Process Explorer V16.32
Kody Chavva
Process Explorer is an advanced task manager. It is an indispensable tool for both beginners and power users. I use it all the time to kill tasks that refuse to be killed, or find what which processes are still holding on to a particular file or DLL so it refuses to be deleted.
Alternatively, Process Explorer Portable is also available, which is stealth.
@Peter202: as noted above, Process Explorer saves settings to the Windows registry so is in fact not conventionally portable. It has been allowed, though, due to its nature and the trivial settings kept. If you want complete portability, check the Portable Apps package, also linked in the entry.
For correct Process Explorer "Configure Symbols..." options check, for instance, -better-stack-traces-in-process-monitor-process-explorer.aspx
For a portable, this essentially means you have to get an updated 'dbghelp.dll' file to place alongside the PE executable, and then point to it in the "Debug.dll path" field; in the "Symbols path" field, after creating a 'symbols' folder inside the one you keep PE in, you could paste the following:
SRV*symbols*
(You can change the part amidst stars (the cache path) to whatever you want or leave it out for no caching.)
@Samalama It's on this site because it's useful, simple as that. Despite writing registry keys, I now use it daily on multiple machines, and in my USB Toolkit, most SysInternals have become more stable now days.
Writes to the registry - NOT PORTABLE.
Like GBJ says....GREAT utility. However, that being said, how anyone can consider it 'portable' (as it indeed writes all settings to the registry) simply blows my mind.
Will not use until really is made portable - why is it even on this site?????????????
be cautious of some of these programs from sysinternals, i've had some restarts, bsod, crashes, freeze ups, and lingering processes from using their utilities, never had this problem with any other software. i'm a fan of process explorer, procmon, autoruns, and a few others.. but man do they have issues. i suppose because i have older versions or whatnot. more reason to not use the registry for settings!
My take on Portable Software is programs that just work when I run them without installing... Features like INI file based settings, stealth and removable drive awareness are very welcome pluses, but they don't change that basic tenet.
Just my 2 cents.
First, this is one GREAT utility. However, that being said, how anyone can consider it 'portable' (as it indeed writes all settings to the registry) simply blows my mind. Hello ? It is NOT PORTABLE ! ! Just TRY running it from a USB stick and see if your views and column settings remain ! PLEASE learn the true meaning of 'portable.' You cannot change the definition based on your personal taste and whether or not you like one app over another.
Like others before, I must say this is one of my essential utilities. I run it permanently on all my computers!
Although I haven't had that problem, I am really disapointed by what Lego revealed ("Since Micro$oft took this great utility over, you can not kill several MS processes, like WPALogon.dll") which I find a serious breach of confidence -- we're so used to get 'coned' by M$, aren't we?
Does anyone know, which was the last version that wasn't crippled in this way? I might still have it laying around...
There's a BUNCH of great standalone apps are SysInternals, but this is the one I use almost every day at work. When trying out this app, make sure you right-click on the column headings, and check the Command Line checkbox, which will tell you where the listed process' file actually resides (makes it much easier to figure out which is the virus or spyware, if the file is sitting in the root or temp folders of the drive). "A"'s comment is correct about the settings, but they're "per-machine." Not entirely sure what they mean by "crash process" but you can "kill" processes and ever entire process trees (the process and every process it may have spawned).
All in all though, a great utility for anyone's "pocket-toolkit."
when you set it up just the way you like it.. then suddenly all the custom settings have magically dispeared! that is freaking annoying, other then that it's a very good program, but could be better with more process manulipation features (free memory, crash process, ect)
I have 2 instances of Windows Explorer opened in the task manager at random times. It happens when i restart my computer, use it for some time and after a while i notice the fans ramp up, i go to the task manager to find two processes of windows explorer, one is normal in my opinion which has 200-500MB RAM usage while the one is the problem, it consumes 2000MB of RAM (I have only 8 gigs ram so I am always anxious about that). I kill the process with the high ram usage and the computer runs normally. It is also worth mentioning that when i kill the process; the explorer and all the windows and task bar does not close or crash. The computer cools down and everything goes back to normal. The explorer.exe file is also normal. I was hoping that it might get fixed in the update but its still here.
Thank you for much for the suggestion but the issue still remains the same. I am fully updated and for some reason I can not find the feedback hub. It used to be in windows 10 but now when i search for it, it gives me "Feedback and Diagnostics" which has no option to report a bug, apparently there is a option to give feedback though, when you search something on the start menu; on the right top side there is an option to give feedback, just a little tiny button. I did that and lets see what happens...
I am sorry i could not try safe mode before, this time i used it for 30 minutes and the issue still persists. Even after closing all the windows the process remains in task manager with high memory use.
I have the same issue. After few seconds of starting windows, CPU1,3, and 5 go to 100% (I have intel i9-11900K). I know this by checking it on AIDA64 app.
When pressing ctrl+shift+escape the CPU usage goes back to normal, but if I close task explorer it goes back to 100% on CPU1, 3 and 5. This is why I am thinking it is a malicious virus.
So after I looked more, I found out in the details page that there are 2 "explorer.exe" running. If I terminate the second one the issue is solved.
Any idea how can I fix this once and for all without having to terminate explorer.exe each time I start windows? I tried Malware scans and everything stated above with no help.
@Reza_AmeriThank you for the response, I've tried everything you said, no files are corrupted and everything checks out but the error remains, even after windows update I thought Microsoft might fix the issue but it still remains.
For everyday work, Windows10 works great until October 2025 Microsoft provides support , updates go in parallel with Windows11 .
If you want to work, think about a clean installation of Windows10 -> write what you think?
The status of the previous run shows that the AutoUpdate completed successfully, possibly implying that the .NET Runtime 5.0.14 is not really needed. If that is actually the case, is there a way to prevent the prompt from continuing to occur each time the task runs per its schedule time?
Apparently, AutoUpdate wants to install it, but does not actually need it, since no visible errors are generated. (Note, until recently, AutoUpdate was running without the .NET runtime, and without an accompanying UAC prompt.)
A couple of suggestions that have been offered to resolve this: 1) Grant admin access when the UAC is issued, allowing .NET runtime to install, and then uninstall it; or 2) Disable AutoUpdate and SupportAssist, and use Dell Update instead. If I can't resolve this issue, I am leaning toward taking suggestion 2.
... I have recently started getting a UAC dialog for .NET Runtime 5.0.14 whenever Dell SupportAssistAgent AutoUpdate is run by the Task Scheduler. I have been cancelling this dialog, since I have no idea why it is popping up.
I followed you over from ENShearin's 13-Apr-2022 AskWoody.com thread at Why Is .NET 5.0.14 Asking for Administrative Rights about a similar issue this user is seeing on their Dell computer. Here's a bit of additional information from my own Inspiron 5584, although I don't know if it will be of any help to you.
If I run the Dell SupportAssistAgent AutoUpdate task from Task Scheduler on my Inspiron 5584, I don't see the UAC prompt asking me to allow the Microsoft .NET Runtime v5.0.x to make changes to my system. However, that might be because:
If you launch Process Explorer while your Dell SupportAssistAgent AutoUpdate task is running and it pauses at the UAC prompt you might have enough time to click on the SupportAssistInstaller.exe process and see what threads are running under this process. When you open the Process Explorer interface sort the Process column in alphabetical order so you know where SupportAssistInstaller.exe will appear. If you haven't used Process Explorer before Lowell Heddings has posted a series of tutorials on the How-To Geek site at What Are the SysInternals Tools and How Do You Use Them? that covers the basics for many of the Microsoft SysInternals tools like Process Explorer, AutoRuns, etc.
... How do I respond to this? The email was from noreply@dellcommunity.dell.com, so I can't reply to it, and it doesn't seem reasonable to enter my Service Tag number in a public forum.
You might have receive an automatic notification alerting you that a message was sent to you by DELL-Cares customer support using the Private Messenger feature of this forum. After logging in to the Dell forum click the envelope in the top right corner of the web page and see if there is a private message from DELL-Cares in your Inbox. You can reply there with your Service Tag and no one else will see it.
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