|
Process Watch is a powerful process viewer and manager. It is a stand-alone tool that allows you to browse and terminate running processes and their associated modules.
Process Watch allows you to view detailed information on all processes that are running on your system to see if there are any known offending processes. By default, Process Watch lists all processes that are connected to visible windows on your desktop. You can then choose to quickly terminate any running process or unload a module, if necessary.
Note! Be careful; some processes and modules are needed by Windows or other software in order to function.
Using Process Watch When the Process Watch tool is launched, it shows you a snapshot of all the running processes (top window), their associated modules (lower left window), and a list of threads running for current processes (lower right window). This snapshot is constantly refreshed, and your screen is automatically updated. The Process Watch displays three main lists of information. The upper list is the process window, displaying the processes that are currently running in your system. In order to see a more in-depth picture of where each process originated, the module shows a “graphic tree”; the parent process tops each “graphic tree,” and branches down to show the spawned sub-processes. The lower left list is the module window, showing a list of the modules the selected process has loaded into memory. The lower right list is the thread window, showing a module’s thread, or path of execution. 
Process Window The top window of the Process Watch module is the process window. The columns of specific information on each process are listed below.
The process window lists information by:
| · | Process: Lists the file name of all processes running in your system.
|
| · | PID: Shows the process ID – a unique identifier for each process.
|
| · | CPU: Shows the percentage of CPU time being used by a given process. (The Process Watch can support more than one process; these are taken into account, and you are given an accurate CPU percentage.)
|
| · | Memory: Shows the amount of memory used by the process.
|
| · | Threads: Shows the number of threads the process uses.
|
| · | Priority: Shows the operating system’s assigned level of importance.
|
| · | Created: Shows a time stamp of when the process was created.
|
| · | Path: Shows from where the operating system loaded the process into memory.
|
Process Window Context Menu Right-clicking on a process in the top, main screen opens the process window context menu, showing the operations you can perform on any given process.
You can choose from the following operations:
| · | Terminate: Terminates the selected process.
|
| · | Terminate Tree: Terminates the selected parent process and all of its sub-processes.
|
| · | Restart: Starts the process again from the beginning.
|
| · | Suspend: Freezes a selected process, so that it temporarily stops running.
|
| · | Resume: Resumes the execution of a process that has been suspended.
|
| · | Set Priority: Manually change the priority level that was assigned by the operating system. The priority level can be reassigned to:
Real Time: Highest possible priority level; pre-empts all other processes, including operating system processes performing important tasks.
High: Priority level of time-critical tasks that must be executed immediately.
Above Normal*: Priority level above the normal level.
Normal: Priority level with no special scheduling needs.
Below Normal*: Priority level below the normal level.
Low: Priority level set to run the process when the system is idle.
|
| · | Open Folder: Opens the folder that contains the file spawning the selected process.
|
| · | Google: Brings you directly to a Google search to access more information about the selected process.
|
| · | Process Details: Opens the “Process Details” window which shows a graph of the estimated CPU usage of the process and more detailed information on that particular process. (You can also access Process Details by double-clicking on a process.)
|
Module Window The lower left window of the Process Watch module is the module window. Click a process in the process window to have its details shown in the windows below.
The module window lists information by:
| · | Module: File name of the module.
|
| · | Base Address: Module’s point of origin – where it started executing.
|
| · | Size: Allocated memory size for the selected module.
|
| · | Path: Full path of the module – where the module is located.
|
Module Window Context Menu Right-clicking on a module in the module window opens the module window context menu, showing the operations you can perform on any given module.
You can choose
from the following operations:
| · | Unload: Unloads the selected module from memory.
|
| · | Open Folder: Opens the folder that contains the file spawning the selected module.
|
| · | Google: Brings you directly to a Google search to access more information about the selected module.
|
Thread Window The lower right window of the Process Watch module is the thread window. Click a process in the process window to have its details shown in the windows below.
The thread window lists information by:
| · | Thread: ID number assigned by the operating system – the thread’s unique identifier.
|
| · | Priority: Priority level allocated by the operating system.
|
|