What is running on my system?

Martin Brinkmann
Jun 26, 2006
Updated • May 6, 2013
Software
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What's running 2.2. gives you insight into what is running on a Windows PC. It is completely free to use and can be installed or run as a portable program instead. It displays a variety of information on startup that it divides into tabs in the program window. Here you see the running processes and all services, modules and drivers, IP connections, startup items and system information.

It not only provides you with information on what is running, but also management options to control all those items directly from within its interface.

A click on a process for instance displays extensive information about it. You can use the menu on the left to start and stop processes, or right-click on a process for additional options such as changing its priority, retrieving information about it online or opening its folder on the computer's drive.

The same is true for all other parts of the program. You can start and stop services, lookup IP information of connections that are currently established on your PC, or manage all of your computer's startup items.

One interesting feature is the ability to create snapshots. You can compare two snapshots with each other, for instance to find out what has changed on your system after the installation of a program on it.

Development of What's Running seems to have been stopped with version 3.0 Beta 9 released in April 2010. The latest  version of the program is however compatible with all recent versions of the Windows operating system, including Windows 7, and even newer versions.

You can install the program like a regular application, or have it installed as a portable version that does not modify system settings, ideal for deployment on an USB flash drive.

When you start the program for the first time you will notice that it is loading lots of information right away.

You will see a sidebar with options, next to that the main interface that is using a tabbed navigation. Here you find the following information listed:

  • Processes - A listing of all running processes in a tree-style view, with process names, IDs, user names, as well as cpu and memory utilization. It is furthermore possible to select a process to display detailed information about the process.
  • Service - A list of all system services, including their status, startup information and names.
  • Modules - All dynamic link libraries loaded by the operating system
  • IP Connections - The current connections, locally and remotely.
  • Drivers - All system drivers that are loaded.
  • Startup - The startup programs that are loaded with the operating system.

A menu is displayed in the left sidebar for each tab that offers direct access to some features, like starting or stopping processes, creating a snapshot of the system, or comparing a previously saved status with the current one.

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