The following article will take a closer look at five application monitors and restarters for the Windows operating system. These programs monitor applications that the user configures. They usually also come with options to react on certain events.

Restarter

All application monitoring options are displayed in the main interface of the Restarter program. It displays the list of running processes on the top with the option to select one that should be monitored by the application. The monitoring interval can be configured as well as several startup and error parameters including killing the application if it becomes unresponsive and restarting it if it is not running anymore.

Pro

• Easy to use, manage everything in one program window.
• Low resource usage
• Can restart applications
• Logging

Con

• Can only monitor one application unless started several times
• No remote notification options
• Not portable

download link

Application Monitor

Application Monitor is another program that can monitor and restart applications that have been added to the program by the user. The process of adding applications to the software is slightly more complex as the user needs to select the program executable from the computer’s hard drive manually. Multiple executables can be added to the program this way. Application Monitor will automatically check if the program is running, restart it if it is not. It can write events into a log file and notify the user by sending an email to an email account if the SMTP server settings are filled out in the program’s options.

Pro

• Portable software
• Remote notifications (email)
• Logging
• Can restart applications
• Can monitor multiple applications

Con

• Not as easy to configure as Restarter

download link

Keep Running

Keep Running is a basic application monitor that needs to be configured in a separate configuration file. It is a portable application that can monitor one application in the Windows operating system. The administrator needs to add the full path to the software and other options in the configuration file. It is also only possible to monitor one application at a time. A positive side effect of the bare-bone approach is that the process of the program uses the least amount of computer memory in the test field.

Pro

• Lightweight application
• Portable software

Con

• Difficult configuration
• Can only monitor one application
• No logging
• No notifications

download link

Kiwi Application Monitor

The free version of Kiwi Application Monitor offers basic options to monitor processes in the Windows operating system. It is possible to monitor multiple applications, view statistics, configure email notifications and logging options. It is possible to configure several options to close or restart applications if events are triggered.

Pro

• Can monitor multiple applications
• Statistics about monitored applications
• Email Notifications
• Logging

Con

• Not portable
• Moderate resource usage

download link

CRP (Control Running Programs)

Control Running Programs needs to be run in compatibility mode in Windows 7. The program can be used to control three distinct program behaviors: Program instances, starting and memory usage. It is for example possible to configure that a program should be restarted if it is not running (or crashed), that only one instance of the program should be open at any time and that it should be closed if it exceeds a certain amount of computer memory. CRP supports logging but no notifications.

Pro

• Can monitor multiple applications
• Logging

Con

• Not portable
• No notifications
• Needs to be run in compatibility mode in Windows 7

download link

Related posts

• Application Monitor (3)
• Use Process Monitor To Optimize The Windows Boot Process (1)
• Keep Software Installers Up To Date (3)
• ZoneScreen Finally Gets 64-bit Update (7)
• ZC DVD Creator Platinum [Free Full Version] (19)

The basic actions that can be defined in the Windows application monitor are to close the application if the memory or cpu usage exceeds parameters, to start additional programs if the application starts or ends or to turn off the computer when it ends. The advanced rules are only available in the commercial version of the application monitor.

Kiwi will collect statistics about application usage and resource consumption. The Windows application monitor will for example dsiplay the average running time per day or session, the average memory usage and the maximum peak memory usage.

The last option that might be interesting for some users is to define minimum and maximum allowed working set in Megabytes. Kiwi uses just a few Megabytes of computer memory and about 30 Megabytes of virtual memory while minimized which should be acceptable for users who would like to monitor their applications and make use of the additional options of the program.

Related posts

• Grouped Access Tools (0)
• End multiple programs at once (6)
• Bill2’s Process Manager (3)
• Zip Repair (3)
• Zen Key An All Purpose Application Manager (3)

The software Application Monitor can come in handy for users who run servers of any kind on their computer or who like to download files when they are sleeping or not near the computer. Nothing’s worse than to wake up to realize that the application that controlled the download crashed ten minutes after going to bed.

Application Monitor (via Madhur Kapoor) will monitor applications added by the user in intervals. If the software program notices that an application is not started anymore – because of a crash, program termination or other reasons – it will restart it automatically.

All that needs to be done to monitor a new application is to enter a name and point the Application Monitor to the application’s path. It is possible to add arguments that will be executed when the program starts and to change the interval from 2 minutes to a different one.

The system administrator can be notified by email regularly and all events will be logged on the system’s hard drive by default.

Application Monitor is a portable software that requires the Microsoft .net Framework 1.1 to run.

Related posts

• Keep Software Installers Up To Date (3)
• Application Monitor (4)
• 5 Application Monitors For The Windows Operating System (1)
• Youtube Video Search Is A Barebone Youtube Downloader (2)
• Xkcd Comic Wallpaper Changer (2)

Ketarin on the other hand does not keep the software on a specific computer system up to date. The difference is that Ketarin checks if a software installer has been updated on a specified location and downloads the new installer to a location defined by the user of the software.

The main purpose of the software is therefor similar to the concept of those automatic updaters but with the difference that it only downloads the new program versions so that they can be distributed to a network of computers. It can naturally be used to install the new version on the computer that Ketarin is running as well.

Ketarin can monitor software installers in three different ways.

• Monitoring URLs for changes
• Monitoring and using the FileHippo service
• Using placeholders to watch webpages for changes

The software developers have created a short documentation that gives examples for all three ways of monitoring software installers.

Applications that are monitored can be grouped into categories. There is also the possibility to run commands after downloading an updated software installer and to import or export applications to XML files.

The software program is Open Source and portable. Some would say it is not as it requires the Microsoft .net Framework 2.0.

Related posts

• Application Monitor (3)
• Xkcd Comic Wallpaper Changer (2)
• Windows Tabbed Browsing (4)
• Windows Run Aliases (8)
• Windows Management: Super Maximize Windows (9)

Application Monitor is a portable application that can monitor software programs in intervals. If a monitored application stopped running Application Monitor will start it anew. The setup does not provide any difficulties even for inexperienced users.

It basically comes down to selecting applications from the computer, adding a descriptive name, selecting the interval for the checks and optional parameters for the application start. Every added application is listed in the main program interface and has to be checked before the monitoring process starts.

Several options are available that can change some of the default parameters of the software. The default interval for application checks is set to 2 minutes which can be changed individually when a new application is added to the software program or in the options.

Application Monitor can be configured to check if the added applications are started during software startup. There is also an option to send error reports to an email address that can be configured in the software options.

The downside of using the application monitoring program is the rather high, and unusual, memory consumption.

Related posts

• Application Monitor (3)
• Windows Application Monitor Kiwi (7)
• Keep Software Installers Up To Date (3)
• Windows Extractor (5)
• Website Monitor (2)