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Full control of PC resources: Process Explorer

Updated: April 14, 2022
Published: April 3, 2011
Quick overview:

What is actually running in the background on my PC? Why is the hard disk constantly rattling? And why does my processor fan keep spinning up? With the professional tool "Process Explorer" from Microsoft specialist Mark Russinovich, it's very easy: it's an upgraded version of the classic Task Manager. But Process Explorer can do so much more:

Windows-Tweaks reveals four ingenious tricks for closely monitoring your PC resources.

Find resource hogs
Would you like to know which program on your computer is consuming the most resources? Here's how: Download Process Explorer from the source above, extract it and open it by double-clicking on "procexp.exe" or "procexp64.exe" (under 64-bit Windows). After starting, click on the "CPU" column at the top. The programs that require the most processor power will then be displayed at the top. Something like this:

Processor_Utilization

In this case, Internet Explorer, iTunes, Live Writer and the photo editing program PhotoImpact cause a relatively high load. If you find a program here that you hardly need or don't need at all: Get rid of it! Uninstall it or switch off its autostart function.

Find out dependencies and terminate processes
In the list of your programs, you can also find out which process is dependent on which. Or which process was started by another. So if a process cannot be terminated, you should first try the process that depends on it! Simply right-click on it and click on "Kill Process" or - to kill the dependent processes - on "Kill Process Tree".

Prozesse_beenden

Pausing processes
Is a process that you are not allowed to end eating up performance without end? Then you can pause it briefly if you want to continue working with another program in the meantime. To do this, right-click on it and select "Suspend".

Prozesse_anhalten

Check security of processes: Confirm signatures
Every process has a digital signature that is difficult to forge. To find out whether a process is a malware or a legitimate process, click on "Options" and "Verify Image Signatures" at the top. Then right-click in the Process Explorer window and select "Select Columns".

Spalten

and place a checkmark next to "Verified Signer". In the new column, you can see whether the process could be verified or not. If this is not the case, it may be malware.

Prozess_Prüfung

Do you have problems with processes? Any other questions? Then write a comment (see below)!

Founded Windows Tweaks as a teenager in 2001, his helpful PC tricks made it Germany's most visited Windows site (at the time Sandro looked like this). He then went on to write for international publications such as PC-Praxis, Computerbild, PCWorld in the USA, IMTEST.de and Hifi.de. Sandro's main job is as Global Product Marketing Lead and Consultant for various global tech companies, including Microsoft, AVG, Avast, Nero, TeamViewer, Swiss IT Security Group and now currently in the fintech sector for Gendigital. But he can't get rid of his passion and shares his tweaks here again. Privately, he enjoys traveling the world and loves Asia, especially Japan, Singapore and Korea, but also natural places like Iceland and the Nordics. You can reach Sandro via e-mail.

3 comments on: Full control of PC resources: Process Explorer

  1. I find the suspend function interesting. But otherwise? I think the security signature is too much for the "normal" consumer.
    And the windows task manager can do the rest itself.

  2. Thanks for the feedback 🙂 Some of the resource monitoring functions can certainly be done via TM, but not all of them. In addition to the current memory consumption, you can also see how much memory Windows is currently allocating to the program.

    I think the security signature is very interesting - you can quickly see whether a process is not quite "kosher". Sure, for professionals, but still! Since PE is free, there's really nothing to be said against it 🙂

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