Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Productivity, Freeware
Better Windows task management with MKN TaskExplorer
by Lee Mathews Oct 17th 2008 at 11:00AM
Windows' built in Task Manager is good enough to get by, but it's not really changed much since NT. If you're looking for a better alternative, MKN TaskExplorer is an option worth downloading.
The program window's default view provides a good amount of information without being overwhelming. Double clicking any task brings up a detailed view of its activity including CPU, memory, disk, and network utilization, handle, thread, and file information, and more.
Want to replace Task Manager with TaskExplorer? Hit the tools menu, click options, and check the box. It works like a charm, and launches just as quickly.
In addition to being able to terminate or pause, there's also an option to "page out" a selected process, forcing it out of physical memory. While there might not be many situations where this is necessary, it's still an interesting option to have at your disposal.
You can also launch standalone memory and performance monitors from Task Explorer. Both provide graphical and numerical information about your computer's activity. The Memory Monitor can perform automatic memory optimizations as well, either when your PC is idle or when the amount of free memory falls below a certain percentage. It works fairly well, and didn't destabilize my Windows XP Pro machine during testing.
TaskExplorer is freeware for Windows only.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
jfjb said 7:48PM on 10-17-2008
obviously nobody wants to talk about or knows the free top quality ProcessExplorer by Mark Russinovich at SysInternals.
I am from another planet.
< cluck >
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hazard said 12:53AM on 10-18-2008
obviously .. you're pretty new here
Lee Mathews said 12:54AM on 10-18-2008
Waitaminit...Syswho? Lemme get my pen...
John said 10:20AM on 10-18-2008
I don't understand your response, Lee. Either you haven't heard of ProcessExplorer (which means you've been living in a cave), or you have heard of it but didn't think it warranted a mention. Either way, it's pretty strange.
Looking at the MKN website, many of their products look suspiciously similar to sysinternals products. Very strange.
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Rocketboy said 10:33AM on 10-18-2008
Umm, I think Lee is referring to this post:
http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/09/04/sysinternals-tools-now-available-as-a-single-download/
Yep, he has no idea about anything sysinterals, as I'm sure he forgot everything he wrote a little over a month ago.
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jfjb said 7:26PM on 10-18-2008
Lee Mathews reads too many blogs elsewhere and comments on the replies to his own blog here.
He might indeed be awfully confused about who what when where why and how he ended up this way but that's OK, unless vodka is or was involved.
;-))
P.S. Vodka means water of life. In Russian too.
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conedude13 said 10:51AM on 10-20-2008
Anyone compare this against Glary Utilities? That one is pretty good as well.
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Herny said 1:57PM on 10-29-2008
I prefer Daphne task manager replacement: http://www.drk.com.ar/daphne.php
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