Process Hacker

Note: Some anti-malware applications trigger alerts when downloading this application. However, our tests have shown that these are, in fact, false positives, so it's safe to download and install it.

After some time of intensely using your computer, you might notice it's starting to run a little slow. This is due to residue files left after uninstalling applications or simply because of unwanted processes staying active and using precious system resources. Luckily, applications such as Process Hacker let you view in-dept details about your system and carefully manage them for enhanced performance.

Even though your operating system comes equipped with an important utility that lets you view resource distribution and terminate processes, this application does so a little better. Running it brings up the main window, equipped with all available features.

The amount of info might seem overwhelming at first, but the clever design lets you quickly accommodate and view only items of interest. By default, processes are enlisted in a tree view, which offers neat info on relationships. Moreover, categories are highlighted in different colors for easier identification, for example GUI Threads in yellow, or system processes in blue.

A useful feature the application comes equipped with is the “System Information” window. Hitting the dedicated button displays an almost real-time updating graph of resource consumption. You can view CPU, Memory, GPU, Disk and Network, while setting the time interval at which the graph to be updated.

Hovering your mouse over it displays which application took advantage of the specific resource and at what time. For more CPUs you can have individual graphs drawn for each core.

Similar to the basic task manager, you are able to play God with running processes. Besides terminating it, you are able to simply suspend it, end a whole tree, restart, and even start new ones. More options include the possibility to attribute a number of CPUs to handle a process, letting you distribute your resources however you see fit.

You can view and manage services from a separate tab, network related events, as well as those that put pressure on your hard disk drive. Resource usage icons can be enabled in the system tray to constantly have them under surveillance, and you can also manage your computer's power options.

Taking everything into consideration, we can say that Process Hacker deserves its name, fully living up to expectations. It gives you the possibility to deeply go under the hood of your computer and thoroughly manage running processes and service, but also analyze usage and distribution of resources to applications, making for a powerful utility overall.