# Can you see which browser window is using CPU time? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 4, 2009, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-see-which-browser-window-is-using-cpu-time/495342 "2009-05-04T21:09:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2009, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-see-which-browser-window-is-using-cpu-time/495342/1 "2009-05-04T21:09:55Z")
With either IE or firefox, a runaway script can eat 100% cpu time on that CPU core. But I often have 15+ browser windows up at a time. I want to identify which browser window is out of control so I can close it, but going to the task manager only identifies that the program (IE or firefox) is using the CPU, not which window. Is there any way to figure it out? ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2009, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-see-which-browser-window-is-using-cpu-time/495342/2 "2009-05-04T21:21:41Z")
You could kill the heaviest browser process and see which window closes… Or do you need to know before you kill it? ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2009, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-see-which-browser-window-is-using-cpu-time/495342/3 "2009-05-04T21:23:50Z")
The browser processes aren’t broken down by windows though. You can kill IE or firefox entirely, but not their individual windows. ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2009, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-see-which-browser-window-is-using-cpu-time/495342/4 "2009-05-04T21:48:15Z")
No, task manager can’t tell you, because task manager doesn’t have the information available to it. I believe that Google Chrome has a process for every tab, which means that the task manager can tell which Chrome tab is out of control. ---
**Author:** ![PatriotGrrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9dc877/32.png) [@PatriotGrrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotGrrrl)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2009, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-see-which-browser-window-is-using-cpu-time/495342/5 "2009-05-04T22:13:57Z")
I often have the same problem. While this isn’t an answer to your question, you may find the Firefox add-on “Session Manager” to be helpful, since it lets you save all the tabs and windows you have open and re-open them as desired. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2009, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-see-which-browser-window-is-using-cpu-time/495342/6 "2009-05-04T22:50:37Z")
> [@Rysto](#): > > I believe that Google Chrome has a process for every tab, which means that the task manager can tell which Chrome tab is out of control. Chrome has a maximum number of processes. I forget the number. ---
**Author:** ![telebox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7ea924/32.png) [@telebox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/telebox)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2009, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-see-which-browser-window-is-using-cpu-time/495342/7 "2009-05-05T06:34:53Z")
You might try this free utility as it is far more detailed than task manager : > **[Process Explorer - Sysinternals](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/process-explorer)** > > Find out what files, registry keys and other objects processes have open, which DLLs they have loaded, and more.