Download Squad

The Windows Task Manager gives you a good idea of which programs are running and how much RAM they're using. And if you need to kill a runaway process, few things work better than calling up the Task manager and clicking the End Process button. But if you want a more thorough look at what each process is doing, you're probably better off using a separate tool like Process Explorer.

Or you could install a third party addon like Task Manager Extension, which supercharges the default Task Manager. Once Task Manager Extension is installed, you'll start to notice changes in the Processes tab of the Windows Task Manager. First up, there'll be icons next to selected processes, making it easier to figure out which application that process is associated with. Windows system processes will also be grayed out so you know not to muck with them unless you really know what you're doing.

But more importantly, when you right-click on a process, you'll have about 3 times as many options as before. Probably the most useful optionare the Informaiton and Properties boxes, which display things like the system path (where the program is installed on the hard disk), and how long each process has been running for.

In order to install Task Manager Extension, you'll need to register for a CodeProject account, which takes just a few seconds. But you do have to give up your email address.

[via gHacks]