on the background.
Clicking on the tray icon or the menu shortcut, or pressing the hardware key if you assigned one to Task Manager will bring it back to front so you can continue to manage your running applications and processes.

Start a new task (application or process)

1. On the File menu, tap New Task.
2. Type in the filename and parameters.
3. Tap the OK button.

Known issue:
The New Task (Run) dialog seach for the space after the last "\" to split the program file name from its parameters, because of this it doesn't execute properly commands that have a "\" in the parameters.

Change display options

Task Manager can display information about applications or about processes.
Tap the tab corresponding to the information you want to display.
Applications
Display running application and activate, hibernate, close or teminate them.
Use the View menu to display large icons, small icons or details.
Processes
Display information about running processes (applications and services modules) and terminate them.
Use the View > Select Columns option to select which columns of information to display.

Update Task Manager data

- On the View menu, tap Refresh Now.

Notes:
To update the data automatically, tap View > Update Speed and select a refresh speed.
Known issue
the selection is lost when the display is refreshed.

Suspend, Reset or Hard Reset

The Shut Down menu provides several options:
Suspend
Suspend the Pocket PC like the power button does, this is the standard shutdown option on Pocket PC devices.
Reset
Soft reset the Pocket PC, this will clear Program RAM and restart Windows CE, but the Storage RAM will be maintained and so all your documents, installed applications and settings will be kept.
This is the same as pressing the reset button on your device.
Hard Reset
Hard reset the Pocket PC, this will clear both Program and Storage RAM and restart Windows CE, restoring the device to its out-of-factory state, all your documents, installed applications and settings will be cleared.

Activate, Hibernate or Stop a running application

Tap & hold an application name and select the option you want in the popup menu:
Activate
Bring this application back to front.
Hibernate
Ask the application to free as much Program RAM as possible so other application can use it.
Stop
Close the application.
Terminate
Terminate the application process, it will not be given the chance to save its state or data.
Stop all but this one
This will stop all other running applications, all system resources will be available for the selected application.
Go To Process
Switch to the processes tab and select the process this application belongs to.
More options are available in the Windows menu:
Minimize All
Minimize all windows and display the Today screen.
Hibernate All
Ask all the running applications to free as much Program RAM as possible.
Stop All
Close all the running applications.

Display information and terminate processes

Terminate a process
Tap & hold a process name and select End Process in the popup menu.
Display information about processes
On the View menu, tap Select Columns.
check the boxes next to the columns you want to display.
View the process counter column headings for information about the columns you can choose from.

Standard Pocket PC processes

NK.EXE
Windows CE Kernel (New Kernel).
filesys.exe
File system (Storage Memory), Registry and System Databases (CEDB).
gwes.exe
Graphics, Windowing and Events Sybsystem (GWES).
Combines the Microsoft Win32 API (Application Programming Interface), UI (User Interface) and GDI (Graphics Device Interface).
device.exe
Device drivers services.
Loads and maintains device drivers for the system.
shell32.exe
Pocket PC Shell.
Provides the Today screen, Start menu, Programs and Settings windows and other shell functions.
This replace explorer.exe used on Handheld PCs and desktop versions of Windows.

Create New Task

To start a new task, type in the task name.

Select Columns

The Select Columns dialog box allow you to select which information to display about running processes:
Image Name
Name of the process module.
PID (Process Identifier)
Process Identifier, Windows CE supports 32 processes, each of them is assigned an unique identifier by the system.
CPU Time
Total time of CPU consumed by this process since it started.
Base Priority
Priority level of the main thread of the process, other threads can have other priority levels.
Thread Count
Number of threads in this process.
Path
Complete path and file name of the process module.

Hard Reset

A Hard Reset clear the RAM and reset the device, restoring the device to its manufacturing state.
All files and applications stored in Storage RAM, as well as the registry and system databases, will be erased in the process, make sure you have a backup !
To perform the hard reset, type the device name in the textbox and tap the OK button.