Someone reviewed v on Jul 5, 2022

Pros: 555

Cons: 555

Bottom Line: 555

roymccoy reviewed v16.1 on Jan 10, 2016

Process Explorer 16.1 changelog:

"Process Explorer now includes a column in the handle view that reports the text version of handle access masks, as well as several bug fixes including one that would result in the suspension of .NET threads when viewed via the stack dialog."

FatBastard reviewed v16.04 on Sep 12, 2014

Great program but why don't the idiots at Microsoft provide a changelog?

Andy Dean reviewed v16.03 on Aug 8, 2014

It's now been corrected. The download version is now 16.03, Autoruns has also been updated to v12.01.

Both worthy of 5 stars imo.

Zoroaster reviewed v16.03 on Aug 8, 2014

@FastBastadr : same here. In fact the developer's mistake, downloading from Sysinternals (I mean Microsoft) leads to the same 16.02 when 16.03 is displayed.

Otherwise, the Sysinternal's quality. Best Process Explorer I know.

FatBastard reviewed v16.03 on Aug 8, 2014

I love Process Explorer but when I download I get 16.02 instead of 16.03...

Blackholesun reviewed v16.01 on Feb 6, 2014

I think Process Hacker is better. Nevertheless it is still extremely good.

Yakumo reviewed v16.01 on Feb 5, 2014

Amazing app.
important fix in this version -
"This release fixes a bug that could cause a crash when the VirusTotal column is added to the process view, and another that could cause a crash when verifying digital signatures."

andi gjata reviewed v16.00 on Jan 29, 2014

Absolutely efficent and easy program to use.Developed by a trustworthy company such as Sysinternals.Recommend it using it over the standard task manager process explorer.

dhry reviewed v15.40 on Aug 2, 2013

Always used to love this program until I discovered System Explorer (http://systemexplorer.net/) a couple of years ago. The latter does everything PE does, plus a stack more - uses less memory and has a pretty neat fully configurable status window that appears when you hover over its tray icon.

allthebestnamesgone reviewed v15.31 on Jun 5, 2013

"This update fixes a bug with copying text from the process properties dialog and adds an option to disable the heatmap display in the process view."

FatBastard reviewed v15.31 on Jun 5, 2013

I'd be lost without this magnificent program.

allthebestnamesgone reviewed v15.3 on Feb 7, 2013

Process Explorer v15.3: This major Process Explorer release includes heat-map display for process CPU, private bytes, working set and GPU columns, sortable security groups in the process properties security page, and tooltip reporting of tasks executing in Windows 8 Taskhostex processes. It also creates dump files that match the bitness of the target process and works around a bug introduced in Windows 8 disk counter reporting.

JeremyP reviewed v15.23 on Oct 5, 2012

Kuhgi. Runs fine on this Win 7 64 bit machine, with admin privs. Indeed,.I have never had a problem running it. Sounds like your privileges are bunned.

Lsavagejt reviewed v15.23 on Oct 5, 2012

Ok.

allthebestnamesgone reviewed v15.23 on Oct 4, 2012

Process Explorer v15.23: This update to Process Explorer adds the ability to view the process token of protected processes, fixes a bug that causes a crash when viewing thread stacks on Windows XP, and fixes a bug that causes a crash when running on Windows PE.

FatBastard reviewed v15.21 on Jul 3, 2012

The best !!

KuHGl reviewed v15.12 on Jan 14, 2012

The poorest version EVER!
I can't start it as Admin on WIN 7 64 (nor by using 'RUN AS...' neither logged in as Admin!!!)... it only run with restricted user rights - BOOOHHH!!

I prefer ProcessHacker - it works without a problem for all users!

What a POOR company which claim to be able to produce 'operating systems', but offer an 'advanced' process manager which refuse to work with admin rights.

Lsavagejt reviewed v15.12 on Jan 13, 2012

No, no, no!

Input Overload reviewed v15.1 on Dec 6, 2011

TROLL my name TROLL by nature, the biggest pillock on this site - Ever.

p3t3rb0na reviewed v15.05 on Sep 21, 2011

@TROLL sheesh!! Sorry mate only trying to help!
I guess it is a tad hard trying to help a know it all goose that
doesn't even know how to use Spell " cheque" let alone
change a background color.

Have a great day

SuzzyWoozy reviewed v15.04 on Sep 4, 2011

@TROLL: is been there at least since 15.02.
Word of advice: if you're running 64bit OS, make sure you delete the PROCEXP64.exe before "upgrage".

Enjoy!

TROLL reviewed v15.04 on Sep 2, 2011

p3t3rb0na please check the version number before you trolled my review or show where is in 15.0 the change background color.
Dont waste time I tell you, nowhere.
Implemented only 2 days later in 15.1
Ful iirrigate trend nowadays, change something without backward option.
Programmers dont asked nobody just change as fall.

jenniferjennife34 reviewed v15.03 on Aug 19, 2011

Very useful tool to manage processes on my system.

Prospero424 reviewed v15.03 on Aug 19, 2011

Hah! They changed the default graph background color to white. Can't say they aren't responsive.

What an awesome program.

roman313 reviewed v15.02 on Aug 17, 2011

Great tool, but graphs is bad then earlier

dhry reviewed v15.01 on Jul 27, 2011

Seriously, the graphs look like crap now. Was this all they changed? Was it really worth the major version number jump? Returning to the previous version until they fix it. And yes, I switched it to black. Also, they need to add some sort of text to the graphs in the toolbar indicating exactly what they are. Now there's seven of them and if you haven't memorized their positions and colors you got no chance of knowing what they represent unless you hover over them.

Bryce Mikoyan and Mark Guryevich might be great programmers but they seriously need a UI consultant. They just lost a star.

p3t3rb0na reviewed v15.01 on Jul 26, 2011

Brilliant Windows utility wouldn't be without it

@TROLL
Options/Configure Colors = Change Graph Background

TROLL reviewed v15.0 on Jul 24, 2011

Change the graph background black to white and you see nothing.
This was the most idiot idea in this century.
1 star until the we get back original looking.

nvic reviewed v15.0 on Jul 19, 2011

A must-have tool for Windows.

Prospero424 reviewed v14.12 on May 20, 2011

One of the only truly great Windows utilities. Like said below: I can't imagine running Windows without it.

CyberHobo reviewed v14.1 on Mar 19, 2011

Does the job. I'm able to run it along with Task Manager to make sure one or the other isn't lying. So far, they've both been honest with each other. I'm thinking of running System Explorer with the other two, to make sure all three of them aren't somehow in cahoots with each other.

FatBastard reviewed v14.1 on Mar 17, 2011

I use it every day. Can't imagine using Windows without it.

mprost reviewed v14.1 on Mar 17, 2011

taken from http://blogs.technet.com/b/sysinternals/:
This update to Process Explorer introduces cycle-based CPU usage on Windows 7, shows usage for processes that consume less than 0.01% CPU, shows thread ideal processors on Windows 7, and adds the ability to remote control and connect to other logon sessions.

war593122 reviewed v14 on Nov 16, 2010

"This major update to Process Explorer adds a slew of enhancements and new functionality including network and disk monitoring, an improved multi-tab system information dialog, additional memory statistics, a new column that shows aggregate CPU usage for a tree of processes, improved DLL scanning performance and accuracy, command-lines in process tree tooltips, support for more than 64 CPU systems, and more."

Input Overload reviewed v14 on Nov 16, 2010

Almost as good as Task Manager.

Plumber reviewed v14 on Nov 16, 2010

The "best of it is kind" [sic]? Not anymore... But still pretty good.

FatBastard reviewed v12.04 on Jun 10, 2010

The best of it's kind

mprost reviewed v12.03 on Apr 17, 2010

@AutoBot for the changelog take a look at http://blogs.technet.com/sysinternals/

Sativarg reviewed v12.03 on Apr 16, 2010

In case your wondering why another update so soon.

**********QUOTE************
Update: Process Explorer v12.03
Process Explorer v12.03: This update revs the driver name so that it is used even when the previous driver is already loaded.
Posted by curtismetz
**********/QUOTE**********

Furthermore:
What's new in 12.02:
· This update fixes a bug in the x86 Windows Vista driver that could cause a crash.
What's new in 12.01
· This update fixes a bug that prevented DEP status being shown on Windows XP and the threads page of the process properties dialog from showing service names on Windows Vista.

This has been a must have tool for my installations for years. It has saved me many hours of frustrating diagnosis/searching.

mjm01010101 reviewed v12.02 on Apr 15, 2010

Yeah I can't get it to replace taskmgr. Oh well.

AutoBot reviewed v12.01 on Apr 2, 2010

@mprost

Where did you find that information, the only place I didn't look was the help file?

With the additional functionality I have to bump my rating back up to five stars.

mprost reviewed v12.0 on Mar 28, 2010

change log for 12.0:

This Process Explorer release includes several significant new features, including the showing the web hosted in IE8 processes in the process tooltip, display of a svchost’s service host category in its tooltip, mapping of service names to threads on the threads tab and TCP/IP tabs of the process properties dialog on Windows Vista and higher (thanks to Windows Internals 5th Ed. coauthor Alex Ionescu), a new.NET assembly information tab in the process properties dialog (thanks to Pete Sheill), as well as other improvements and bug fixes.

AutoBot reviewed v12.0 on Mar 28, 2010

I like the weight and speed of Process Explorer, I use it as a direct replacement for the Windows task manager. But when I need to seriously track down a rogue application or something similar I switch to the more powerful but heavy Process Hacker (2.0 rewrite in progress to make it C based instead of dotnet), this is the ultimate Windows process and service management utility.

Anyway this update doesn't change a thing that I see, I looked for a changelog on Mark's site but couldn't find one so I remove one star...that leaves it at a respectable 4 stars.

Uniquitous reviewed v12.0 on Mar 27, 2010

This version has been a dud for me, using it as a replacement for task manager it fails to load when using ctrl, alt del, reverting to previous version until this is fixed.

mjm01010101 reviewed v12.0 on Mar 27, 2010

TechHarmony, it shows incredibly detailed views of every process memory footprint.

FatBastard reviewed v12.0 on Mar 26, 2010

This tool is a must-have !!

JustForMyMemory reviewed v11.33 on Feb 11, 2010

it is the best but it hasn't been updated for a year!

TechHarmony reviewed v11.33 on Dec 11, 2009

I like and use Process Explorer on my Win XP SP3 system.
Yet, because it does not show memory usage of individual processes, I still find myself running Windows Task Manager as well.
Good point is the process hierarchy, so I can see what processes are related/dependent.
To MS/Sysinternals: Please add Memory Usage.

Comment re. versions and OS requirements
Though this page states All versions of Windows, the MS sysinternals page states that Process Explorer 11.33 is for Win XP and up.
I have a bunch of the older ones, and seems like they've been upping the minimum requirement over time, from W9x, to Win2k, now WinXP.

To Kei-chan, the version that I have used successfully on Win 98 is Process Explorer v11.20.

allthebestnamesgone reviewed v11.33 on Feb 6, 2009

Process Explorer v11.33: This update fixes a bug where the history graph tooltips could display the wrong data point and reduces the memory footprint of the structures that store graph history.

Kei-chan reviewed v11.32 on Jan 13, 2009

If Process Explorer no longer runs properly on Win98, what was the last version that did run properly?
(Yes, I have and use Process Explorer on our Vista and XP systems, among others; I just have a Win98 tower around that I had Process Explorer running on, and would like to be able to do it again.)

allthebestnamesgone reviewed v11.32 on Jan 13, 2009

Process Explorer v11.32: This update fixes a bug in the process security page's name resolution and uses history graph tooltips that track the mouse.

JeRrYFaR reviewed v11.32 on Jan 13, 2009

I've always been a fan of Process Explorer. Using it in Win XP SP3 and have had no issues. It's a real life saver when you're looking for what could be taking those precious resources. Highly recommend, highly respected IMO.

dgtlchlk reviewed v11.32 on Jan 13, 2009

The errors about replacing the task manager and more than one instance can be fixed by taking ownership of the folder that process explorer lives in, at least it did for me.

Works great in Vista and Windows 7 as stated previously.

Ian C. reviewed v11.32 on Jan 13, 2009

Seems to function fine in Windows 7 x64, however just like in vista x64, it pops up an error dialog when replacing and re-enabling the built in task manager. Also like vista x64 it errors if trying to launch more than one instance.

poisonu reviewed v11.3 on Nov 20, 2008

Superb tool.....
I use a lot of the Sysinternals utilities, particularly Autoruns, Desktops, Filemon, Process Explorer, Process Monitor, & Regmon.....
And they are all FREE.....

cowgaR reviewed v11.3 on Nov 20, 2008

option to replace task manager is useless in a way, than if I do it I will lose all the other info options, like invaluable network info tab or convenient applications tab of built in task manager.

isn't there a way for Mark to hook into the classic task manager, and replace only relevant tab?

otherwise a gem and the best process explorer there is, but it gets hard to used to, as I for me running additional aplication when task manager is running is nonsense, at least for me.

the other off-topic request - autoruns should have filtering option 3 years ago, it is useless w/o it as well

allthebestnamesgone reviewed v11.3 on Nov 20, 2008

The best.

"This update to Process Explorer includes numerous enhancements and bug fixes, including a physical memory history graph, options to configure memory tray icons, asyncronous thread symbol resolution and security ID lookup, dynamic recognition of new volume drive letters, multiple character matching in the process view, and a smaller memory footprint."

shodan816 reviewed v11.3 on Nov 20, 2008

Absolutely invaluable tool to manage processes on your system. Many thanks, Mark, and please keep up the great work !

norz reviewed v11.21 on Sep 17, 2008

v11.21: This update fixes a race condition bug in the Process Explorer device driver.

I guess the memory leaks are still there... (win xp sp2).

Jani- reviewed v11.21 on Aug 12, 2008

Great program! I especially like the feature of showing open handles.

analphatester: I suggest you to read system requirements from the website: "Process Explorer works on Windows 2000 SP4 Rollup 1 or above."

analphatester reviewed v11.21 on Aug 12, 2008

not winall
not working on win9x
not do anything just go into hidden process
must kill from process list manually
11.0.0 working properly

anomoly reviewed v11.20 on May 30, 2008

Nice

XICO2KX reviewed v11.20 on May 29, 2008

Great tool!
Changelog can be found here:
> http://blogs.technet.com/Sysinternals/

kindbud1 reviewed v11.20 on May 29, 2008

So annoying that there is never a change log for this app.

cowgaR reviewed v11.13 on Apr 19, 2008

I want to replace Task Manager but leave the Application Tab (must have) and most importantly the Network Tab (with statistics/graph of non(unicast) received/sent bytes (per interval)) unchanged, e.g. I still want to use it when I open task manager with CTRL+SHIFT+ESC.

That way only Performance Tab is open which isn't quite optimal...and Task Manager is lost :/

ruemere reviewed v11.13 on Apr 17, 2008

To replace Task manager in Windows Xp:
(Menu) Options > Replace Task Manager

Since it's a bit trivial, I'm sure you wanted to perform other type of replacement... global in domain, perhaps? That's also possible, but then you'd have to use some script to perform adjustments.

regards,
Ruemere

.0 reviewed v11.13 on Apr 17, 2008

an absolute lifesaver. if only i could kick taskmanager... and replace it with this. 100% useful. 100% of what it should be. a must have.

cowgaR reviewed v11.12 on Apr 13, 2008

best of its kind, free, so why am I giving it 3?

just because I still can't replace task manager, as I am using it for network and services monitoring...

would be nice if it could "hook" itself just to performance window and left other task manager tabs intact...

it's really weird to run another application when task manager is running on every machine I'm at...

now that mark is in MS should be a toy to do it...

Arieligena reviewed v11.12 on Apr 9, 2008

Very good.
Set "Private Bytes" for process memory usage.
It could remember setted priorities.

Task Manager is obsolete!

GrantTLC reviewed v11.12 on Apr 8, 2008

With this installed there is simply no need to use the default Task Manager. A truly brilliant replacement that everyone should have on their PC.

KuHGl reviewed v11.11 on Feb 28, 2008

Now the memory leak is gone, killed - congratulations, Mr. Russinovich! Procedure Explorer is a great tool, providing a lot of real useful information. There is nothing I know that can compare with it. I use it very often and I simply can recommend it!

JeRrYFaR reviewed v11.11 on Feb 28, 2008

WOW!!!! I just updated to 11.04 recently.. This program is hands down the best program of its type. Off to get 11.11.

Haaglander reviewed v11.11 on Feb 28, 2008

top

shodan816 reviewed v11.10 on Feb 28, 2008

This product is FAR superior to pview and it is beyond me why anyone would rate this utility less than a '5.' Keep up the GREAT work, Mark ! !

Chocobito reviewed v11.10 on Feb 27, 2008

Excellent Utilities that its a complete replace to Task Manager from Windows.
PS: The last version is 11.11 from the homepage.

allthebestnamesgone reviewed v11.10 on Feb 27, 2008

What's with all these people here advertising rival products?
How anyone can give this less than 5 stars is beyond me.

mjm01010101 reviewed v11.10 on Feb 27, 2008

maraskus has no idea what he's talking about.

dssdbs reviewed v11.10 on Feb 27, 2008

I am sick and tired of reminding you idiots that these are supposed to be REVIEWS of this specific product. This is not a venue to point people to other products, or to say this product is better than that product.

Either write an ACTUAL REVIEW, or don't post at all.

Been using Process Explorer to monitor SCOM2007 processes and some scripts that like to hog memory. Does everything it says it does! It just works!

maraskus reviewed v11.10 on Feb 27, 2008

Take a moment , go to http://www.teamcti.com/pview/prcview.htm and view a process viewer same that this product but with minus than 400 kb and not installation requerid, I think that this es mucho more efective and tiny than Process Explorer.

why hello there reviewed v11.10 on Feb 27, 2008

Just set the width of the PID column to zero (i.e. collapse it entirely) if it distresses you so terribly much.

the_lord_almighty reviewed v11.10 on Feb 27, 2008

It's good, in fact great... but the BEST and the king of Task Manager replacements is SystemExplorer. It's free, portable (I run it on my U3 flash drive), light weight, and gives access to much more than Process Explorer.

Try it out and you won't think about Process Explorer again:

http://systemexplorer.mistergroup.org/

JeremyGNJ reviewed v11.10 on Feb 27, 2008

Simply incredible!!!! It's really very very good!!!!

I agree on the tray icon...never thought of that!

As for the PID....it's very important to most administrators because you often have to manipulate processes through scripts or command line, in which case it's VERY helpful to know the PID....necessary even!

tannenwheel reviewed v11.04 on Feb 11, 2008

yeah, you have my vote. but give me a solid tray icon, ja?

stisev reviewed v11.04 on Jan 22, 2008

Excellent program! Best in it's class, hands down.
It lost one star as a result of Mark's stubborness to FORCE the PID column onto its users. What a bunch of crock. I don't use, I don't need, I don't EVER look at PID, so why the devil dooes the author force it upon the user?

This "feature" was implemented somewhere in 9.0x version. If I didn't love the updtes so much, I would downgrade.

The other star was lost because Process Explorer STILL uses the registry. Come on, Mark. GIVE US AN OPTION FOR PORTABLE!

Ian C. reviewed v11.04 on Nov 6, 2007

Love it, and fortunately for me, I never have it open long enough to notice any memory leaks.

SelfMan reviewed v11.04 on Nov 6, 2007

The leak is still there, but "reduced". I wrote Mark again about this problem. Lets hope that he can fix it soon.

dkratter reviewed v11.04 on Nov 6, 2007

Very handy. Check here for changes - http://blogs.technet.com/Sysinternals/

dhry reviewed v11.04 on Nov 5, 2007

And does 11.04 fix the memory leak?
Edit: Hooray! Process Explorer v11.04: This update fixes a memory leak in the threads tab.

hell0 reviewed v11.03 on Oct 28, 2007

I have the memory leak problem too (under WinXP Pro SP2). It has also been reported in the forums.

SelfMan reviewed v11.03 on Oct 27, 2007

Please try:
- start process explorer & display Proces|PID|CPU|Description|Comapny name|Private bytes|Virtual size|Working set|Private delta bytes|User objects|Private bytes history
- select process explorer's process
- use alt+enter to get process properties
- switch to Threads Tab
- close the properties window using ESCape
- reopen it using alt-enter
- close
- reopen it
- close
(repeat as necessary)

close to re-open action delay .5-1s

While doing this, monitor the Private Bytes column.
There seem to be (at least on my system) some 3.5MB memory leak...(3.5MB alocated, 180kB free'd)

Can you confirm this? Thanks!
--------------
Bottom line... PE is priceless tool in the worm/virus fight.

Dwarden reviewed v11.03 on Oct 27, 2007

Was it NTPV from Reshin? last build "31.01.2004" ?

tannenwheel reviewed v11.03 on Oct 27, 2007

i use an old program called "nt process viewer" on windows XP. it's not popular on google and developement is done. (russian tool with english GUI)

edit:
http://img150.imagevenue...3664_ntpv_122_964lo.jpg

http://filemojo.com/012589458294275

however it is incredibly fast at starting, even when another program is eating all the cpu.

it gets the most important tasks done: showing CPU, killing and setting priority with keyboard. it kills stuff that windows task manager can't kill.

it will remember it's own priority so set it to "real time" (right in the tasklist as you would with every other process). it is faster than more simple and better known taskkillers, because of it's programming language. though it has more features (info collumns), than many of these. i like to hide these collumns. it takes keyboard focus. i was able to kill tasks blindly when windows was unable to redraw the screen.

as for process explorer:

i don't use it for taskkilling in emergency situations. for obvious reasons. slow resource hog. and some versions are quite instable.

but i appreciate the features, when i need them.
mostoften searching for a handle that locks a drive or directory or spying on the commandline switches of launched processes. also the treeview's intrinsic meaning has been what I was looking for on many occasions.

The MAZZTer reviewed v11.03 on Oct 27, 2007

KuHGL: If you are talking about an increase of 4kb every 5 seconds... that is hardly deserving of a -2 points. I am sure many commercial applications leak more... programming languages traditionally have not made it easy to keep track of allocated memory. Fortunately some more modern ones keep track of memory for you (of note is .NET, which aims to eliminate leaks and buffer overflows, among other things). Unless you keep Process Explorer running all the time the memory it leaks is negligible.

If you are seeing something more significant, it's possible what you are seeing is caused by a third-party application injecting a DLL into Process Explorer... I used to have a similar nasty problem involving Google Desktop and WindowBlinds. WindowBlinds' injected DLL suddenly started eating up huge amounts of memory until it filled my .5gb memory and 1.5gb swap file and froze Windows. The problem went away when WindowBlinds was disabled.

Fortunately the next GDS update was changed enough that WindowBlinds no longer had that problem (although it could have been a GDS bug, but that is unlikely since the whole point of injecting a DLL is to run outside code in that process without the main program knowing or caring about it).

Of more concern to me than the small memory leak is the high CPU usage. It spiked after version 9 and has still remained high since then, which is usually not a good think since one usually runs a task manager tool when another process is running away with the CPU... in these cases Process Explorer's load time is measured in minutes! This is unacceptable, especially since Process Explorer elevates itself to High CPU priority. This should only be done with apps which use LOW CPU time, otherwise they bog down the entire system when they run.

Suspending or increasing the process polling time helps a bit, as does bringing its process priority down.

KuHGl reviewed v11.03 on Oct 27, 2007

Dear The MAZZTer,
first of all: When this memory leak is a reason for me to give 3 Pints, then this is simply a fact and I refuse to discuss it (exception: with the programmer). Sysinternals is a part of Microsoft and in this respect part of the underlying operating system. It should be not that problem for a system programmer (and sorry, sysinternals are NO greenhorns in comparison with most of the users here) to find a memory leak, especially with this background knowledge. If the programmer of Process Explorer was a non-professional and/or not part of Microsoft, I would rate with 4, b u t n o t in t h i s case.
And as a conclusion (which you seemingly did not find in my fist text): Without this leak Process Explorer is a very good and powerful application. And if it eats too much CPU try to run it with decreased update-speed. This worked fine for me.

horsecharles reviewed v11.03 on Oct 27, 2007

This and any/all products from Mark deserve an automatic rubber-stamp 5. In fact, i can't think of any single one i'd give even a 4 to.

anomoly reviewed v11.03 on Oct 26, 2007

compresses to 1.23mb on my slave drive

mjm01010101 reviewed v11.03 on Oct 26, 2007

"This update to Process Explorer, an advanced process information utility, has a number of miscellaneous improvements. For example, the thread support in the process properties dialog is enhanced with Wow64 thread stacks on 64-bit Windows and kernel stacks on Windows Vista and Server 2008. In addition, tooltips on the service hosting processes now show service names, the user SID is displayed on the security properties page, and column headers have tooltips when they’re too small to display their text."

mackley reviewed v11.03 on Oct 26, 2007

Changelog (from Sysinternal blog)
http://urltea.com/1wb4

dhry reviewed v11.03 on Oct 26, 2007

Best program of its type. Anyone got a change log for 11.03?

norz reviewed v11.02 on Oct 17, 2007

BUG: version 11.02 (and 11.01 also) uses 104MB ram + 780MB vm, after 7 hours of running time (19'28" total cpu time).
This is on XP Pro SP2.

anomoly reviewed v11.02 on Sep 17, 2007

Not true. CPU history is always shown (in tray icon). Whether a solid green line, or a graph, tray activity always corresponds with cpu activity.
Or I am missing something here?
The best still

Ian C. reviewed v11.01 on Sep 12, 2007

Don't think I mentioned before that it's a great tool for manually removing stubborn malware.

tarrith reviewed v11.01 on Sep 11, 2007

Great program, get it :D

Ryusennin reviewed v11.01 on Sep 11, 2007

You might hate MicroSoft, but you ought to love this guy.

mjm01010101 reviewed v11.01 on Sep 11, 2007

It's always worked. You still see the "square" tray icon, but CPU history is not shown.

anomoly reviewed v11.0 on Sep 5, 2007

Option to show (or not show) cpu history in tray icon has never ever worked. It always shows this. Need to remove this option finally. xp pro sp2 corp

Ian C. reviewed v11.0 on Sep 5, 2007

Still great, seems a little quicker, and new change where it uses your default browser/search is great, even though I hardly ever use it.

What's new in Version 11.0:
•New treelist control for better UI responsiveness
•Asynchronous thread symbol resolution on threads tab of process properties
•More flags on groups in security tab and SID display
•Thread IDs on threads tab
•On-line search uses default web browser and search engine
•Vista ASLR column for processes and DLLs
•Vista Process and thread I/O and memory priorities in process and thread properties
•Vista Process and thread I/O and memory columns
•PROCESS_QUERY_LIMITED_INFORMATION support on process permissions on Vista
•Run as limited user runs with low IL on Vista
•Reports information for all object types on Vista
•Show details for all processes elevation menu item on Vista
•Supports replacement of task manager on Vista
•/e to launch elevated
•/s switch to select a process at startup
•Compiled w/ASLR, DEP
•Faster startup
•Miscellaneous bug fixes and minor improvements

Ulmo reviewed v10.21 on Apr 26, 2007

Take more CPU than before.

But this is a must, and Free !

allthebestnamesgone reviewed v10.21 on Feb 15, 2007

Number one choice. Simple, quick and dependable.

mjm01010101 reviewed v10.21 on Nov 8, 2006

This is crashing for people of foreign language OS's. beware.

the artist reviewed v10.21 on Nov 8, 2006

Absolutely gorgeous. A MUST.

guti reviewed v10.21 on Nov 8, 2006

A must have.

A_T reviewed v10.21 on Nov 8, 2006

Great little app. Though I now discover that Micrsoft has bought it so we shouldn't expect much more development now.

darthbeads reviewed v10.21 on Nov 8, 2006

Indispensable.

benZin reviewed v10.21 on Nov 8, 2006

Splendid.

zeeZee reviewed v10.2 on Aug 5, 2006

perfect-o

dasher reviewed v10.2 on Jul 11, 2006

very nice, like their other utilities.
helpful.

dhry reviewed v10.11 on Jun 14, 2006

Excellent program. My only gripe is that the newer versions have two new auto-updating graphs at the top, in addition to the CPU usage one. Could they all be configurable/disable-able pls? Eg, I only really care about the CPU usage graph and don't want the other two graphs cluttering up my real estate at the top of the window.

bernis reviewed v10.11 on May 30, 2006

Don Juan: it's only because up to now it used to be packed executable (it was smaller but took longer to launch), now it's regular executable. In my opinion this way it's better because fast launch is more important to me than a file size. I often need to quickly launch Process Explorer (for example to kill some process that uses 100% CPU, where launching of any app is very slow) and this is where speed matter much more than some file size.

Don Juan reviewed v10.11 on May 19, 2006

Yes it has become quite large recently. It's starting to worry me a bit.

I should have been more specific, what was really worrying me was the memory usage.

zik reviewed v10.11 on May 19, 2006

used to love process explorer, but in late versions it turned into a resource hog, i like all the new features, but i miss those old days when the program used little cpu and ram

nefarious1 reviewed v10.11 on May 19, 2006

Stisev is wrong. You don't have to have two panes shown. The lower pane is toggled with Ctrl+L. The vertical line shown is NOT a pane, but simply a column marker.

As for having the PID shown--big deal. Move it way over to the right if you don't want to look at it. (My god, people desperately look for things to whine about, don't they?)

spiked reviewed v10.16 on May 10, 2006

Although I slightly agree with stisev that the default UI has gradually become overkill, this is still a great tool and nothing else comes close at any price. Given the powerful/dangerous functions available, I think it makes sense to show both name and PID at all times, to avoid confusion when multiple similar processes are running. I just wish there was a built-in "compact view" because I like to leave the "replace task manager" option set all the time, but most of the time when I open task manager, I don't need more than task manager. So it would be ideal for me if Process Explorer could initially come up looking mostly like task manager, then I could switch it to "full view" when desired.

mjm01010101 reviewed v10.16 on May 10, 2006

Like the I/O history.

wyzxwyzx reviewed v10.06 on Mar 19, 2006

best

stisev reviewed v10.06 on Mar 10, 2006

In the past I have voted this program a 5 about three times, but I am DOWNGRADING its rating to a 2 for two reasons:

1) The author now forces the user to split the window into two panes

2) author FORCES the user to show the PID; there is no way to switch this off at this time.

It was added two versions ago. Seriously, why? Why do this? Why ruin a nearly perfect program.

pythagoras reviewed v10.06 on Mar 3, 2006

This is an outstanding application for those who want to see and monitor the inner workings of Windows. Highly recommended!

wat0114 reviewed v10.06 on Feb 23, 2006

uberfly, not sure if this is what you're looking for, but try: View->Select Columns…select the Process Memory tab, then enable Working Set Size. This shows you the equivalent of the Task Manager Mem Usage for the individual processes.

Still a terrific utility that can be used to kill stubborn processes that Task Manager can't handle.

CyberHobo reviewed v10.06 on Feb 23, 2006

It has replaced my WinTasks Pro 5 for good now!

uberfly reviewed v10.06 on Feb 23, 2006

I agree - This is a great free tool, and would love to replace task manager with it, but the perplexing lack of common memory usage stats is a biggie show-stopper. It organizes running tasks very well (sorts out services and such).

horsecharles reviewed v10.06 on Feb 23, 2006

Agree w/ the Z-man: utilizing this, and say: Regmon, one can figure out the causes of many cryptic errors...

Zerbe reviewed v10.06 on Feb 23, 2006

Great app!

cowgaR reviewed v10.05 on Feb 15, 2006

The BEST (I know of) application of its kind, but lacks a few needed things I can't go without.

For 1st, there is NO WAY for me to replace Task manager with this app (and I would like it in future). I can't display Commit Charge in MB in status bar (only as a percentage), there is no way to display Memory usage each process is eating with its particular memory Peak (just some private mem usage) and there isn't the most needed Networking Tab! Which is used by me to monitor sent/received data per interval along with number of bytes transfered (I use it a lot for my data-aware ISP). And I would also like to display the name of the owner of the process in SANE way (w/o the Machine name which is way too long).

The other thing I am curious is that .NET collumn tab dissapear when using ProcessXP as restricted user which really s@@$#^! As my developer profile is set as limited user, I would liked to use the numerous option to watch about .NET procesess (1st/2nd mem generation for example!). But it seems it is only avaiable for me when I am logged on as Admin, which is strange (I have no problem setting whole .NET devel environment with SQL server as restricted user). The other annoyance is when I run e.g. Paint.NET, which is little cute .NET application, it won't list it as a .NET process neither in statusbar nor in highlight-coloring list of processes!

Suggestions:
- add Networking info, so I can FINALLY replace task manager
- please lower memory usage, it is 4 times bigger than Task Manager for 1st time installing/use, after reboot it drops to around 2x bigger but Commit Charge at startup will grow +15MB w/o running app at all!
- add ability to really CLOSE ProcessXP when I click X and have option Minimize to tray enabled
- please DO NOT DISPLAY tray icon when TRAY options aren't enabled and ProcessXP is maximized
- please, CLEAR memory when minimized, 15MB of usage is a bit enough in -systemtray state-

all in all it is a great aplication, thank you Mark, this way or that way you are the best (I own your book afterall =)

eyv reviewed v10.05 on Feb 15, 2006

Excellent, but what's with this "release every day" thing lately?

mjm01010101 reviewed v10.05 on Feb 14, 2006

That site doesn't work, as of this writing.

stopbuggingme reviewed v10.05 on Feb 14, 2006

Perhaps the reviewers here complaining about frequent releases should try

http://fileforum.releasenews.com

urbanriot reviewed v10.05 on Feb 14, 2006

It's unfortunate that such an amazing piece of software had what should be a perfect 5/5 marred by an earlier poor "review".

This latest, as well as all previous versions works excellent, especially in scenarios where malware or virus have taken over the system in such a way task manager is rendered ineffective.

Canuckistani reviewed v10.05 on Feb 14, 2006

It's only 647 Kb so updates, even very frequent ones, shouldn't be a problem at all unless your internet connection is a tin can and a piece of string.

crashoverride reviewed v10.05 on Feb 14, 2006

ok I'm gonna quit wasting my time trying to get you airheads to understand what I'm talking about. I'll just wait a few days and see if we make it another 5 versions before the end of the week then download it again.

wat0114 reviewed v10.05 on Feb 14, 2006

Why care about all the releases? Is it not clear Mark is a man who strives for perfection? Perfect is almost what this beautiful little app is!

rijp reviewed v10.05 on Feb 14, 2006

Why do people insist on writing bad reviews because they deem it unneccessary to download so many updates or keep up with technology?

Crashoveride, if I had the ability, I would kill your post. Updates are NOT bad, if you don't need them don't download them. They are for keeping up with changes, it doesn't mean there are problems, they could be continually enhancing the product, you twit.

Keep comments to product knowledge and technical info, not related to opinion.

EarlyMorningHours reviewed v10.05 on Feb 14, 2006

You couldn't very well expect V10.0 to be perfect right out the door. It's a new major release of the product. For a utility of this caliber to be freeware is incredible. The guy should get a humanitarian award or something for not only this but all of his other free utilities.

sg17681 reviewed v10.04 on Feb 13, 2006

Well, you don't "have to" download ...

Raven Sati reviewed v10.04 on Feb 11, 2006

Is this "a new release every day program" or what, Mark ?

crashoverride reviewed v10.04 on Feb 11, 2006

As I sit here, I can't help but wonder.......what is up with all the freaking releases?

dycell reviewed v10.04 on Feb 11, 2006

Alot of programs try, but this one is the best.
No installers, just click and run...

GoodThings2Life reviewed v10.04 on Feb 10, 2006

Another excellent tool by SysInternals. I have not experienced any problem with "load times" or crashing, but then again, I don't insist on leaving applications run longer than I am actively using them.

nefarious1 reviewed v10.04 on Feb 10, 2006

Well, it is a Task Manager replacement, it just happens to do a lot more.

If the loading time bothers you, run it at all times in the tray, as the author advises.

mjm01010101 reviewed v10.04 on Feb 10, 2006

AlexanderKraeved, This is not a "replacement" for task manager. TM is a quick and dirty way to see processes and total quick counts for a system. Process explorer gives you a much more detailed look at the running components, threads, processes, driver access of your system, and typically would be used by IT staff, programmers, debuggers, QA to see what access is comprised of a system.

AlexanderKraeved reviewed v10.04 on Feb 10, 2006

Cannot fully use this tool instead of windows task manager because of loading speed. In case you need to terminate some process, built-in one comes faster.

By the way, again no changelog (I'm talking of 10.4). It is very unpleasant.

The MAZZTer reviewed v10.04 on Feb 10, 2006

10.03 fixes that nasty high CPU usage bug from 10.02 and below. Yay!

SuzzyWoozy reviewed v10.03 on Feb 10, 2006

10.04 already released on Sysinternal's site.
Does someone knows what was changed from 10.0?

crashoverride reviewed v10.03 on Feb 10, 2006

I like this but what is up with all the releases. This is like what the 3rd one in the past week.

Samte reviewed v10.03 on Feb 9, 2006

I have been using this utility for years and have not had a single problems with it.

Of course, when you try to kill a process, the program warns if you really want to kill the process.
So, if you people are having problems with this program hanging your system, make sure your not trying to kill a process that is related to the well being of the operation of windows or the kernel. It will kill most all process that the infamous Ctrl, Alt, Del (Task Manger) won't let you do.

Master- reviewed v10.03 on Feb 9, 2006

Wow! Realy nice and handy program!

tannenwheel reviewed v10.03 on Feb 9, 2006

warning: turn the feature "options/verify image signatures" of, when dlls are shown in 'lower pane'. othewise ecpect 100% memory usage and 100% cpu usage for ... ever (when cycling through upper listview wiht up/down keys). may cause system crash (data loss), and did so, as someone reported who was flamed accordingly. stfu everyone.

releasing an obviously untested or badly tested version with an even version number (10.0) is a bad idea. 10.4 still shows ths dangeous behavior.

its a must have program, for cool features like handle search but it's also generaly buggy (lots of versions loved to crash) , bloated and now it is even dangerous! can't rate with 5 stars just because it's free.

Kal-El reviewed v10.03 on Feb 9, 2006

it actually downloads from sysinternals site so its up to date @ 10.4 right now.

vasarnap2000 reviewed v10.03 on Feb 9, 2006

Release 10.04 is now available.

Somka reviewed v10.03 on Feb 9, 2006

4 releases in 2 days?
that su***, author should keep the code unreleased until he makes sure everything works fine, not just flood with new stup*d releases

arossetti reviewed v10.03 on Feb 9, 2006

Well, we're up to 10.4 now, and I haven't had a problem with any of them.

Overall, simply a great, must have utility.

bourgeoisdude reviewed v10.03 on Feb 9, 2006

Wow, quick update. I wonder if the 10.3 fixed the issues that cyberguy mentioned earlier--I never noticed any problems with 10.2 myself, but this one's fine too. Excellent.

mharvey reviewed v10.02 on Feb 9, 2006

Essential.

cyberguy reviewed v10.02 on Feb 9, 2006

Excellent proggie.

Has some rendering difficulties under Win2000 & the little mini-graphs column enabled though.

Correction: It does this under WinXP SP1 too.

ST50 reviewed v10.02 on Feb 9, 2006

I agree. Best in category. Makes troubleshooting any service related tasks simple, and shows descriptions of the services, such as manufacturer & diretory of the running processes. Handy if u want to free up some ram pre-gaming

Etty0000 reviewed v10.02 on Feb 9, 2006

Great program. Perfect replacement for Task Manager. Best freeware in its category.

robodesign reviewed v10.02 on Feb 9, 2006

It IS great. I'm using it. Two things bother me, though:
1. It is not multi-language. French, German localizations would be greatly appreciated.
2. It has sooo many things, it *watches* tooo many things and this is why... it becomes very slow. So, I figure out that if they would add a command-line switch to make it start in *lite* mode, would suffice.

VanillaDeath reviewed v10.02 on Feb 9, 2006

This app has pretty much everything. Runas..., every column immaginable and a column set organizer (I like creating Kitchen Sink set with nearly everything, Standard with everything excluding things I rarely need to know, and a Light set with what I need to know most), DLL and handle explorer and finder, Restart Process (excellent for hanging apps), highlighting, quick access to Dependency Walker, CPU and mem histories for every process, the list goes on...
It's the ultimate Task Manager replacement and it even knows it (Options : Replace Task Manager).

cool_guy reviewed v10.02 on Feb 9, 2006

This is a great program. An excellent tool for system administrators.

ChrisGranger reviewed v10.02 on Feb 8, 2006

Actually you may find drivers from previous versions of some SysInternals programs get left behind, though this isn't a big issue and if you're computer savvy you can remove them yourself.

I really like their software and this program is no exception.

varsity reviewed v10.02 on Feb 8, 2006

It's important also to run this app under administrative privelages, otherwise it will crash when attempting to use certain options. You can also use the "Run as" feature in Windows XP using a restricted account.

Outstanding utility.

nefarious1 reviewed v10.02 on Feb 8, 2006

1. Process Explorer installs a driver (it loads/unloads it dynamically when it is run/terminated).

2. There is nothing wrong with running applications while defragging, though it doesn't make as much sense as doing it while the system is unattended. The insult was inappropriate and should be deleted.

3. Process Explorer is not responsible for trashing his system.

AlexBR1974 reviewed v10.02 on Feb 8, 2006

Great Program!!!
PS: Bixente, you run a program while defragmenting your hard drive? Hahahahahah you are stupid!

bcerhart reviewed v10.02 on Feb 8, 2006

For the person who gave this a 1, my #1 suggestion is to first learn how to use a computer then learn how to properly rate programs. You cannot blame this program for having to reinstall Windows. For God's sake I'm pretty sure that it doesn't even install anything on your system. You make yourself look like an idiot with your comment and rating. This is a very useful and respectable program.

munga42 reviewed v10.0 on Feb 8, 2006

Not much to say, task manager on stereiods. A perfect 10.

Bixente reviewed v10.0 on Feb 8, 2006

Warning ! Hardlocks system. Nothinghelped except reboot button. And I had a freaking Defragmentation going on. System had to be reinstalled.

p3t3rb0na reviewed v10.0 on Feb 8, 2006

Fantastic free Task Manager that just keeps getting better
many thanks to Mark Russinovich and Sysinternals

WhiteZero reviewed v10.0 on Feb 8, 2006

AWESOME replacment for Task Manage.
The ability to search and close a handle while a process is running is just incredible.

stisev reviewed v10.0 on Feb 8, 2006

HOLY SHlT. I *LOVE* this program!

Budgie29 reviewed v10.0 on Feb 7, 2006

This a a simple program which does what it says its
does .

However the only gripe I have is the GUI is seriouslly full of bugs ..

Don Juan reviewed v10.0 on Feb 7, 2006

Been using it for a long time, and I love it.

wat0114 reviewed v10.0 on Feb 7, 2006

So useful, so user friendly, so stable, and so cool. As I've mentioned before, use this in conjunction with Sysinternals Autoruns utility for a killer dynamic duo!

bufftbone reviewed v10.0 on Feb 7, 2006

To quote the Bret Hart fan, yes, it is the best. After using it for a few minutes I've already decided that this program is good and worthy of keeping on my system. It'll help me get a good handle on what's going on with my system.

Great little app!

Corlis reviewed v10.0 on Feb 7, 2006

Perfect, standalone.

benZin reviewed v10.0 on Feb 7, 2006

God Bless Mark Russinovich

Tokar reviewed v10.0 on Feb 7, 2006

The best there is, the best there was and the best there ever will be...in the process managing department.

Conrad.TDI reviewed v10.0 on Feb 7, 2006

It gets no better than this tool, and amazingly it remains free!

Lives in my QuickLaunch; your's too?

Namero reviewed v10.0 on Feb 7, 2006

just perfect

free

works great

guti reviewed v10.0 on Feb 7, 2006

Better than best!
The best process tool, and free.

markoX reviewed v10.0 on Feb 7, 2006

excellent

amazing

superb

WhiteZero reviewed v9.25 on Dec 8, 2005

Awesome utility! Use it to replace Task manager.

stisev reviewed v9.25 on Nov 11, 2005

One of the finest utilities ever coded.

Hands down.

guevara reviewed v9.25 on Aug 24, 2005

yes ' all progs from SysInternals are great

benZin reviewed v9.25 on Aug 24, 2005

EXCELLENT ! yep:)

mjm01010101 reviewed v9.25 on Aug 23, 2005

What's new in Version 9.2:

* CPU history in tray icon
* CPU history column
* I/O delta column
* Process security editing
* Reports loaded 32-bit DLLs on Windows 64-bit
* Support for Windows Vista

jgarland reviewed v9.24 on Aug 21, 2005

Got to give credit to the guys at SysInternals. Hard to belive that this is only one of several great utilities that they publish and maintain.

reets reviewed v9.24 on Aug 21, 2005

Still the best. Have been using this for a long time now and does the trick every time.

[deXter] reviewed v9.21 on Aug 18, 2005

Whats New:

Process Explorer v9.2 shows a real-time CPU graph in its tray icon, adds CPU graph and I/O delta columns to the process view, reports 32-bit loaded DLLs for 32-bit processes on Windows 64-bit systems, and lets you view and edit process security descriptors. It also supports Windows Vista.

skonrad reviewed v9.2 on Aug 17, 2005

awesome tool... much better than the task manager, but more for heavy weight use.

To keir: Use unlocker (http://ccollomb.free.fr/unlocker/), heck of a lot easier.

taxis reviewed v9.2 on Aug 17, 2005

Excellent!

keir reviewed v9.2 on Aug 17, 2005

A lovely app - I can't calculate the amount of time it has saved me - now when I'm trying to move or delete a file and I get a stupid error message telling me another program is using it when I know I'm not I don't have to reboot, I just run Process explorer and find and close the handle.

mjm01010101 reviewed v9.2 on Aug 17, 2005

Windows Sys admins consider this tool vital. I used it three times just yesterday.

Mark is a God.

zridling reviewed v9.2 on Aug 17, 2005

Mark Russinovich has forgotten more about Windows than even Bill Gates knows. SysInternals' Process Explorer will save you lots of headaches when you're trying to troubleshoot the one thing you can't figure out.

Canuckistani reviewed v9.2 on Aug 16, 2005

You have got to be putting us on. WinTasks Pro costs 50 bucks.

..::][Ben][::.. reviewed v9.2 on Aug 16, 2005

To much hype, try wintasks pro..

wat0114 reviewed v9.2 on Aug 16, 2005

A beautiful little utility! This is one of those gems that so few people seem to know about. I'm very surprised it isn't mentioned more often in technical forums.

arossetti reviewed v9.2 on Aug 16, 2005

Simply awesome. A must have.

guevara reviewed v9.12 on Jun 16, 2005

EXELENT - not much more to say

[deXter] reviewed v9.11 on May 30, 2005

The best program there is! Atlast x64 support is now integrated into a single program!

Although procexp implements quite a lot of handy features, it still has got room for oodles of improvements. For eg, there still ain't no option for unloading or injecting a DLL from/to a process. Other programs like Advanced Process Manager (APM) have these and other advanced features...

wat0114 reviewed v9.10 on May 26, 2005

Very impressive little utility! BTW, I recommend trying out their autoruns utility as well. http://www.sysinternals....freeware/autoruns.shtml

reets reviewed v9.10 on May 26, 2005

Best program of it's kind out there!

zridling reviewed v9.03 on Apr 8, 2005

SysInternals makes some great apps, and using this, you'll discover a lot of info you had no idea existed.

Dwarden reviewed v9.01 on Feb 25, 2005

Still simple and TOP rated process manager ... in line with TaskInfo i don't think there is something better ...

CyberHobo reviewed v8.61 on Dec 22, 2004

Very nicely done as all of the authors projects are. Prefer it over WinTasks Pro and it's free!

Raven Sati reviewed v8.60 on Dec 21, 2004

Good app. Does many things ok.

httpd.confused reviewed v8.60 on Dec 12, 2004

It sure is a great product, especially considering that it's free. Mark has taken each suggestion I've offered so far, which I appreciate. (The latest one being the option to launch Process Explorer at any specified priority.)

[Santiago_kq, it's not possible for Process Explorer to support all the same features under Win9x/Me that it does under Win2K/XP/2K3, because of the limited architecture of the former.]

santiago_kq reviewed v8.52 on Nov 29, 2004

This is an excellent product, and it just keeps getting better and better. I just wish they'd add more features for Win 9x/ME (that now only work under 2k/XP), and maybe a couple things TaskInfo has (and Process Explorer doesn't, duh...)

NOTE: This program works under Win 9x/ME too (not only "Windows 2000/2003/XP" as stated here in FileForum); it's even stated in the official page.

wagner reatto reviewed v8.41 on Sep 1, 2004

every software that comes from sysinternals are excellent!

denka reviewed v8.41 on Jul 6, 2004

This can be used as a replacement for the Task Manager.

It rocks.

Jeffsoft reviewed v8.32 on May 22, 2004

updated to 8.35

scodan reviewed v8.30 on Feb 23, 2004

Well, it's not better than TaskInfo2003 at displaying drivers, but it is damn good at what it does. I am impressed with how often Process Explorer is updated, and the fact that Mark corrected a bug I reported. They could easily charge for this thing, but they don't. These latest features are pretty nice; it just keeps getting better all the time.

Jeffsoft reviewed v8.20 on Jan 21, 2004

now just need an extra Application window and a Connection windows found in the taskmanager, and make it tabbed window, then off u go~ say bye bye to windows taskmanager!!

Jeffsoft reviewed v8.10 on Dec 26, 2003

great!! better than TaskInfo2003

CyberInferno reviewed v8.10 on Dec 3, 2003

Excellent program. I can't believe more people haven't tried it. Ever have a problem where you try to delete a file but Windows says it's still in use? This program can search for the handle, and you can close the handle without even closing the program using it. It's an excellent task manager replacement utility (there's even an option to have it replace the default task manager when you hit ctrl+alt+del in WinXP). The icons next to some running programs help identify programs, and it lists the running processes in a tree, so you can see what programs called what other programs to run. 5/5 for being free!