---
title: "ControlUp and Windows Task Manager Displaying Different CPU Usage"
slug: "controlup-and-windows-task-manager-displaying-different-cpu-usage"
updated: 2025-09-23T13:28:23Z
published: 2025-09-23T13:28:23Z
canonical: "support.controlup.com/controlup-and-windows-task-manager-displaying-different-cpu-usage"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://support.controlup.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# ControlUp and Windows Task Manager Displaying Different CPU Usage

It is normal to see a difference between the CPU usage reported in ControlUp and the values shown in Windows Task Manager. This is because Task Manager calculates CPU usage using different and undocumented methods depending on the tab you are viewing. At least some of these values are likely to be different from ControlUp’s reporting.

Microsoft has acknowledged these inconsistencies and [announced plans in the Windows Insider Blog](https://blogs.windows.com/windows-insider/2025/02/28/announcing-windows-11-insider-preview-build-26120-3360-dev-and-beta-channels/) to update how Task Manager calculates CPU usage.

The ControlUp for Desktops Agent calculates CPU usage using the % Processor Time (Instance=_Total) counter from Windows Performance Monitor (PerfMon). The Agent samples this metric every 3 seconds, and the value you see in ControlUp is the average of the last 20 samples (1 minute of data).