Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Freeware
Process Manager 2 Lite: What's really going on with your PC?
by Brad Linder Nov 26th 2007 at 12:00PM
This little application is a free replacement for the built-in Windows task manager. You can either set it to coexist with the default task manager, or you can check a box under "Windows Integration" in the settings to make Process Manager 2 Lite the default utility that runs when you hit Ctrl+Alt+Del.
The application shows you running tasks, like you would expect. But you can also click on a process and select "show dependency" to see related processes. Unlike Windows Task Manager, there's also a log file, which can come in handy, and as an added bonus you get the option of editing your Windows startup applications from within Process Manager 2 Lite. It's also a lot prettier than Windows Task Manager or the also-free Process Explorer from SysInternals.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
RP said 12:28PM on 11-26-2007
OK, I guess it looks nice.
I found the splash screen very annoying -- having to wait 3-4 seconds while it shows "Loading...".
The button "Kill all Unknow Processes" (sic) is intriguing... it asks, "Are you sure?", but I'm scared to push "yes". Who knows what it might kill.
I'll stick with SysInternals, which is faster, lighter-weight, yet much more powerful. SysInternal's app has a tray icon that shows a CPU graph, and also a graph per process. That rocks for seeing who's hogging the CPU over time. And it has a nice indented view with color coding.
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RP said 12:31PM on 11-26-2007
Ahhh, it notifies you whenever a new process starts, via a small window near the system tray.
And it shows you a list of startup items in the registry and startup folders.
So those are 2 features that SysInternals Process Explorer doesn't have. (But I'm not switching. :-)
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Alek Davis said 7:52PM on 11-26-2007
When I try to launch the program, I see the splash screen (which, I agree with other commenters, is annoying bacause of the forced delay, although it's not bad looking), and then I get this error "An unhandled exception ('System.OverflowException') occurred in PManager2Lite.exe [6916]." Running XP SP 2 with all currently available .NET CLRs.
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Rick McGee said 9:18PM on 11-26-2007
I also dislike the splash screen that lingers too long. Never got to try anything else, because the program failed with the infamous error "... encountered a problem and needs to close" before it completed startup. Running Win XP SP2 with auto update. Going to stay with Process Explorer -- it works, and it's fast.
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john zwicker said 11:46AM on 11-27-2007
takes up 37MB of memory...lame
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aman said 8:51AM on 12-05-2007
wonderful and superb program but not working speed
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