Process Master

Every program you run, and even the components which make Windows function are all spread in different processes. Each of these use resources according to needs, but can also be tweaked given the right set of tools. For instance, Process Master allows you to instantly modify the priority of any running task for more efficiency in resource handling.

On launch, the application brings up a pretty compact main window, which can’t be resized, and makes it rather difficult to scroll through all tasks. These are enlisted along with details like name, priority, and path, with an additional status bar letting you know how many are currently running, marked, and hidden.

It’s best to run the application with administrator privileges to allow it to properly read everything that’s running on your computer. Unfortunately, even if doing this, not all processes are shown, and even though you can see the number of hidden processes, there’s no option to reveal them, leaving you to deal with only a handful from all.

For a little more efficiency, the application allows you to filter according to column headers mentioned above. Selecting an item from the list highlights all related tasks, and you can switch the priority status to real-time, high, above normal, normal, below normal, or idle.

Every Process you modify ends up on the marked list, so you can later on change it back to its default status. Doing so requires little effort, namely to remove items from the list. Sadly, even though you can make the application run with Windows, there’s no possibility to keep settings active, or automatically switch priority level once a target program is activated.

Taking everything into consideration, we can say that Process Master feels like it’s still undergoing development, being a lot less prepared even than the Windows Task Manager. It only shows, and lets you manage a handful of processes from all that are active, while the compact main window makes it difficult to identify, or even browse through processes.