Windows 10 gains support for Linux GUI applications via WSL

It's incredible how much Microsoft's stance versus Linux has changed over the past decades. Once there was a deep rivalry, but now Linux is an almost seamless part of Windows 10. Over the past couple of years, Microsoft has put a lot of effort in support Linux tools via Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL). Now the next big step is almost ready for public introduction!

Windows Subsystem for Linux get support for GUIs

The command-line interface is one thing, but a lot of work gets done via GUIs. Starting with Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 21364, users will be able to run Linux GUI applications directly on Windows!

Task Manager to give more Edge details

The new Windows 10 Insider preview build has a couple of other enhancements too. First up, the Task Manager gets support for Microsoft Edge process classification. This will provide a more granular overview of resources consumed by Edge. You will be able to see data from different components like Tabs, Browser processes (Browser, GPU Process, Crashpad), Utility plugins (Utility: Audio Service Extensions), Dedicated & Service workers, etc. This requires the latest Microsoft Edge Canary or Dev builds.

Eco mode for Task Manager

Next, Microsoft cooked up a new Eco Mode. Basically, you will be able to throttle the power consumption of applications via the Task Manager:

Task Manager has a new experimental feature in this build called “Eco mode” which provides users with an option to throttle process resources. It will also help identify apps that are already running in Eco mode. This feature is helpful when you notice an app consuming high resources and would like to limit its consumption so that the system gives priority to other apps which will lead to faster foreground responsiveness and better energy efficiency.

Here is how you enable Eco Mode:

1. Open Task Manager.
2. Click on Processes tab.
3. Right-click on a child process or an individual process.
4. Click on “Eco mode” in the context menu to apply throttling.
5. The status column in the Processes tab should show Eco mode for the process.