Reading the five live graphs in Pulse by Zaweba

Five small graphs sit across the top of the Live page in Pulse by Zaweba, and they are the quickest way to get a feel for what your whole PC is doing before you look at any single app. They cover CPU, Memory, GPU, Disk and Network, and every one of them updates once a second.

The per-app table underneath tells you who is busy. The graphs tell you whether anything is busy at all, and whether it has just started or has been going for a while. That difference matters more than it sounds.

What each graph shows

The CPU graph is the processor's total use for the PC, drawn on a scale of 0 to 100 per cent. Memory works the same way, with a caption underneath giving the amount used out of the total, so you can see at a glance how much room is left rather than only a percentage. GPU is also scaled 0 to 100 per cent, and it shows how hard the graphics processor is working across all your apps.

Disk and Network are different. Each has two lines in two colours. For the disk it's reading and writing; for the network it's data coming down and going up, with arrows and the current rates shown beside the graph. These two don't have a fixed top. They auto-scale to whatever is happening, and they show the rate, so a quiet minute and a busy download both fill the space sensibly.

Why the scaling matters

A graph that scales itself is easy to misread. If your network has been idle and a small update starts, the Network graph may look as if it has shot to the ceiling, because the ceiling has moved down to meet it. Always glance at the rate figure before you decide something is heavy. The same goes for the Disk graph, where a burst of small writes can look dramatic on a quiet machine.

The percentage graphs don't have this problem. A CPU line near the top really is near the top. When the Memory caption says most of your memory is used, that is a real number you can compare from one day to the next.

Getting the most out of them

Use the graphs to spot shape, then use the table to find the cause. A CPU line that jumps and falls back every few seconds usually means something is waking up on a timer. A line that climbs and stays up means something has settled into steady work. Once you've seen the shape, click the CPU column heading in the table below to sort the apps biggest first and find out which one it is.

The two-line graphs are good for telling directions apart. A steady stream of writing with little reading often means something is saving or copying files. Heavy upload with little download points at a backup, a sync tool or a video call. Reading the colours first saves you sorting columns blindly.

The GPU graph is worth watching while you play a game or edit video. If it sits near the top while CPU is low, the graphics card is doing the heavy lifting. If both are high, the PC is working hard all round, and you might want to look at the Temperatures page as well.

Where the graphs stop

They only show the last little while, as it happens. For anything that happened earlier, a slowdown before lunch or a burst of network use overnight, go to the History page, which keeps a one-minute record for 30 days by default and draws its own CPU, memory and network graphs for Today, Yesterday or This week.

The graphs also show the whole machine rather than any one app. They will tell you the disk is busy, but not why. That's the table's job, and the two are designed to be read together.

A good habit is to open the Live page, look at the five graphs for a few seconds, and only then start sorting. You'll find the cause faster, and you'll stop chasing things that were only ever a blip.