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Introduction
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| All Windows versions since Windows 95 have included the Task Manager utility. Easily evoked by the Ctrl Alt Del keyboard combination it allows users to see the programs that their computer is running along with some information about each task. However the information offered is minimal and the control options provided are few.
This is the reason why many third-party alternatives to Windows Task Manager have emerged. Typically such products show all the running process and services not just some and provide more information about each along with better control. |
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Discussion
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 For years the power user choice has been Process Explorer from Mark Russinovich at SysInternals. Since the recent purchase of SysInternals by Microsoft, Process Explorer has been further enhanced yet remains free to all users.
Process Explorer uses two vertical panes. The top contains all active processes while the second shows either all the handles opened by a selected process and, optionally, a list of DLLs and memory mapped files for each process in the lower pane. A very handy search feature allows you to work backwards from named DLLs or handles to the owning process. The feature list is almost endless though only a few will ever be used by average users. From the V10 release adds even more features including a faster refresh rate. The current version 11.04 is an astonishing product and a freeware gem. The only problem with Process Explorer may be the amount of information it provides. The sheer volume of data and display options will be welcome to technical users but could easily overwhelm average users.
While all these features make the Anvir tools much more powerful than Process Explorer they do bring some big drawbacks. One is usability - not Anvir's strongpoint with so many functions fitted into a single piece of software. Another drawback is performance (on my Samsung Q45 laptop with 4Gb of RAM, opening Anvir - even when its already in memory - takes a visible amount of time).
For many users What's Running will provide all they need from a task manager. The inclusion of a startup program manager and internet connection viewer within the same package can make What's Running a most attractive option. |
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11.33 
Unrestricted Freeware 
Portable version available
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Information on how to get full (paid) version of AnVir Task Manager for free: http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/free-anvir-task-manager.htm
Here's a couple others with more advanced functions:
Process Hacker
Process Lasso
Sysinternals process explorer has been updated to 11.33 for some time
+1 to anvir. after trying some of these and others, the basic features of anvir where just way ahead. Haven't seen any drawbacks in usability or performance as stated in the description; and one of the features I like is the info on disk load per process!!! sometimes you think your machine is slow: ram, cpu, registry access... but a lot of this slowness comes from HD load. If an app is accessing the disk it may cause a bottleneck for all other apps. anvir will show which process is eating all the HD bandwith!! it just works the way a process manager should work.
I'm sorry; but that software is really buggy!!! I had a perfectly stable system until I installed anvir taskmanager. Boy it was chaos. In a couple of days my machine froze at least twice per day, posing as being "busy" but in fact was crashing everything I had open... it even crashed the firewall. I had to force the shut downs to restart. Uninstalled this and voilá!!! all problems gone!!!. They should really make it simple: make a great taskmanager and remove all other useless features (like the tweaker, cleaner, anti-everything, etc.). In this cases... less is more!!.
I think it was not the Anvir Taskmanager, it had something to do with the compatibility with the firewall. Which firewall are you using? I use Anvir Taskmanager, and it works great on my system.
Anupam Shriwatri, India
Are there any free process monitors/explorers for monitoring remote machines? I have found a good tool called remote process explorer which is free for personal use, but you pay for commercial use.
http://lizardsystems.com/purchase/index.php#remote-process-explorer
Was hoping for a free for any use version.
here's one you could try and I don't think its been mentioned yet. its pretty small (exe only) and is pretty effective at getting things to shut down (scroll down the page to DTaskManager):-
http://dimio.altervista.org/eng/
I know Dimio's tools (expecially DSynchronize), I've not inluded his tool because Process Explorer beat it in functionality for the experienced user, and for the average user the poor UI adds complexity.
But it is only my opinion :-)
I use the "Extended Task Manager"
http://www.extensoft.com/?p=free_task_manager
Ultimate Process Manager:
http://www.lodusweb.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=category§i...
I'll check it, thank you.
Hello everyone,
I just found out about this one:
MKN TaskExplorer 5.0 (http://www.mkn-software.de/en/software/desktop/taskexplorer/ )
I haven't had a chance to try it but it looks interesting.
Regards,
Bob N.
I'll try it!
Advanced Process Termination
http://www.diamondcs.com.au/advancedseries/apt.php
It's a good process viewer and, may be, the best process termination tool (exept very special ones, such as IseSword and Rootkit Unhooker).
Some other very good process viewing and termination software:
Ekinx 3.0
http://www.toocharger.com/fiches/logiciels/ekinx/9153.htm
ProcX
http://www.ghostsecurity.com/procx/
Thank you, I'll look at them.
What about Anvir Task Manager Free? It definitely should be mentioned here.
tried a lot of taskmanagers but none better than anvir,even security taskmanager which you pay for, looks cheap compared to anvir.
I'm actually using it in order to review it.
bye
Fabrizio and all --
I just came across another FREE utility that I like a lot already. It is ProcessQuickLink from UniBlue. You can get it at http://www.processlibrary.com/quicklink/ .
It seems this utility adds to you TASK MANAGER process pane a description of each running process, plus a link beside each running process, such that when you click on the link it takes you to their website for a full description of that process.
Well, "Full Description" may be a bit generous. It only tells you, for example, things like "This process is not essential, but it is not recommended that you terminate this process unless it is causing problems." HUH? What good is THAT? What we NEED to know is what will happen if we DO terminate the process!? WHY is it "not recommended" that we terminate it?
Uniblue is a commercial site, and they are selling things, so it's to be expected thy would give only a limited product for free. Even so, it IS free, and it's not bad.
David in Mississippi
David in Mississippi,
ProcessQuickLink seems OK, but must run in the System Tray as a background task - which I don't like unless I was to invoke the process-application. Just in an idle state, it is chewing up about 5MB of memory on a laptop with 512MB - sure if there was more memory it would not be a big deal. I think I am going back to Process Explorer as it much more feature rich.
Process Explorer, you can:
> Target an application
> Customize the column sets - memory, cpu, handle, etc.
> Search
> Replace Windows Task Manager
> Kill the process tree - in other words, kill the parent application
> Show CPU or Memory Usage per process
I think I remember you can set where you search for exe files, etc.
Thanks,
Kent
AnVir Task Manager free is better than the two programs proposed here imho, and equally free. Well, I may be biased since it's the one I use and did not like much any of the two you are proposing in comparison. What do you think?
I'll test it, because I don't know it well.
But you don't have to be biased, in my opinion. In this review I try to list what - in my opinion - are the choices that can be the best for most of the reader. But I'm the first to have in other categories some preferred software that it isn't listed and and the some time don't like the listed ones. :-)
Bye
Fabrizio,
I can't get Process Explorer to run on Windows 98 SE. According to this page
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653.aspx
"Process Explorer works on Windows 2000 SP4 Rollup 1 or above."
Similarly the SnapFiles page it's listed on
http://www.snapfiles.com/Freeware/system/fwmonitor.html
shows only 2000/XP/Vista.
Jon
Process Explorer works with Windows 98 through version 11.11. After that, no go. You can download that version from FileHippo.
Thank you for the errata :-)
bye
SystemExplorer is my favorite and it comes in a portable version.
Note that Process Explorer DOES show processes in a tree as well as a list.
Once trying to get the Tree view (ctrl-T), it stops working in vista, not stable for vista
Processexp is very stable and can serve as real time monitoring on a machine with enough memory. The Procexp itself can consume 22M, nearly 3 as much as jetico 1 firewall used.
Can you give me the url of SystemExplorer in order to evaluate it?
And thank you, I'll check again Process Explorer.
Bye
p.s. Sorry, I forgot to log in :-)
Hi
It's here: http://systemexplorer.mistergroup.org/
Process Explorer does not run properly on windows Me
Sorry to day, but WinME is the worst piece of crap that ever came out of Micro$oft ... my 5 cent advice : change your OS.
Can you please elaborate? What exactly are the problems that you have with ME?
How do the following compare to the above please in your Process Viewer category. They are not free but sometimes even you mention that a commercial version (File Manager) is the way to go if you want the very best.
Security Task Manager 1.7f
http://www.download.com/Security-Task-Manager/3000-2094_4-10246545.html?...
Advanced Task Manager 4
http://www.download.com/Advanced-Task-Manager/3000-2094_4-10073849.html?...
As you wrote, freeware is not always the best solution. But remember that the main reason in this site there is only freeware is that it is "A Kind of WikiPedia for Freeware".
Anyway in the case of this specific category I think that for the purpose of "Process Viewing" - in terms of raw potential - no one can beat Sysinternals tool.
Better software, like the two commercial products you mentioned, are better becaus they add functionalities behind the process viewing.
A perfect example is Security Task Manager that include a sort of db of potentially dangerous processes.
To say in few words, in this category and similars there is nothing you couldn't do with one or more freeware tools. The fee you paid for a shareware product is only for more eae of use and support. You have to decide if the fee - for you - is worth it.
Bye
what about process monitor?
Can you please be more specific, i.e. giving me the web address?
Because I know at least two Process Monitor, the one from SysInternals and the one from G-Lock Software, but I'm sure there are more software with that name
Thank you
Not the same anonymous guy from above but I was just passing by and know the program. ;-)
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896645.aspx?PHPSESSID=...
The url you posted refer to the Process Monitor by Sysinternals (now Microsoft Sysinternals). That Process Monitor is not included because the function referred by this category is better suited for Process Explorer, even this by Sysinternals.
Bye