Windows 11’s Task Manager is becoming more and more accurate in displaying CPU usage. All Task Manager tabs (Processes, Performance, and Users) will now correctly report the same CPU usage based on industry standards and third-party applications. This problem has been around for decades but has only now been patched, but how does it get better?
Have you ever noticed that the percentage of individual processes doesn't match the total? Doesn’t Task Manager correctly calculate CPU usage? It's correct, but it can also be confusing. Even though Task Manager is reporting CPU usage close to 100% and showing the system is struggling, something still doesn't look right. When you manually add up the usage reported by individual processes, most of the time it doesn't add up to 100% or any other number.
This appears to be a "bug" as it looks like Task Manager is not reporting the situation accurately. This is because the Processes page uses a unique CPU usage calculation formula, while the Performance and Users pages use a different, more "industry standard" calculation formula.
Therefore, you may find a mismatch when comparing total CPU usage to the sum of process usage in Windows 11 and older versions.
In Windows 11 Build 26120.3360, Microsoft says it has "fixed" the issue and rolled out a new change to ensure that all tabs have the same CPU usage.
This means everything will be consistent now. You can calculate process usage and it will match the total usage shown under the Processes, Performance, and Users tabs.
Microsoft is changing how it calculates CPU workload to align Task Manager reporting with industry standards, including third-party tools that do a better job of monitoring Windows performance.
Changes have been made to how Task Manager's Processes, Performance, and Users pages calculate CPU utilization. Task Manager will now use standard metrics to display CPU workload consistently across all pages, consistent with industry standards and third-party tools.
Of course, if you want to go back to the old way of calculating CPU usage, you can right-click anywhere in Task Manager and select the Legacy option.
As shown in the screenshot above, the "CPU Utility" column on the "Details" tab (off by default) displays the old CPU usage formula.
Microsoft will introduce this change to Windows 1124H2 and 23H2 versions in a few weeks.