Limit Process Activity With Custom Rules

excellent
key review info
application features
  • ProBalance dynamic priority optimization
  • (8 more, see all...)

Process Lasso is an old-school process manager with features adapted to modern necessities. It is designed as a professional instrument for handling running processes and optimizing their activity in order to maintain system responsiveness. Its features include automated actions triggered by specific events.

The application is currently retailed at $18.95 and you will be able to take it for a test drive free of charge, for as long as 14 days. The developer also offers a free version for the program, which is limited in features and functionality. You can check out the differences on this page.

As Process Lasso is not designed for the beginner user getting it on the system is not quite as simple as one may think, but carrying out the job assisted by a rather seasoned user is not compulsory either, the bumps on the road are actually part of the pre-configuration of the application.

Prior to the actual installation procedure you can choose how Process Lasso should start up, or instruct it to handle the processes of a specific computer user or if should include system processes as well. It may look like a complicated task, but it really isn’t, since there is guidance and explanatory notes at each step.

In contrast with the functionality of the application, the interface seems pretty outdated aesthetically speaking. On the upside, the details about the running processes and overall system resource usage is extremely easy to spot thanks to the real-time graph in the upper part of the main application window.

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Unlike other managers, Process Lasso shows not only the processes currently running on the computer, but also the active ones. The difference is that the tab revealing active processes displays only the items that are currently sucking up CPU power. Segregating the processes like this helps you nail the resource hog extremely easy.

Making sure that system resources are evenly distributed so that all processes get a slice of CPU is no tough thing in Process Lasso. The various rules available for each running item make sure that they do not take over the computer.

In order to maintain the responsiveness of the system at optimum levels the program appeals to its ProBalance technology, a proprietary algorithm designed to dynamically adjust the priorities of running processes.

When system responsiveness occurs, Process Lasso automatically lowers the priority class of background processes. This way, the items running in foreground, which are actually in use, get more CPU power and the entire system becomes more responsive. It practically shifts CPU’s attention from background to foreground processes. This is useful not only on low end computers, but in multi-core environment, when the load is high.

The way each process runs is controlled through a rich set of rules. All controls are available in the context menu of each item. It is a long and comprehensive list, fit for power users, which allows you to define the fate of a process when specific conditions are met.

You can set running and I/O priorities or CPU affinity for the current session as well as the default rule to govern the processes each time they launch. Moreover, each item can be assigned to a different power scheme of your system. Thus, important processes can run under “High Performance” while less needed ones can function under “Power Saver”.

Limiting the unhindered running of the processes can be further customized by allowing only a certain number of instances, disallow its running altogether or keep it running at all costs (automatically restarts if terminated).

Process Lasso also comes with the right features if you want to impose limits for the usage of CPU or RAM. Processes exceeding user-defined thresholds can be automatically terminated, restarted or imposed to run on a specific CPU core.

Less common actions are also available in the program. Some of them, like setting the current and default hard throttle level are also present in the application. In the same menu you will find the possibility to trim virtual memory, delete the process at the next reboot or suspend its activity.

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As far as terminating the processes yourself, the program offers three choices: restart, terminate politely and forcibly. We found that being nice to processes is not always a good idea, since they might deny our wish and continue to run on the system. On the other hand, going with forcible termination always worked.

Besides listing the running processes, the main application window also displays a plethora of details about the items. You can judge the amount of the bits of information available by simply looking at the horizontal scroll bar.

If you want to customize the stream of details in this screen you can disable them at will. Many users don’t necessarily need to know the number of threads and handles of a process the private working set memory or the creation time of an item.

At the opposite end there is useful info such as current and average CPU usage, current status, CPU time or identification details (publisher name, description, file name). Additionally, you can view the current memory gulped in or the status (suspended or running).

If the rules you can impose on processes did not convince you to buy it, check out Process Lasso’s flexibility. It sports a gaming mode, which directs most of the system resources to the full-screen game, without neglecting the background activity. We have not tested this feature yet.

Furthermore, you can use it to prevent the computer to enter sleep mode while a specific process is still active. With Process Watchdog you can monitor which processes exceed the user-defined thresholds for memory and CPU and set up an action.

For an easier management of all the processes that are bound by the various rules available in Process Lasso you can check out the Options menu. It offers the possibility to view all the processes governed by the same rule.

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The Good

It offers control over each process running on your system and allows you to confine its resource usage between the parameters accepted by you.

Running processes and the active ones sucking up CPU power are split into different views for better management.

The comprehensive set of rules combined with ProBalance algorithm ensure your system’s responsiveness and well running at all times.

The Bad

We noticed that restarting some of the processes does not actually terminate the original instance, but opens up a new one. Also, “polite” termination of a process acted more like suspending it.

Documentation, although comprehensive of the main features and functions present in the application, does not detail plenty of aspects.

It would be nice if you could also browse through the currently running processes and select the ones you want to apply certain rules to, instead of just manually punching in the name.

The Truth

Process Lasso may look like it comes from a different computer age, but calling it outdated as far as options and functionality is concerned, is a huge misnomer.

It can be put to good use especially on lower-specced computers but users of high end products can find it equally useful when working with programs requesting huge amounts of resources from the system.

user interface 4
features 5
ease of use 4
pricing / value 5


final rating 5
Editor's review
excellent