TCPEye basically displays those information in a graphical user interface. The application displays all processes that currently have a connection to a remote address. A remote address can be a device on the same computer network, or the Internet.

Each process is listed with its name, local and remote address, connection state, protocol, remote address country, process path and a handful of additional information about the program and company.

The displayed information can be saved or copied (to the clipboard) at anytime. A right-click on an entry, or the selection of the options menu at the top, lead to additional features. Available options include sending a process directly to the online virus checking service Virus Total, resolving addresses, terminating connections or processes, and the built-in Whois IP and Geo IP tools.

The direct upload option to Virus Total can be used to check any running process for malicious code. The file gets uploaded automatically by the application, providing that it is less than 10 Megabytes in size. The results of the scan are opened directly in the default web browser.

TCPEye is a handy netstat frontend that offers enough extra features to make it more than just an alternative. The application can be downloaded from Cnet.

Most servers come with tools to restart crashed applications or to notify a system administrator to fix the problem. Home servers or single user computers on the other hand do not have these tools on board. That’s where Restarter comes into play.

The small program can monitor selected Windows processes and restart them if they fail to respond. The software program will display a list of all running Windows processes upon startup. Single processes can be selected from the list so that they are monitored and restarted if they crash.

Several options are provided to make the software more versatile. It is possible to define startup parameters, a working directory and the application monitoring interval which is set to five seconds by default. Application crashes are by default written to a log file.

Crashed Windows processes can be restarted. This option is enabled by default as well. It is possible to restart them in minimized state and to play a sound to notify the user. The process monitor can furthermore kill unresponsive tasks automatically to restart them again.

The Restarter uses roughly 10 Megabytes of computer memory while running and monitoring applications in the background. It is compatible with most versions of Microsoft Windows including Windows 7 and can be downloaded from the developer’s website.

The interface of System Explorer is tab driven. It displays various information like Tasks, Processes, Modules or Opened Files in the various tabs on the top of the software program. Each tab will list the designated information, the process tab will for instance list the process names, their dependencies, cpu usage, process id and memory usage.

One of the interesting options that System Explorer provides is the ability to display or request additional information about an entry. A right-click on an entry will open a context menu with options to display file information, query Internet databases like Process Library or checking the file with online virus scanners like Virus Total.

That’s interesting for users who want to check up on processes or modules running on their computer system.

Unlike Microsoft’s Task Manager System Explorer does provide additional information. It will for example list all open connections of a computer system including the applications responsible for the connection. It will furthermore display the opened files or a process history in its interface which provide additional valuable information to the user.

Another interesting option is the snapshot ability. Users can create system snapshots and compare them to previous snapshots that they have created. This can be interesting to compare before and after system states while installing or updating software programs.

System Explorer provides access to additional system related features next to the extensive system monitoring options. It will list autostart entries, software programs that are installed on the computer system and link to system utilities like computer management or group policy management.

The software program can be used to replace the Windows Task Manager. To do that select the “Replace Task Manager” option in the Options menu on top. System Explorer will open whenever the user starts the Task Manager from then on.

Resource usage of System Explorer is low, it uses less than 5 Megabytes of computer memory while running which is acceptable considering all the advanced features that it brings to the table.

The main window of the Access Tools presents the running processes on the system. Information like memory usage, company and ID are presented in the interface which is automatically updated in real time. The lower pane contains an event viewer that displays events such as starting or closing processes. A click on a process displays additional information about that process such as its parent process or system path.

This is one of the areas that Process Explorer handles in a better way. The Sysinternal’s application displays all processes in a tree view with child processes beneath their parent’s processes which guarantees a better overview.

Grouped Access Tools would be nothing more than a better Windows Task Manager if that would be the complete functionality. Thankfully though it is not. A right-click on a process opens a quick access menu to functions like terminating, suspending, resuming or wiping the memory of the selected process.

It is a bit strange that not all of the functions are available in the right-click menu, especially those that open windows with extensive information about the selected process. More than half of the available functions are only accessible from the top menu.

The Process Information window for instance contains five tabs with extensive information about modules, threads, handles, file information and process information.

Grouped Access Tools comes with a memory dump and memory editing function which could be quite interesting for debugging purposes. Below is a list of features taken from the developer’s homepage which the Access Tools have that Process Explorer does not.

• Auto Filing/ Move on Boot
• Auto Processing
• Hidden Process Scanning
• Module (DLL) Termination
• Multiple methods of ending a process
• Multiselection and handling
• Process Logging
• Running programs in System Mode

Process Explorer on the other hand provides access to several tools that Grouped Access Tools provide only partially or not at all.

Grouped Access Tools runs on all Windows NT systems including Windows XP and Windows Vista. Provided are a portable version and a version that has to be installed.

Kill Process is a process manager developed by Orange Lamp Software Solutions. The main purpose of the application is to provide the user with means to kill several processes at once and it can also prevent that new blocked processes are spawned on the system. That second feature comes in handy in numerous other occasions, more about that later.

The main interface of Kill Process displays a list of all processes that are currently running on the system. The list contains information about each process that includes its name, description and memory usage. Detailed process information are available by selecting the process and hitting enter or right-clicking it and selecting Process Information from the menu.

Processes are automatically added to the kill list once they have been marked for termination. The kill list can contain multiple processes that can be batch killed easily. This comes in very handy if you want to kill processes that spawn another instance of related processes. If you only use this feature Kill Process stops after killing the selected processes, even if a new process that is in the kill list spawns.

This can be prevented by the second feature of Kill Process: Process Scanning. If you activate Process Scanning Kill Process with actively scan the system for processes in the kill list and terminate those processes as soon as they appear as a process. The time between scans can be defined which is essential to prevent cpu overload.

This feature comes in handy in a number of occasions. Say you want to get rid of that dreaded ctfmon.exe or other processes that appear every time Windows starts and you do not know how to suppress them. It is also possible to prevent that applications that you start spawn new processes.

Kill Process can be configured to run silently in the background by suppressing all errors and disabling confirmations.

Process Patrol helps you detect and stop spyware and adware processes with the following features:
*It helps you understand exactly what is running on your computer.
*It helps you build a list of spyware and adware programs.
*It stops these spyware and adware programs at the push of a button.
*It can monitor your system in a schedule that you setup, and automatically stop the spyware and adware processes that it finds.
*It optionally notifies you whenever a new process starts up that you haven’t yet flagged as either good or bad.

Freeware, Size 2.28 MB, download currently unavailable.

Stop Spyware, Adware, and Unwanted Programs with Process Patrol

Process Patrol is a useful process manager which enables you to list programs that continually restart when you do not want them to and stop them from doing so. If terminating the processes does not stop repeated startups, Process Patrol can help. You can manage Windows processes on your PC and set stop lists for spyware, adware, and virus programs to automatically terminate them. A built-in browser is included so that you can run a search for questionable programs to determine if they are unnecessary or malicious. Process Patrol will also alert you whenever a new process is started. This is extremely useful when it comes to zero-time malware. Adware that is dependent of freeware is often difficult to remove, but this utility will allow you to shut them down.

Process Patrol works with all versions of Windows and you can download directly from this site: http://www.softpedia.com/progDownload/Process-Patrol-Download-16557.html

Softpedia is usually a reliable download site, so that is why this URL is selected. You can also download directly from the Process Patrol site.

It is a binary file and once you choose to run it, it will most likely find ActiveX conflicts which state “Version conflicts…current version of AcitveX control ____ is not newer…” Just continue clicking “OK” until the installation is complete. There will be no apparent icon for the utility, but you can find it through the Search box in the Start menu.

When you see this screen pop up, you may want to check the box titled “Do not show this message again” and then click OK. Process Patrol does list processes running on your computer, but it is not as comprehensive as Windows Task Manager or Autoruns in this sense. The optimal feature is that it will display malware processes that are running and you can easily stop them.

By building a list of malware programs that have a tendency to restart on your computer, you can permanently stop them from being run. Spyware and Adware programs that are persistent can be identified by other security programs and listed in Process Patrol to monitor your system and prevent any malicious processes from starting again.

The program will run in the background according to a schedule that you set and terminate any Stop List items that are discovered running. A built-in browser review allows you to retrieve browser information for running processes as an additional feature.

Overall, Process Patrol is not exactly easy to use at first. It is one of those programs that you have to figure out by spending some time with it. It is intended for users who want to stop particular processes such as adware from running without having to remove entire freeware packages. It is important to note that this is not an antivirus program nor is it a scanning program for spyware and adware. Other software is required for those purposes. Ultimately, Process Patrol is intended for advanced users and novice users will probably be confused by the interface.