Microsoft has introduced a new Resources widget for Xbox Game Bar

Xbox GameBar Icon Big 256 Green

Microsoft has announced a new widget for the built-in Xbox game bar feature of Windows 10. The widget renders real-time resource consumption, and allows quickly finding and terminating a resource-hungry process without leaving the game.

The Game bar was part of the built-in Xbox app in Windows 10. Starting with Windows 10 build 15019, it is a standalone option in Settings. It provides a special graphical user interface which can be used to record the screen's contents, capture your gameplay and save it as a video, take screenshots and so on. Captured videos are saved as a .mp4 file, and screenshots are saved as a .png file in the folder C:\Users\your username\Videos\Captures. The latest version of Game Bar is based on the Universal Windows Platform (UWP).

In recent Windows 10 versions, the updated Game Bar is now named Xbox Game Bar. The name change is intended to show tight integration of the feature with Microsoft's XBox Live gaming service.

Widgets

You can customize the Xbox Game Bar to seamlessly jump between your game and your favorite gaming activities. For your convenience, it displays a number of overlay buttons.

  • Audio – allows adjusting the sound levels of your game, chat, and background apps.
  • Capture – Record a clip or take a screenshot of your game or app.
  • Gallery – Opens recorded game clips and screenshots.
  • Looking for Group – Can be used to find players for your favorite multiplayer games.
  • Performance – Allows tracking your game’s FPS and other real-time stats.
  • Spotify – Allows managing and playing your Spotify songs.
  • Xbox Achievements – Displays game progress and unlocked achievements.
  • Xbox Chat – Access to voice or text chats.

In addition to those, Microsoft has added a new Resources widget, that implements a simple resource monitor accessible within the game. It shows which apps are using up system resources, and it also lets you shut them down without leaving your game. The default view makes it quick and easy to identify top offenders, or switch to the advanced view for more details.

Besides that, Microsoft has also updated the Performance widget. It can now accurately monitor GPU Utilization and GPU Memory (VRAM) usage, and you can customize which metrics you track through the widget’s settings.

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Author: Sergey Tkachenko

Sergey Tkachenko is a software developer who started Winaero back in 2011. On this blog, Sergey is writing about everything connected to Microsoft, Windows and popular software. Follow him on Telegram, Twitter, and YouTube.

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