System Inspector

Posted on May 18, 2008

If you ever look at Task Manager in Windows, you probably don’t get a lot of good useful information from the tab that says ‘Processes’. I know I don’t. It’s primarily an overview of things running at that moment in time but it only shows the top-level info, the underlying processes remain hidden. If you look down the list, you may see as many as 6 or more ’svchost.exe’ tasks running with ‘nairy a clue as to what program they go with. So, if you’re wanting to do an ‘End Process’ on a program that’s not cooperating, and you don’t see an identifiable process name, then you’re probably out of luck.

To get more information about what’s running along with a lot of other useful info like registry entries, drivers, services, system information, etc., you need a third-party product. There are plenty of these available, many at a fee.

Of the ones that are free not fee, I have just found and like ESET SysInspector.

It seems to provide a good range of info and I especially like the fact that it has no install, you just run the program. So, if you decide you don’t like it, just delete a single file. But, you probably will like it.

Another nice feature is that it color-codes the info from green to red, indicating the possible problem or risk level a particular file or process poses. In addition, there is a colored sliding bar you can use if, for instance, you just want to see the items deemed to be critical in nature. This acts as a color-coded filter.

They have versions for both 32-bit and 64-bit Windows systems. Check it out here.