TaskVitals

A small, portable CPU and RAM monitor for the Windows 11 taskbar.

TaskVitals shows CPU and memory usage as a few readable percentages in a transparent strip over your taskbar. Hover for details, right-click for options. It is one native C++/Win32 executable with an English-only interface, open source under the MIT license.

• On the taskbar: CPU and RAM sit in a free gap on the taskbar, placed to avoid your app buttons. You can also switch to draggable desktop cards. The widget hides while a full-screen app is in front on its monitor.
• Opt-in extras: GPU usage, CPU speed limit, CPU temperature and network traffic stay off until you turn them on. Temperature needs the separate Core Temp utility.
• Portable: one executable of about 99 KiB that runs as your normal user, with no installer, Electron or .NET runtime. TaskVitals itself never needs administrator rights; the optional temperature column relies on Core Temp, which does.
• Light: one sampling timer (5 seconds by default), and it repaints only when a shown value changes. With default settings it used about 13 MiB of working set in short observations on one Windows 11 machine. Resource use
• Private: no telemetry, account or automatic update checks. What it touches
• Checkable: open source, with a SHA-256 checksum next to each release download, plus automated MSVC builds and self-tests in CI (separate from the download). Verify your download

New in 1.9.2: the taskbar strip no longer floats above the taskbar after waking from sleep or after the display scale changes (for example from 100% to 125%) while TaskVitals is running. Version 1.9.0 added optional network traffic columns (DOWN and UP), off by default. See the changelog.

Download

Download TaskVitals 1.9.2 for Windows (.zip) · Release notes, checksum and source

1. Download TaskVitals-1.9.2-windows-x86.zip, right-click it and choose Extract all.
2. Keep the extracted folder somewhere permanent, then double-click TaskVitals.exe.
3. Look for CPU and RAM on your taskbar, by default near the notification area. Right-click the visible text for options, including Exit.

TaskVitals needs no installer, account or administrator permission. (The optional temperature column relies on Core Temp, a separate program that asks for administrator approval; see CPU temperature.) The x86 build is tested on x64 Windows 11. The first CPU percentage appears with the second sample, after 5 seconds by default. The optional columns and Start with Windows stay off until you turn them on. Only one copy runs at a time; starting TaskVitals.exe again brings the running copy forward.

The ZIP contains TaskVitals.exe, README.txt (a short plain-text guide), LICENSE, CHANGELOG.md and THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.txt. TaskVitals.exe is 100,864 bytes (about 99 KiB), x86, built with MinGW.org GCC 6.3.0, and unsigned, so Windows may warn before it runs a downloaded copy. See Verify your download.

Read the numbers

Label	What it shows	Default
CPU	Processor busy time, averaged since the previous sample	Shown
RAM	Total physical memory in use	Shown
GPU	Busiest GPU engine across all GPUs (details)	Off
LIM	CPU speed limit reported by Windows; not a temperature (details)	Off
TEMP	Hottest CPU core in °C, read from Core Temp (details)	Off
DOWN, UP	Bytes per second received and sent by the physical network adapters (details)	Off

• Values are rounded to whole numbers. Temperature shows as 68° on the taskbar and 68°C on the desktop cards. Network traffic shows bytes per second in decimal units, such as 0.4K, 85K, 12M or 1.1G.
• -- means there is no valid reading yet or the source is unavailable. CPU shows -- until a second valid sample arrives.
• CPU, GPU and network traffic are averaged over the refresh interval, so a longer interval smooths out their short spikes. RAM and TEMP are read at the moment of each sample.

Hover over the visible text for details: CPU, used, total and available RAM, Windows uptime, the last sample time and the refresh interval. Each optional column you turn on adds its own line. The details are a snapshot, so move away and hover again to update them.

Customize it

Right-click the visible text to open the menu. Transparent pixels pass mouse input through to the taskbar, so aim at the letters or numbers. There is no tray icon or taskbar button, so this menu is the main control.

To...	Do this
Open options	Right-click the visible text, or press Shift+F10 when the widget has focus
See more detail	Hover over the visible text
Add an optional column	Check Show GPU (optional), Show CPU speed limit (optional), Show CPU temperature (needs Core Temp) or Show network traffic (optional)
Change text size	Text size: Small, Normal (default) or Large
Change colors	Colors: five presets or custom colors
Move it along the taskbar	Taskbar position: Right (near notification area, the default), Center of available space, Left (after app buttons) or Custom (Ctrl+drag), plus Move left / Move right, which nudge it and switch to Custom
Pick a custom spot	Hold Ctrl and drag the visible text
Switch to desktop cards	Uncheck Taskbar view
Move the desktop cards	Drag anywhere on them
Change refresh speed	Refresh interval: 1, 2, 5 (default) or 10 seconds
Start at sign-in	Check Start with Windows (off by default, your user account only)
Quit	Exit, or Esc when the widget has focus

Your choices are saved and survive a restart. Settings lists the registry values.

Colors. The presets are Default (mint / lavender), White, Ocean (blue / cyan), Warm (amber / coral) and Dark text (for a light taskbar). CPU label and bar..., RAM label and bar... and Percentage text... open the Windows color picker. The picker loads only while it is open and adds no sampling timer. Colors apply to both views, and the taskbar background stays transparent. The GPU, DOWN and UP columns use the RAM color, and LIM and TEMP use the CPU color.

Placement. The taskbar view targets the primary horizontal taskbar. TaskVitals uses Windows accessibility to read where the taskbar's buttons and controls are, places itself in a free gap, and moves when app buttons appear or shift. A Ctrl+drag position is a preference, and collision avoidance still applies to it. If no gap fits, or the controls can't be read, the strip sits just above the taskbar. Each optional column widens the strip. Taskbar position applies only to the taskbar view.

Optional columns

Each optional column is off by default, remembered between runs, and adds one column to both views (network traffic adds two). You can turn on any combination. All of them are read at the normal refresh interval, and TaskVitals adds no extra timer, worker thread, service or driver for them. Nothing is sampled while a column is off.

GPU usage

Check Show GPU (optional) to add GPU. It shows the busiest physical engine across all GPUs. Per-process readings are added up only within the same adapter and physical engine, and the largest engine total is shown. This covers the 3D, compute, copy and video engines that Windows exposes. It is not a sum of all GPUs, a temperature or VRAM usage, and it can differ from Task Manager. The column shows -- for unsupported drivers, for invalid samples and during the first interval after you turn it on. To retry, turn the option off and on.

Windows' performance-counter library (PDH) loads from the system folder only while GPU or the speed limit is on, and the GPU reader reuses one bounded buffer between samples. Turning GPU off releases its query, buffer and library reference, though Windows may keep other caches. A fresh process with both GPU and the speed limit off does not load PDH.

CPU speed limit

Check Show CPU speed limit (optional) to add LIM, read from the Windows % Performance Limit counter. Windows describes it as the performance the processor guarantees it can provide, as a percentage of its nominal (base) performance. Windows power policy, the power budget, overheating or other hardware issues can lower it.

• 100% means nothing is limiting the processor below its base performance.
• Below 100% means something is, but the counter does not say which cause applies.
• LIM is not a temperature and not a clock speed.

Like GPU, it loads PDH only while it is on, and it releases the query and library reference when you turn it off.

CPU temperature

Windows does not give ordinary programs the CPU temperature. Reading the sensors needs a kernel driver and administrator rights, and TaskVitals installs no driver and never asks for those rights. Instead, check Show CPU temperature (needs Core Temp) to add TEMP: the hottest core in °C, read from the shared memory that the separate Core Temp utility publishes while it runs.

• TaskVitals opens Core Temp's data read-only on each sample and closes it again, so a closed Core Temp shows -- instead of an old value.
• If Core Temp is set to Fahrenheit or to distance-to-TjMax, TaskVitals converts the reading to °C. It ignores readings of 0 °C or below and 150 °C or above.
• On the desktop cards, the temperature bar uses a 0–100 °C scale.
• Self-tests check the parser with simulated Core Temp data. The column was also checked live with Core Temp 1.21 on one Windows 11 machine, where it followed Core Temp's hottest core. Because Core Temp updates every second and TaskVitals once per refresh interval, the two can briefly show different values.

Important

About Core Temp. Core Temp is an independent product by ALCPU under its own license. It is free for personal use, and businesses need its commercial license. TaskVitals is not affiliated with or endorsed by ALCPU or Core Temp, and it does not include or redistribute Core Temp. If you use it, download version 1.21 or later, and only from https://www.alcpu.com/CoreTemp/, because older versions had driver vulnerabilities that were fixed later. Core Temp installs its own driver and asks for administrator approval. TaskVitals itself needs neither.

Warning

Temperatures are informational only. TaskVitals passes readings through from Core Temp. The value on the taskbar strip or desktop cards can be up to one refresh interval old, and the hover details are a snapshot that can be older. TaskVitals gives no overheating warnings. Do not rely on it to protect your hardware.

Network traffic

Check Show network traffic (optional) to add DOWN and UP: how many bytes per second the computer received and sent, averaged since the previous sample. TaskVitals reads the byte counters that Windows keeps for each network adapter. It sends nothing and runs no speed test, so the columns show the traffic you are using right now, not the maximum speed of your connection.

• Only physical adapters count, such as Ethernet and Wi-Fi. Virtual, VPN and filter adapters are left out, because their traffic also passes through a physical adapter and would be counted twice. Loopback traffic never leaves the computer and is not counted.
• Units are decimal bytes per second: K is 1,000 bytes/s and M is 1,000,000 bytes/s. One M is 8 megabits per second, the unit that internet plans and speed tests usually use.
• The column shows -- during the first interval after you turn it on and when no physical adapter is present. An adapter that appears, disappears or resets its counters adds nothing to that one sample instead of a false spike.
• On the desktop cards, the traffic cards have no bar, because traffic has no natural 100%.
• The hover details also show the link to the router: the rate at which the fastest connected physical adapter talks to the router or switch, in Mbps or Gbps, as Windows reports it. It is the ceiling of the local connection, not your internet speed, and on Wi-Fi it changes with signal quality.

It loads the Windows IP Helper library only while it is on, and releases it when you turn it off.

Resource use

TaskVitals.exe is 100,864 bytes (about 99 KiB). The table shows short observations of version 1.9.0 on one Windows 11 machine. Each mode ran for 30 seconds at Normal size, Right position and the 5-second refresh, with GPU, speed limit and temperature off:

Optional columns	Working set	Private memory	CPU, whole machine
None (default)	13.27–13.34 MiB	2.53–2.71 MiB	0.0087%
Network traffic	13.29–13.35 MiB	2.40–2.55 MiB	0.0043%

• Both CPU figures are one or two ticks of Windows' 15.6 ms process-time clock over 30 seconds, so the difference between them is noise.
• On version 1.8.0, with the speed limit and temperature on, TaskVitals measured 16.93–16.98 MiB of working set. The extra memory comes from loading PDH, which the GPU column also uses. On version 1.7.0, with GPU on, it measured 16.25–16.31 MiB and about 0.02% of the machine's CPU.
• Core Temp, if you run it, is its own process. It was observed at about 26 MiB of working set on the same machine, and that cost belongs to Core Temp.
• Working set includes shareable Windows code. Private memory is closer to what the process alone holds. The CPU figures exclude work done by Explorer and the desktop compositor, and "below reported resolution" does not mean no work happened.

These are short observations on one machine, not requirements, limits or guarantees. docs/PERFORMANCE.md has the raw reports, the method, one earlier outlier run and figures for older versions.

How it stays light

• It uses one ordinary sampling timer and a native Win32 message loop. The window repaints only when a rounded value, or whether it is available, changes.
• Taskbar control positions are cached. Explorer layout events trigger a re-read, which is batched through a one-shot 200 ms timer. There is no periodic scan while the event hook is available.
• PDH loads only while GPU or the speed limit is on. GPU readings reuse one buffer, capped at 4 MiB. Collection runs on the UI thread and can take longer with many GPU processes or a slow performance provider.
• Once per sample, TaskVitals opens Core Temp's shared memory, copies the 2,686 bytes it needs (about 2.6 KiB) and closes it again.
• The color picker library loads on request and is released after the dialog closes.
• Hover details reuse cached samples. There is no background worker, no working-set trimming or forced paging, and no change to global Windows settings.

Privacy: what TaskVitals touches

• Network: TaskVitals has no telemetry, account system, automatic update checker or app-level network request code. To update, download a newer release from GitHub.
• Storage: it keeps preferences under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\TaskVitals, plus one TaskVitals value in your user's Run key if you check Start with Windows. It writes no log or data files.
• Reads: it reads CPU and memory usage from standard Windows APIs, and taskbar button positions through Windows accessibility so it can avoid covering them. It reads Windows performance counters for GPU and LIM, Core Temp's data for TEMP, and the network adapters' byte counters for DOWN and UP, only while those columns are on. Core Temp's data is read locally, through shared memory.
• System changes: it installs no driver or service and shows no administrator prompt. It injects no code into Explorer and reserves no taskbar space. Its only shell registration is for full-screen notifications. To hide while a full-screen app is in front, it also listens out-of-process for foreground-window changes, checking only which window is in front and on which monitor, not its contents.

Verify your download

Checksum. Each release publishes a .sha256 file next to its ZIP. For 1.9.2 it is TaskVitals-1.9.2-windows-x86.zip.sha256. Download both files into the same folder, then compare the two hashes in PowerShell. Letter case does not matter.

(Get-FileHash .\TaskVitals-1.9.2-windows-x86.zip -Algorithm SHA256).Hash
Get-Content .\TaskVitals-1.9.2-windows-x86.zip.sha256

Unsigned. TaskVitals.exe has no code-signing certificate, so Windows or your browser may warn about a downloaded copy. A matching checksum confirms that your ZIP matches the published file. You can also read the source and build your own copy.

How the download is built. The release executable is an x86 build made locally with MinGW.org GCC 6.3.0 and tested on x64 Windows 11. It imports only Windows system DLLs. Interactive desktop checks and the resource observations apply to this build. The MSVC and MinGW-w64 builds from Windows CI are separate from the download.

FAQ

Does TaskVitals work on Windows 11?

The x86 build is tested on x64 Windows 11. The taskbar view targets the primary horizontal taskbar. Mixed-DPI setups and secondary or vertical taskbars have not been validated. The widget hides while a full-screen app, such as a full-screen video, is in front on its monitor, and it returns with the taskbar. The Windows secure desktop may still cover it.

Is it a real taskbar extension? Will it cover my app icons?

It is a topmost window positioned over the taskbar, not a shell extension. It does not inject code into Explorer or reserve shell space, and its only shell registration is for full-screen notifications. It reads where the taskbar's controls are and picks a free gap. If no gap fits, or the positions can't be read, it moves just above the taskbar. Placement was checked on the test machine, including the wider GPU view, not on every Windows configuration.

Does it need administrator access, Electron, Python or .NET?

No. TaskVitals is compiled native C++ that uses Windows system libraries, and it runs as your normal user. PowerShell and CMake are development tools, not runtime requirements. The optional temperature column depends on Core Temp, a separate program that installs its own driver and needs administrator approval. TaskVitals itself never asks for it. Without Core Temp running, that column shows -- and everything else still works.

How much memory and CPU does it use?

In short observations on one Windows 11 machine, version 1.9.0 used about 13.3 MiB of working set with the optional columns off, and the same with the network columns on. Version 1.8.0 used about 17 MiB with both the speed limit and temperature columns on. The temperature column also needs Core Temp running, a separate process observed at about 26 MiB on the same machine. With GPU on, version 1.7.0 used about 16.3 MiB. These are measurements, not minimum requirements or fixed limits. See Resource use.

How do I turn on GPU monitoring? Does it run while it is off?

Right-click the visible text and check Show GPU (optional). It is off by default. While it is off, no GPU counters are sampled, and a fresh process with both GPU and the speed limit off does not load PDH (the speed-limit column uses PDH too). Turning GPU off closes its query and releases its buffer and library reference, though Windows may keep other caches. See GPU usage.

Why doesn't TaskVitals read the CPU temperature itself?

Windows does not give ordinary programs the CPU temperature. Reading the sensors needs a kernel driver and administrator rights. TaskVitals installs no driver, so instead it shows what Core Temp already publishes, if you choose to run Core Temp. See CPU temperature.

Does a low LIM value mean my CPU is overheating?

Not necessarily. LIM is not a temperature. A value below 100% means something is holding the processor below its base performance: Windows power policy, the power budget, overheating or another hardware issue. The counter does not say which, and TaskVitals gives no overheating warnings.

Why does a column show --, or differ from Task Manager?

• CPU needs two valid samples.
• GPU needs Windows GPU counters, which some drivers do not provide, and one interval to warm up.
• LIM needs the Windows performance-limit counter. It shows -- while it waits for a sample or if the counter is unavailable.
• TEMP needs Core Temp to be running and reporting a valid reading.
• DOWN and UP need one interval to warm up and at least one physical network adapter. Task Manager also counts virtual adapters and shows bits per second, so its numbers can differ.

CPU is averaged between samples, and GPU shows the busiest engine. Because the averaging and aggregation differ, the results can differ from Task Manager.

Can I change the text, colors, position and refresh interval?

Yes. Right-click the visible letters or numbers for three text sizes, color presets and custom colors, placement options, and refresh intervals of 1, 2, 5 or 10 seconds. The default is 5 seconds. Hold Ctrl and drag the text for a custom position; collision avoidance still applies. See Customize it.

Does TaskVitals send telemetry or require an account?

No. It has no telemetry, account system, automatic update checker or app-level network request code. The temperature column reads Core Temp's data locally. Downloads and source are hosted on GitHub, and to update you download a newer release. See Privacy.

Can it start automatically with Windows? How do I quit?

Check Start with Windows in the right-click menu. It is off by default and applies only to your user account, and Windows Settings can turn the startup entry off separately. If you move the folder, the menu shows Start with Windows unchecked, because the saved entry still points to the old path. Check it once from the new location to register the new path. To quit, choose Exit in the same menu.

Why might Windows warn about the download?

The executable is unsigned. You can compare the ZIP with its published SHA-256 checksum, read the source, or build your own copy. See Verify your download.

How is it different from TrafficMonitor or a full hardware monitor?

TaskVitals is deliberately narrow: a few percentages on the taskbar, optional GPU, speed-limit, temperature and network-traffic columns, and one portable native executable. It has no history graphs, speed tests, disk activity or VRAM monitoring, and no sensor driver of its own. CPU temperature comes only from Core Temp, when you run it. If you need broad sensor coverage, a dedicated hardware monitor is a better fit. TaskVitals makes no claim to use fewer resources than other tools.

Remove

Uncheck Start with Windows, choose Exit, then delete the folder. Preferences are stored under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\TaskVitals; delete that key too for a clean removal. If the executable is already gone but startup was on, remove only the TaskVitals value under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run, not the Run key itself. Core Temp is a separate program, so uninstall it separately if you no longer need it. See Settings and removal.

Build from source

With Visual Studio C++ Build Tools, the Windows SDK and CMake 3.20 or newer:

cmake -S . -B build -A x64
cmake --build build --config Release
ctest --test-dir build -C Release --output-on-failure

For x86, use -A Win32 in a separate build directory. With MinGW g++ and windres on PATH, .\build-mingw.ps1 builds release\TaskVitals.exe. The release download is built that way.

CTest runs the built-in self-test (TaskVitals.exe --self-test), which opens no window and exits with 0 on success. It covers CPU arithmetic, GPU aggregation, taskbar gap selection, Core Temp parsing (Celsius, Fahrenheit, distance to TjMax and invalid core counts) and network counters (adapter filtering, counter resets, link rate and rate formatting), plus a live read of CPU and memory. The interactive scripts in tests/ need a real desktop session; see Testing.

Windows CI builds MSVC x86 and x64, runs the self-test and packages a ZIP on every push and pull request. CI does not test the taskbar UI.

Building · Testing · Settings · Performance · Contributing · Changelog

License and notices

TaskVitals is released under the MIT License. The portable TaskVitals.exe statically links small parts of the MinGW.org runtime and the GCC runtime libraries. THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.txt contains the MinGW.org runtime license notice and an informational note on the GCC Runtime Library Exception. LICENSE and THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.txt are both included in the release ZIP. TaskVitals does not include or redistribute Core Temp.

Contributions and small, focused improvements are welcome; see CONTRIBUTING.md.

Trademarks. Windows and Task Manager are trademarks of Microsoft. Core Temp is a product of ALCPU. TrafficMonitor and the other names mentioned here belong to their respective owners. TaskVitals is an independent project and is not affiliated with or endorsed by any of them.