Microsoft confirms Task Manager issue impacting performance with latest Windows 11 update

Microsoft has acknowledged an issue with Task manager degrading system performance post implementation of the latest Windows 11 update KB5067036. Because of this issue closing Task Manager using the close (X) button does not fully terminate the process. This results in multiple instances of taskmgr.exe remaining open. The system performance gets impacted because of these multiple open instances of taskmgr.exe consuming system resources.

After installing Windows Updates released on or after October 28, 2025 (KB5067036), you might encounter an issue where closing Task Manager using the Close (X) button does not fully terminate the process. When you reopen Task Manager, the previous instance continues running in the background even though no window is visible. This results in multiple lingering instances of taskmgr.exe, consuming system resources and potentially degrading device performance. Additional instances appear as “Task Manager” in the Processes tab and as “Taskmgr.exe” in the Details tab. Although the impact is less if Task Manager is opened and closed a few times, many instances accumulated over time can cause noticeable slowdowns in other applications.

Explaining the issue, Microsoft has mentioned that they are working on a fix but have provided a workaround for now. The issue impacts both Windows 11 version 24H2 and version 25H2 PCs.

Workaround: If you are experiencing this issue, you can mitigate the issue by following one of the steps below:

1. ​When closing Task Manager, instead of closing it with the ‘X’ button, use End Task on the Task Manager process itself. This can be done by going to the Processes tab, selecting the Task Manager process, and clicking End Task.
2. ​To close multiple instances of Task Manager, you can use the command line prompt:
   1. ​Click Start (Windows icon) or press the Windows key.
   2. ​Type cmd or Command Prompt in the search box.
   3. ​Click Command Prompt from the results.
   4. ​To run as Administrator: Right-click Command Prompt and select Run as administrator.
   5. ​Run the command taskkill.exe /im taskmgr.exe /f and press enter.
   6. ​This will close all instances of Task Manager