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up vote 4 down vote favorite

Does anyone know how to restore the default task manager in Windows 7/8? I've installed a 3rd party Task Manager (Process Hacker) but I want to switch back and I can't figure out how.

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Just uninstall it through control panel. – avirk Nov 4 '12 at 13:54
I'd like to be able to switch between the two without uninstalling. – Boots Nov 4 '12 at 13:58
ok, so I uninstalled just to see what would happen and now I get "Windows cannot find 'c:\windows\system32\taskmgr.exe'" – Boots Nov 4 '12 at 13:59
superuser.com/questions/271351/cant-open-task-manager I followed those instructions and I'm back to stock now! So it was sort of a two step process, uninstall Process Hacker then run Process Explorer and do the replace task manager option twice. – Boots Nov 4 '12 at 14:03

4 Answers

up vote 4 down vote

Delete the registry following registry entry:

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\taskmgr.exe

Just tested it with process Explorer. The entry doesn't exist on Windows 7, unless I select "Replace task manager" within Process Explorer.

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up vote 3 down vote accepted

I followed the instructions in this post and I'm back to stock now. So it was sort of a two step process,

  1. Uninstall Process Hacker

  2. Then run Process Explorer and do the replace task manager option twice.

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up vote 2 down vote

Uninstall Process Hacker and get the portable version, this will not replace the default Task Manager.

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up vote 0 down vote

To run both (since it seems that it overwrites the original task manager), copy the default task manager to another location before you install process hacker... then you can run it by clicking the icon like any other program

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