How to see CPU usage in the system tray

A live CPU graph can sit right in the system tray once Pulse by Zaweba is running. Its notification-area icon draws a live graph of recent CPU use instead of the logo, and hovering over it brings up a live tooltip. The graph is on by default, so once Pulse is running you have a CPU meter by the clock without opening anything.

Windows doesn't offer this itself. Task Manager can sit minimised and show a small meter, but only while it is open, and it shows nothing about what happened a minute ago. A tray graph is a small thing that answers a common question at a glance: is the PC busy?

Getting the graph in the tray

Install Pulse and start it. The icon appears in the notification area and begins drawing straight away. If Windows has tucked the icon into the overflow area behind the small arrow, drag it out onto the taskbar so it is always visible; that is the one bit of setting up that makes the graph useful.

Closing Pulse's main window doesn't stop it. Pulse keeps running in the tray, and the window really closes rather than hiding, so it stays light. To have the graph there every time you use the PC, tick "Start Pulse when I sign in" in Settings and Pulse will start in the tray at each sign-in.

If you'd prefer the plain logo, the graph can be switched off in Settings > Start-up and display.

Reading a small graph

A tray icon is tiny, so think of it as a traffic light rather than a chart. A low line means the PC is idle. A sudden block of solid colour means something has started working hard. A line that stays high while you aren't doing anything is your cue to look further.

The tooltip gives you the figures when you want them. Hover over the icon to see live readings without opening a window.

When you want more than CPU

The tray icon is deliberately about CPU only. If you'd like memory, graphics and network on screen too, Pulse has a mini meter: a small always-on-top window showing CPU, RAM, GPU and network down, each with a tiny graph. Turn it on from File > Mini meter, from the tray menu or in Settings. Drag it where you like; its position is remembered. Double-click it to open Pulse.

The tray menu itself is a quick route into the rest of the app: Open Pulse, Temperatures, History, Mini meter, Settings, Send feedback, About and Exit.

Following up on a spike

When the tray graph jumps, open Pulse and go to the Live page (Ctrl+1). Click the CPU column heading to sort it biggest first, and the app responsible rises to the top. All the processes of one program are gathered into one row, so you see the program, not a list of fragments. From there you can End task or use Open file location if you don't recognise it.

If you missed the moment, the History page (Ctrl+3) has a Top CPU users list for today, yesterday or this week, built from the minute-by-minute record Pulse keeps for 30 days by default. Pulse by Zaweba uses about 0.1 per cent CPU in the background on the test PC, so the graph in your tray isn't measuring itself.