System and method for a method for indicating relative usage of a computer system resource by a plurality of applications each running in an active window, wherein each active window is represented on a taskbar element by a taskbar button, are described. In one embodiment, the method comprises, for each of the active windows, determining a resource usage rate for the application running in the active window, the resource usage rate comprising a percentage of a total system resource usage for which the application accounts; subsequent to the determining, ranking the applications in order of the determined resource usage rates thereof; and redisplaying the taskbar buttons to indicate, via at least one display characteristic, the relative system resource usage rates of the applications.