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KNOWLEDGEMyth

Does Task Manager show your CPU temperature?

No. Task Manager shows you load, clock speed and memory for the CPU, but no temperature, and reading it out requires special privileges.

Rigmint, Updated

The myth

Just check your CPU temperature in Task Manager. You read this tip all the time, and it leads nowhere: Task Manager shows load, clock speed and memory, but no temperature for the CPU.

Why that is

This is not Microsoft being lazy. Microsoft's own documentation lists what Task Manager displays: processes, load, clock speed, memory and other performance data. A CPU temperature is not among them. The values sit in sensors that a normal program cannot simply reach.

The grain of truth

There are programs that do display a CPU temperature. The open source tool LibreHardwareMonitor itself states that some sensors require administrator privileges, and that is exactly why such tools ask for elevation at startup. Access at that depth is a responsibility you do not take on casually, which is why the Rigmint app deliberately goes without it: it reports the CPU temperature as not measurable instead of inventing a number.

What to do instead

Take the temperature from the BIOS or from your motherboard vendor's own tool. And if a program shows you a CPU temperature without ever asking for those privileges, be sceptical. A wrong temperature is worse than none.

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