Process Monitor

Process Monitor is a tiny script that monitors running applications in the background and takes note of their activity, creating logs with details about frozen windows. It's similar to IsHungAppWindow that's built into the operating system. This way, you can determine faulty programs that cause Windows to work improperly.

On double-click, the downloaded .exe starts running silenly in the background and keeps an eye on the computer. In the next step, you should open the .pdf guide included in the package to learn the commands.

To bring up general help information, you can press Ctrl+Shift+F1, regardless of the environment you're current working in. Whenever a program hangs, it makes a note in a log file, which can be accessed in the C:\temp.

To be able to change the way the program watches running application, press Ctrl+Shift+1 in order to create an .ini configuration in any preferred folder on the disk, set the duration between process scans (default is 20 seconds), save window titles and grouping codes, as well as include or exclude processes. Unfortunately, an error popped up in our tests right after trying to change the interval between process scans.

You can check out system-related stats, such as total handles, processes, threads, network errors and disconnects by pressing Ctrl+Shift+F2. Besides manually looking for the log file, you can quickly bring it up to screen with Ctrl+Shift+F3. The application of another developer is used to display these details, called CSVFileView.

Additional hotkeys can be used to open the Add/Remove Programs in the Windows Control Panel (Ctrl+Shift+F5), view printers (Ctrl+Shift+F6), configure Internet Explorer settings (Ctrl+Shift+F7), exit Process Monitor (Ctrl+Shift+F8), and ask it to automatically start logging app information as soon as you turn on the computer (Ctrl+Shift+F9).

Besides the previously mentioned error, the script ran smoothly on Windows 10 in our tests. It's ideal for users who want to catch unresponsive programs in the act but requires a bit of know-how to view stats and configure settings.