Overview
- Clicking the X to close Task Manager makes the window disappear but leaves taskmgr.exe running, and repeated use creates multiple background instances.
- PC Gamer’s testing measured roughly 20–25 MB of RAM and up to about 1.5% CPU per instance, which can slow systems as copies accumulate.
- The behavior appeared after the October 28 release of KB5067036 and has been documented by Windows Latest, PCWorld, PC Gamer, The Verge, Reddit users, and reporters.
- Users can mitigate the issue by choosing End task in Task Manager or by running the command taskkill /im taskmgr.exe /f to shut down all instances.
- The update’s notes reference a Task Manager grouping fix, yet as of October 31 Microsoft’s KB page lists no known issues and no fix has been released.