Process Explorer

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Process Explorer

Process Explorer v10.21 running in Windows XP
Developed by	Sysinternals, Microsoft
Latest release	11.30 / 19 November 2008; 15 days ago
OS	Windows 2000 (SP4), XP, 2003, Vista and x64 versions
License	Proprietary
Website	Process Explorer Homepage

Process Explorer is a freeware computer program for Microsoft Windows created by Sysinternals, which was acquired by Microsoft Corporation.

Process Explorer is a system monitoring and examination utility and can be used as the first step in debugging software or system problems.

Process Explorer can be used to track down problems. For example, it provides a means to list or search for named resources that are held by a process or all processes. This can be used to track down what is holding a file open and preventing its use by another program. Or as another example, it can show the command lines used to start a program, allowing otherwise identical processes to be distinguished. Or like Task Manager, it can show a process that is maxing out the CPU, but unlike Task Manager it can show which thread (with the callstack) is using the CPU – information that is not even available under a debugger.

Process Explorer is one of a set of administration and monitoring utilities available from the Microsoft Sysinternals website.

Until 2008 Process Explorer worked on Windows 9x/Me, Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista including 64-bit versions. The current (Aug 2008) Process Explorer Homepage states that it works on Windows 2000 with Service Pack4 and upwards.

Contents 1 Versions 2 Features 3 References 4 External links

[edit] Versions

This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. (June 2008)

• 11.30 - November 19, 2008
• 11.21 - August 8, 2008
• 11.20 - May 28, 2008 - Process Explorer v11.20 published
• 11.13 - April 15, 2008 - Last version mentioned by Microsoft to work on Windows 9x/Me and Windows NT 4.0.^[1]
• 11.12 - April 7, 2008 - may not work on Windows 9x/Me or Windows NT 4.0
• 11.11 - February 27, 2008 - Known to work (user experience) on Windows 98 SE
• 11.10 - February 26, 2008
• 11.0.4 - November 5, 2007
• 11.0 - September 4, 2007 - Various changes, search uses system default engine instead of MSN
• 10.21 - November 1, 2006 - Removed ability to search for processes using Google - now uses MSN search engine only. License changed to prohibit certain uses (e.g. commercial use).
• 10.2 - July 14, 2006 - Final version prior to acquisition by Microsoft. Added Vista integrity level and virtualized columns and process properties, signed driver for 64-bit Vista for x64 processors
• 10.1 - May 11, 2006 - Added ability to display I/O graph within the notification area, vista process cycle counters in process properties and as column, service permissions viewing and editing, workaround for .NET runtime handle leak, many new I/O columns and process properties, system and per-process I/O bytes history graphs, memory commit history minigraph, windows 64-bit for Itanium support
• 10.06 - February 23, 2006
• 10.03 - February 9, 2006
• 9.25 - August 23, 2005
• 9.0 - February 9, 2005
• 8.61 - December 22, 2004
• 8.0 - October 25, 2003 -
  • .NET tab for .NET processes that shows AppDomains and .NET performance counters.
  • Option to only show your own processes. System Information dialog showing the same memory counters as Task Manager (when symbols are configured, also shows maximum paged and Non-paged pool values).
  • Better symbol configuration guidance. Difference highlight duration is configurable.
  • Notification icon for CPU usage that s yellow when usage is > 70% and red when > 90%.
  • Minimize to notification area option. Highlight color configuration dialog. Context switch and context-switch delta columns.
  • Run processes using the system Run dialog from the File menu.
  • Replace task manager option so that when you run Task Manager Process Explorer runs instead.
  • Only non-zero CPU usage, .NET counters and context-switch values are displayed to clearly highlight process activity.
  • Search for DLLs or handles regardless of what mode the lower pane is in.
  • Correct icons for MMC windows.
  • Mouse hover over process names and DLL names shows full path of executable or DLL.
• 7.02 - September 14, 2003

[edit] Features

• Hierarchical view of processes.
• Ability to display icon and company name next to each process.
• Live CPU activity graph in the task bar.
• Ability to Suspend selected process.
• Complete Process Tree can be killed.

[edit] References

Cited References

[edit] External links

• Process Explorer Official Webpage
• Using Process Explorer to tame svchost.exe - Advanced topics February 9, 2008
• Process Explorer Part 2 February 10, 2008