Process Hacker – The Task Manager On Steroids
My apologies to the NFL and MLB, I used the word loosely. I use steriods to mean pumped up, full of vigor, musular, strong, etc. And no, EB does not need a blood test.
Seriously…
If you’ve been using Windows very long, then you know that Task Manager is your friend. You can use Task Manager to kill frozen programs, to do a faux reboot , to see which programs are eating up your resources, or even to reboot or shut down your computer. But Task Manger does have its drawbacks. It doesn’t’ really give you a lot of options and it doesn’t really give you a lot of information about services or processes (programs) running on your computer. Most of the time you can figure out what’s what, but sometimes it’s not as easy as it should be – for instance msimn.exe running? It’s Outlook Express. Sometimes the executable files of programs have arcane names, so unless you know the exe file’s name, you might not know what program is running.
So, in order to make your computer life simpler, easier and more fun (that’s our job, you know) we’ve found a program that works like Task Manager, but gives you a lot more information, a whole lot more control, and it makes it very easy to identify programs consuming far more than their share of system resources – which is a precursor to program and computer crashes. Process Hacker allows you to gather more information about any service or process running and to terminate almost any process or service. If a program is using 100% of your resources, it might be wise to kill that program before it kills Windows , right?
The program has the unfortunate name of Process Hacker. Yes, indeed, ISPs’ censorship software will go crazy with that one. Nonetheless, that’s the name of the program, so we’re not going to mess with it – censors or no censors!
Here’s what the author has to say about his nifty little program:
“Process Hacker is a feature-packed tool for managing processes and services on your computer.
Key features of Process Hacker:
• A simple, customizable tree view with highlighting showing you the processes running on your computer.
• Detailed system statistics with graphs.
• Advanced features not found in other programs, such as detaching from debuggers, viewing GDI handles, viewing heaps, injecting and unloading DLLs, and more.
• Powerful process termination that bypasses security software and rootkits.
• View, edit and control services, including those not shown by the Services console.
• View and close network connections.
• Starts up almost instantly, unlike other programs…”
He’s pretty proud of his work as well he should be.
As you can see from the images above, Process Hacker gives you a lot of information and in living color too. You can do everything with Process Hacker you can do with Task Manager and a whole lot more and you’ll have a lot more information on which to base your decisions.
This software works on Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 – and yes, both 32 bit and 64 bit operating systems
To learn more about and/or to download this excellent freeware program, visit this page.
At Darcy or TC’s recommendation that I should look at “My Turbo PC. I did this, and found (according to “My Turbo PC “) that I had :
System Issues 733
Privacy Issues 43
Junk Files 1602
Malware 1
I thought it prudent that I should get these issues corrected NOW, and proceeded to take the necessary action. After my system was ? checked I was informed that I had :
System Issues 0
Privacy Issues 12
Junk Files 23
Malware 0
Total Issues 35
I then proceeded to activate the software as suggested, THEN I met up with a chap named ???? Garcia, (at 855-253-5561), who suggested that I should obtain a product called “PANDA”, and it was better than “EMSISOFT” I disagreed. THEN it was suggested that I should take my computer to STAPLES, BESTBY, and some other outfit to get a “FULL SYSTEM TUNE UP”. At this point I commented that I had Cloudeight do this a few months ago and was told by them (Darcy), that all was cleaned up. ALSO I COULD GET them (MY TURO PC) to do it for a small fee at my home without having to take it to those other stores.
I’m sorry to be so long winded folks, BUT thought you might be interested in what one of your loyal followers had experienced. YOUR comments would be welcomed folks.
System issues 0
Privacy Issues 12
Junk Files 23
Maleware 0
Total issues 35
Arnie,
I’m not sure what your comment has to do with Process Hacker but I want to reply to your comment.
You’ve been taken for a ride. As anyone else who has ever been duped by a one-click speed-up / fix-up tool have learned, these programs are a joke. First of all the errors reported aren’t really errors – anyone can make a program that will show a set number of errors and they’ll all look very real – unless someone who knows computer goes through the fake results. And it’s very easy also to make a program that shows a lot of made-up errors and after running the miracle program, the errors are gone or greatly reduced. Arnie, if there were such a program that could fix Windows with just a click, Microsoft would have bought the company and included it with every Windows computer. Why? Just think – if Windows were perfect or could be fixed quickly and easily with just a click – Windows would have the best reputation of any OS, but it doesn’t. There are no one-click fix-up speed up programs; all of them are frauds. But it is multi-billion dollar snake oil business. Most of these snake-oil programs will let you download, install and run the program free. And of course it will find hundreds of errors that are not really errors. However, if you want the program to fix the errors, you have to pay. It’s the biggest scam going. I hope you didn’t pay for this bogus program. If you did, you need to call your credit card company and get your money back. It’s just another scam.
It’s hard, but not impossible, to believe that Best Buy, Staples, etc. are in cahoots with this sort of thing. However, that being said, Best Buy has been cited a number of times for a number of computer repair shenanigans…so I don’t know why we should be surprised.
Finally, Panda is just an anti-virus like McAfee, Norton, and others. It’s malware / PUPs component is barely functional. Heck, almost any anti-virus can protect you from viruses and Trojans – it’s old technology. Unfortunately, you’re not very likely to ever run across a virus or Trojan, but you’re hundreds of times more likely to run into Malware, PUPs and rogues.
Emsisoft is not perfect. Nothing is. Emsisoft is the best when you consider all its aspects. It’s a top-rated antivirus. It’s a top-rated antimalware. It’s the best software you can install to protect you from rogues and PUPs. No other security program offers so much protection across the spectrum of bad stuff – including the things you’re more likely to run into on the Web – Malware, PUPs, and Rogues.
If you want to learn more about top-rated antivirus/anti-malware read this.
https://www.thundercloud.net/infoave/new/emsisoft-wins-again/
If you want to learn more about one-click fix-up / speed-up scams, we’ve written dozens of articles like this one:
https://www.thundercloud.net/infoave/new/mycleanpc-finallyfast-mycleanpc-are-all-scams/
Keep in mind that My Clean PC, Finally Fast, SpeedUp My PC and My Turbo PC all run the same the same scam – and they are all worthless.
Here is another article to read:
https://www.thundercloud.net/infoave/new/and-the-scams-never-stop/
Please don’t waste your money on scams like MyTurboPC . Don’t take advice from people your don’t know.
That’s our take – and we think it’s well-documented, don’t you?
Hi,
Good one Arnie!!! I like it!!!
Who’s the joke on???