Process Explorer
Developed and distributed by Mark Russinovich

This program, to my knowledge, is one of a kind. The task manager seems to do everything you want, but you have to understand how to use it first. The unfortunate part about this program is in all its glory, it becomes difficult to use since there are so many features. Hopefully, I can fix that by the end of this article. You can download the program by clicking here.

This program requires no installation; you simply run it from the .exe file. This is a massive expansion on
task manger, offering dozens of new things along with the familiar features we love about task manager.

The Basics



To help us I've labeled the default columns so I can name them easier:

1: Process: The name of the process, as it appears in the task manager

2: PID(Process Identifier), it means nothing to most of you. But this number identity's the program
(as its name suggests) and that's all it is.

3: CPU usage: Shows how much of your cpu the process is using

4: Description: Despite the title, this is mostly the full name of the program, most things here are the
same thing you see in column 1 without the .exe. (Firefox.exe is just named firefox). While some do use
this space to describe the program like Ventrilo. Most don't

5. Company Name: This is just the name of the company/person who made the program. Lots of
Microsoft processes in there.

Manipulating Processes

The magic right click; simply right click on any process to get a menu with several neat options.



Window
Bring to front: Calls this window to the front, on top of anything else your running
Restore: Used after you minimize a window, brings it back with the same position and size
Minimize: Puts a program out of your sight by hiding it in the taskbar
Maximize: Makes a window fill up the whole screen (not including the taskbar)

Set Priority: Don't touch this

Kill Process: ends the selected program

Kill process Tree: If a process has several things with it (like Norton and its million things) this will end all of them

Restart: Restarts the process, easy enough

Suspend: Stops the program from working until you resume it, you resume it from the same place you suspend it

Debug: Another don't touch this

Properties: Does most everything I've already listed and will list, also give technical information about the process

Google: This does a google search for the process, by the exe name, so it would search for firefox.exe instead of firefox. It's the next best thing to Norton when diagnosing what is going on in your computer. Lots of sites have process archive that are normally the first result when searching for a .exe. These tell you who makes it, what it does, and if its dangerous.

The same menu can also be accessed by selecting a process, then clicking on the process menu.

Recommended Settings

First off, move it somewhere safe.
What could mess up a program? You!
My suggestion is to make a folder in program files (C:\Program Files) called processexp or something similar, then move the program in there before you start anything listed below. That makes it so the program is in a place where it will not be moved or renamed. Moving or renaming it will default its settings.

1. Replace Task manger
Options > Replace task manager. It does what it says, now you will see Process Explorer instead of task manager when you hit ctrl alt delete.

2. Allow only one instance
Options > Allow only one instance
Just for convenience, if you launch another Process Explorer (by launching the exe or ctrl alt delete) the one you have open just pops up instead. Who needs two anyway?

3. Update speed
View > Update speed > 2 seconds
If you plan on leaving this running for a long time (while using the computer), then do this. It reduces how much of your cpu Process Explorer uses.

Conclusion

This is a solid program that more people need to use. It's rather straightforward and simple for a program that can do so many things. I'd recommend it for everyone due to ease of use and simplicity.

Offical Site of Process Explorer