> Task Manager will load in reduced mode if resources are short, like only loading the Processes page if that's what's needed to get going. It's one of the very few apps that won't just "fail and bail" when things go wrong.<p>This has saved me a few times, but every time I've seen it I always figured task manager was just failing to completely load. Glad to know that this was a deliberate state.
Dave also has his own YT channel full of "hidden" stories about old microsoft tech he worked on. Be sure to check him out, he's got quite a few good ones :)<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/DavesGarage/videos" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/c/DavesGarage/videos</a>
My favourite part of Task Manager lore are nearly undocumented keyboard shortcuts:
- pause updates by holding CTRL pressed,
- hit F5 for refresh (standard binding, isn't it?), or hold F5 to get refreshes way more frequent than with View > Update Speed > High.<p>They might have been visible in menu mnemonics in past versions (?), or might have been mentioned in the help, but now, while still working, there is no clear way to learn them from current Windows 10 Task manager graphical interface. (Even the Help menu item is gone.)
In this day and age (Windows 10), every time I have to use Task Manager it's because a fullscreen game has crashed, and I usually can't see Task Manager at all. It opens behind the fullscreen game and doesn't come to the foreground, even when I alt+tab.<p>I usually end up using the up/down keys to select the right process, looking at the Task Manager in the tiny preview that pops up while Alt+Tab is pressed. It is extremely annoying. I wish Ctrl+Alt+Del could open the Task Manager <i>in the foreground</i>...
> <i>visually complicated app to ever be fully resizable in all dimensions without any flicker</i><p>This is still ridiculously hard to do on Windows if using standard controls as a filler. <i>Especially</i> when resizing by the top or left edge. The only trick I know is to attach D3D context to the window, but even that has edge cases that look even more jarring than regular flickering.
102 comments when it was last posted in 2020: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23304536" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23304536</a>
It's pretty cool that this one person wrote a piece of software that has been used by so many people, it's crazy to think of that impact. I personally find it difficult to get excited or interested in the technical intricacies of a closed source piece of software put out by a megacorp though, unless I'm getting paid for it I'd way rather learn about the technical details of open source counterparts and the systems they're apart of.
> I initially drew the meters as 7-segment LEDs but that wasn't localizable to all cultures (How do you do a right-to-left reading 7-segment LED for Saudi Arabia?) so they only lasted for one version or so.<p>I don't get it. Why isn't that localizable? You can write the numbers in either direction with it, can't you? What am I missing?
there's a hidden feature I don't like at all. if you double click on the "white area" just inside the border, it goes into a " maximized" state where title bar and menus will disappear.<p>it's so easy to enter this mode by mistake and no obvious way to get back
Apologies for attacking Dave's credibility on an unrelated thread, but his comments on Linux are absolutely falsehoods. He said that all Linux machines have some sort of proprietary blob Linus Torvalds put in there on EVERY release, for his own purposes. Compared to Windows, which is entirely closed source.. I just blocked his channel after that.<p><a href="https://old.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/rb2xzk/dave_plummer_aka_daves_garage_former_microsoft/" rel="nofollow">https://old.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/rb2xzk/dave_plummer_...</a><p>Related falsehoods about Linux's SysRq (now deleted, comments relevant):<p><a href="https://old.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/rva3ui/so_before_i_get_flamed_about_the_ctrlaltdel_video/" rel="nofollow">https://old.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/rva3ui/so_before_i_g...</a><p>Related, his company's settlement for incredibly shady business practices, lying to customers that they "<i>really needed</i> his software, for <i>security of course</i>":<p><a href="https://www.atg.wa.gov/news/news-releases/attorney-general-s-office-sues-settles-washington-based-softwareonlinecom" rel="nofollow">https://www.atg.wa.gov/news/news-releases/attorney-general-s...</a><p><a href="https://old.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/rb2xzk/dave_plummer_aka_daves_garage_former_microsoft/hnmggno/" rel="nofollow">https://old.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/rb2xzk/dave_plummer_...</a>