TaskManager posts

Process Hacker is Task Manager on steroids

by Adam Maras Aug 25th 2009

The inner geek in all of us is constantly curious about what exactly is going on under the hood of our computer; the trusty ol' Task Manager is usually pretty good at letting us keep an eye on things. Sometimes, however, said inner geek needs a little bit more control over their not-always-well-oiled machine.

Process Hacker is an open source application that incorporates all of Task Manager's features while adding a plethora of other functions, charts, and options. Included in Process Hacker's features are things such as a tree view to see where active processes came from, detailed graphs displaying each process's resource usage and statistics, and (my personal favorite) over a dozen different ways to kill a process.

Sysinternals fans may notice that Process Hacker is very similar to Mark Russinovich's Process Explorer utility. The two utilities trade off a few features; Process Explorer is a little more developer-oriented, where Process Hacker is geared somewhat more toward the average power user.

The download link on Process Hacker's home page is broken, but you can download it directly from their project page on SourceForge.

Tags: open source, OpenSource, process explorer, process hacker, ProcessExplorer, ProcessHacker, task manager, TaskManager, utilities, utility

Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Productivity, Freeware

Better Windows task management with MKN TaskExplorer

by Lee Mathews Oct 17th 2008

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.

Tags: enhancements, memory optimizer, MemoryOptimizer, process, replacements, task manager, TaskManager, taskmgr

Filed under: Security, Utilities, Windows, Commercial, Freeware

Task Manager Free Does Better Windows Process Management

by Lee Mathews Oct 1st 2008

Though Brad just covered a nice enhancement for the Windows Task Manager yesterday, I came across something that may make you forget all about using good ol' taskmgr.exe - even in tweaked form.

While I don't normally go for the "this app is free, but the paid version is better" thing, AnVir Task Manager Free really surprised me. It's got an insane number of useful features. Apart from performing the usual process monitoring chores, AnVir also packs integrated startup control (a la MSconfig) and service manager, and log viewer.

Click any process, and AnVir's bottom pane will display everything from an application's creator and signing authority to how many active internet connections it has. It'll also display a full list of DLLs and other files in use by the selected app.

Tags: task manager, TaskManager

Filed under: Security, Utilities, Windows, Freeware

Winpatrol Puts You in Control of System Processes

by Lee Mathews Jul 21st 2008

Knowing what's going on inside your OS is critical to keeping it running smoothly. Sure, task manager and msconfig are built-in to Windows, but they're pretty minimalistic. For something with a little more punch, give Winpatrol a shot - we first looked at it in 2005, and it's bigger and better than ever.

Winpatrol offers a software "Swiss-army knife" of features for protecting and tuning your Windows system. Scotty (the app's mascot) keeps a watchful eye on process, services, startup programs, IE helpers, lmhosts, and a slew of others. It'll even lock your file associations and alert you to attempted changes to your hosts file. If you're interested in paying for the plus version, you'll get more detailed information on processes and tasks via a connection to an online database.

You can also use Winpatrol to help speed your Windows boot time a la msconfig - but not just by enabling and removing unwated startups. You can move and startup item to a delayed group, which allows apps that you want to give priority a little more elbow room when you boot your rig.

Anyone who's looking for tighter control over Windows performance or who wants a little extra virus or malware protection would do well to download Winpatrol. Scotty's definitely a nice addition to any Windows (32 and 64-bit) perimeter defense.

Tags: boot, bootup, msconfig, security, start up, startup, task manager, TaskManager, winpatrol

Filed under: Windows, Productivity, Microsoft, How-Tos, Troubleshooting

Simple Windows Task Manager tips

by Jason Clarke Jul 29th 2007

Power users on Windows will be very well acquainted with the Task Manager. This is the utility that can tell you how hard your CPU is working, what it's working on, what your memory usage is, or even how much network traffic your computer is currently using. But did you know that it has a "no titlebar" view?

If you want to leave your Task Manager showing on your desktop for a period of time, it can be nice to hide the title bar and gain that space for displaying more information. To do this, simply double-click on the empty area to the right of the tabs. Once it has switched views, you can switch back quickly by double-clicking anywhere on the border.

One bonus tip: If you're new to the Task Manager, you may not know that you can set it to minimize down to your system tray area. This is a really nice way to keep an eye on how hard your CPU is working at any time. Simply open Task Manager (Start > Run > type "taskman" and press Enter), and in the Options menu, check "Hide when minimized". Now when you minimize it, the Task Manager will show as a tiny bar graph in your system tray near your system time.

Tags: Task Manager, Task Manager views, TaskManager, TaskManagerViews, Windows Task Manager, WindowsTaskManager

Filed under: Utilities, Windows Mobile, Freeware

Task Manager for Windows Mobile

by Brad Linder Jan 3rd 2007

One of the most annoying things about Windows Mobile devices is that by default you can only close an application by clicking on the start menu, settings, system, memory, and then running programs tabs. Then you highlight an item and click stop. Whew. That's a 7 click solution.

While there are a number of programs out there that let you convert the X button in the upper right corner from "minimize" to "close," or give you a list of running programs to close, sometimes you just want more information. A whole lot more.

That's where Task Manager comes in. This program gives you pretty much everything you can get from the Windows task manager, and then some. Running processes, check. System devices, got it. Sort system process by CPU usage or RAM, check your IP configuration or you know, close active programs. There's also a registry editor packed in there.

Oh yeah, and did I mention that this is a free download? The only downside is you have to register for the buzzdev forums if you want to use the download link.

Tags: buzzdev, download squad, DownloadSquad, pocket pc, PocketPc, task manager, TaskManager

Filed under: Business, Developer, Utilities, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Productivity, Freeware

What To Do Next - local web app

by Jason Clarke Nov 24th 2006

Lifehacker brings us a nugget from Davo, one of their avid readers, called What To Do Next. The idea behind the little application is extremely simple; it's written in javascript, and therefore will run on any platform. All it does is act as a front-end to a list of tasks that you would like to accomplish. Clicking on the button for one of the tasks starts a ten minute countdown timer (the time is configurable), after which an alarm sounds. The idea here is that ten minutes is short enough to feel approachable, so you may find that you can get started on a task that otherwise felt too large to tackle. Once the alarm goes off, if you're feeling like you're making good progress, just continue. But if you feel stuck or like you're spinning your wheels, the alarm is your escape - just choose a different task from your list and get to work.

I really enjoy the idea behind this application, but don't need yet another task manager to maintain. But that's okay, since really all I need is a 10 minute countdown timer and the resolve to actually tackle some of the items on my ever-growing task list in Outlook. But downloading and installing What To Do Next takes mere seconds, and if you don't have a to-do list, or aren't particularly fond of the one you're using, this might be a nice alternative.

Note that the source file containing the actual list of tasks is well laid-out and easy to follow, but if you're averse to editing text configuration files, you might want to give this one a pass.

Tags: Getting Things Done, GettingThingsDone, task management, Task manager, TaskManagement, TaskManager, to-do list, To-doList, What To Do Next, WhatToDoNext

Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Microsoft, Freeware

Process Explorer beats the pants off the Task Manager

by Ryan Carter Sep 7th 2006

Did you know the Windows Task Manager doesn't show you the whole picture of system processes running on your machine? Of course you did, but finding an app that will give you this info on a silver platter and leave a mint on your pillow is a different story. That is presumably why you're smart enough to read Download Squad. Its because we bring you the good stuff to so this kind of thing, process exploring, baby. If you want detailed process info and the ability to kill processes to boot, go download Process Explorer from SysInternals (now Microsoft owned). Process Explorer goes quite good with Killbox, and works great for witch-hunting a notorious virus or spyware in the thickness of the dark jungle. Creepy.

Tags: analysis, Microsoft, ProcessExplorer, SysInternals, TaskManager, Windows

Featured Time Waster

Graveyard Shift - zombie-busting Time Waster

With Halloween fast approaching, it's a great time to get in some practice defending your territory against zombies. In Graveyard Shift, you take aim at zombies and other creepy-crawlies, blasting them into splatters of cartoony green guts. It's a casual first-person shooter, and it's very easy to get the hang of - use the mouse to aim, click to fire. Graveyard Shift has at least 15 levels, and it might even have some secret stages I haven't unlocked yet. They key to getting good at Graveyard Shift is learning to use ...

View more Time Wasters

Featured Galleries

Defective by Design, London: Protest Pictures

Download Squad at the Crunchies After-Party

Android First-look: Amazon.com MP3 Store

Flickr Pool

www.flickr.com

Download Squad bloggers (30 days)

#	Blogger	Posts	Cmts
1	Jay Hathaway	111	6
2	Lee Mathews	76	34
3	Sebastian Anthony	51	163
4	Brad Linder	37	7
5	Jason Clarke	31	0
6	Grant Robertson	8	8
7	Dolores Parker	7	2
8	Victor Agreda, Jr.	7	1
9	Nik Fletcher	3	0
10	Matt Heerema	3	3
11	Paul O'Brien	2	0
12	John Burke	1	0
13	Download Squad Staff	1	0

More Tech Coverage

Control Shift It's all about the experience
Somewhat Frank Perspectives on tech as it fuses in everyday life
Switched Gadgets, web news and commentary
Urlesque Exposing bits of the web

Download Squad