A system monitor widget that lives on the desktop
The CPU, GPU and memory cards Windows 11 offers live on the Widgets board, so you have to press Win + W to see them, and they disappear again when you click away. System Health is a system monitor widget that stays on the desktop itself, as a column of tiles you can read without opening anything.
Every tile opens on a big number with its own graph underneath: processor load with its average, peak and a bar per core; memory used and free; GPU load plus VRAM for each graphics card that exposes it; network download and upload; drive read and write with free space per drive; and, on a laptop, battery charge, remaining runtime and wattage.
Across the top sits a clock with the date, the time since Windows started, and a single summary line. When everything is within your limits it reads Running smoothly. When something is not, it names it.
PC performance monitor with warnings you control
Warn me when something needs attention is on from the start, and under Warnings each tile gets a limit of your choosing. Cross a limit and that tile goes amber while the headline line names the reading and how far over it is. The defaults are 90 percent for processor, memory and drives, and 20 percent for an unplugged battery.
Right-click any tile and choose Open Task Manager to find the culprit straight away. The same menu has Move up, Move down and Hide for that tile, and clicking a tile's title folds it to a single line.
Monitor CPU and GPU usage from your phone
A full-screen game or a long render covers the desktop, which is exactly when you want to see the numbers. Click Show on your phone on the widget, scan the code it displays, and the same readings open in your phone's browser with a large gauge for the reading you choose. There is no phone app and no sign-in, and the widget shows Phone connected while the link is up.
How to customize the system stats widget
Everything is in Settings, grouped by what it changes.
- The panel: Theme (Match Windows, Light or Dark), Finish (Solid, Glass or Aqua), an option for dark tiles on a pale panel, Colors, Width (Narrow, Standard, Wide) and a Size slider from 60 to 200 percent.
- Across the top: turn the clock and summary, the time and date, or the time since Windows started on or off.
- Graphs: a history window of one, five or fifteen minutes; Glowing fill, Line only or Bars; and an Update every setting from half a second up to five seconds.
- Tiles: show or hide each one, choose bits or bytes for network speed, and keep a running count of data used since the widget started.
- On the desktop: sit on the wallpaper or above other windows, and Start with Windows.
