Task manager performance Tab graph colours colors are the same

Question

Task manager performance Tab graph colours colors are the same

Conrad Braam 0

I have multiple NICs in a computer, Task Manager lets me choose which NIC displays in the bottom key panel, but since the colors are "set" and not automatic, all nics graph in pink.

Which means that all you can see is the instantaneous value, because all cards draw traces at once, and are all here in pink and the scale of a 1gbit card and a 10gbit card may change dynamically and really be confusing at first to look at.

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So I guess the question is: Can the Task Manager choose slight variations of pink? And can it also highlight the current NIC somehow better here?

I still prefer the old performance monitor, but having more than one reference point is always better proof that a user is seeing the right picture even if it is looking at an uncooked or cooked counter.

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Answer 1

VPHAN 42,485 Independent Advisor

Hi Conrad Braam,

How is your issue going? Has it been resolved yet? If it has, please consider accepting the answer as it helps others sharing the same problem benefit too. Thank you :)

VP

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Answer 2

Hi Conrad Braam,

You are correct that Windows Task Manager natively lacks the ability to assign slight color variations or individual highlights to different Network Interface Cards. Because the operating system groups all your adapters under the same hardware category, the graphing engine renders them using the identical shade of pink, and there are no hidden registry settings or configuration files to override this specific behavior. Task Manager is built to provide a quick, high-level overview rather than granular comparative analysis. This design inherently causes the dynamic scaling issue you mentioned, making it visually frustrating to track multiple network scales like a 1 Gigabit and 10 Gigabit card when viewing them side-by-side.

Your instinct to rely on the traditional Performance Monitor is the absolute best approach for this scenario. By running perfmon.msc from your run dialog and adding specific counters under the Network Interface path, you gain complete control over the graphing telemetry. You can manually assign distinct colors to each network adapter, adjust line thickness, and most importantly, set custom static scaling for your cards independently. This grants you the precise comparative visualization you are looking for, completely bypassing the hardcoded visual and dynamic scaling limitations of Task Manager.

Hope this answer brought you some useful information. If it did, please hit “accept answer”. Should you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment.

VP

Answer 3

Task Manager does not provide any option to change or individualize the graph colors for different NICs on the Performance tab, nor to automatically assign different shades per adapter. The color scheme is fixed by the UI and applies uniformly to all network adapters.

To compare multiple NICs with clearer visual distinction or different scales, use another tool such as Performance Monitor or Windows Performance Analyzer, which support multiple counters/graphs with configurable colors and layouts.

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