Process Explorer
Process Explorer shows you information about which handles and DLLs processes have opened or loaded. The display consists of two sub-windows. The top always shows a list of the currently active processes, including the names of their owning accounts, whereas the information...
Cost / License
- Free
- Proprietary
Application types
Platforms
- Windows
- PortableApps.com
Features
- Process Monitoring
- CPU Monitoring
- Affinity Mask
- Portable
Process Explorer News & Activities
Recent News
- Danilo_Venom published news article about Process Explorer
AuKill tool exploits an old version of Process Explorer to disable security solutions and distribute malwareSophos cybersecurity experts have identified a tool called AuKill that exploits an old version of P...
Recent activities
- TBayAreaPat replied to a comment / review on Process Explorer
- mIKEtHEn00B liked Process Explorer
- TBayAreaPat commented on Process Explorer
If you want to delete a locked file, Process Explorer helps you find exactly which processes are using a certain file. "When you enable VT integration, you get an extra column showing the number of AV engines on VirusTotal that flagged the file vs total engines. Process Explorer displays VT’s data; it does not translate that into a “rating” on its own"
justarandom added Process Explorer as alternative to Tux Manager
RemovedUser added Process Explorer as alternative to DTaskManager
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What is Process Explorer?
Process Explorer shows you information about which handles and DLLs processes have opened or loaded. The display consists of two sub-windows. The top always shows a list of the currently active processes, including the names of their owning accounts, whereas the information displayed in the bottom window depends on the mode that it is in. The unique capabilities make it useful for tracking down DLL-version problems or handle leaks, and provide insight into the way Windows and applications work.
Process Explorer information
Developed by
Mark Russinovich Licensing
Proprietary and Free product.Rating
Average rating of 4.8Alternatives
84 alternatives listedSupported Languages
- English
Comments and Reviews
Like other SysInternals tools, ProcessExplorer is feature rich and very stable. It gives me quick insight to what processes are doing, helping me to identify and address misbehaving processes. I have it running on every machine that I use frequently.
If you want to delete a locked file, Process Explorer helps you find exactly which processes are using a certain file. "When you enable VT integration, you get an extra column showing the number of AV engines on VirusTotal that flagged the file vs total engines. Process Explorer displays VT’s data; it does not translate that into a “rating” on its own"
Microsoft acquired Sysinternals (along with its parent company Winternals Software LP) on July 18, 2006. Program doesn't include a built-in network connections or ports view, but the program CrowdInspect shows ports.
Can monitor GPUs out of box.
Detailed process info, but lacks a total of Chrome's RAM usage. Hence i switched to Process Hacker.
It has Real-time CPU, GPU, RAM, and I/O activity monitoring, so I'm not sure where the issue is.
Was last updated June 29, 2019.
Process Explorer v17.12 May 7, 2026
It's pretty decent with how much data it provides, but it starts too slowly and has the chance to fail when your computer's running poorly. Not a good replacement for Windows Task Manager, but decent if you want to find information about your system otherwise.
It's listed under the I/O tab on the System Information window.