Knowledge is power: Use online process libraries to track what your PC is doing

Imagine you could have information about what's running on your computer at the click of a button. Processlibrary.com is a website that gives you just that and more. But what are process libraries?

At any point in time your computer won’t just be running the applications you can see working away on your desktop. It will have a large number of additional running processes operating silently, and invisibly, in the background. Many of these running processes will be harmless, and absolutely necessary for the operation of your PC, managing, amongst other things, the graphical user interface, or network connections.

However, other running processes may be unnecessary, wasting valuable RAM and slowing your computer, or downright harmful harboring spyware and Trojans (which violate privacy giving hackers free reign on compromised system).

You first suspect that there may be something happening to your computer because it is not as fast as it was a few days back, and the programs you usually run are not responding as well as they once did. Faced with system problems one of the first things that you can do is to check out the Windows TaskManager to see if you can identify any process which looks strange or out of place. The TaskManager can be accessed by pressing the Ctrl, Alt and Delete keys at the same time. This will call up a small window offering you 6 separate options, of which the TaskManager is one.

The TaskManager lists all running processes on your PC, and you will probably recognize some of them easily (for example EXCEL.EXE and OUTLOOK.EXE are obviously the standard Microsoft applications Excel and Outlook). However there are probably another 30 or 40 running processes which you can’t immediately identify (would you know that svchost.exe is a legitimate systems process, whilst scvhost.exe is a security threat?).

Unfortunately, this utility is limited for the purposes of full resource control and system optimization and security, for a number of reasons including that:

1. TaskManager does not provide any information that allows you, at a glance, to determine what the various running processes are and what they are doing;
2. the utility does not highlight possible security threats or any harmless running processes that are either not being used by the system or which are redundant; and,
3. you don’t know how important the legitimate running processes actually are (will stopping a certain process just halt an application or crash your system?).

Despite the old saying, ignorance is not bliss: taking action without the relevant information may lead you to stop useful running processes (eg lsass.exe), and destabilize your system, leaving the unnecessary or harmful software to run on your computer. The right data is critical to safeguard your data security and personal privacy and to maximize computer performance.

In this light, process libraries are probably one of the more important offshoots of the Internet. The good ones provide a wealth and depth of information about the running processes and dynamic link libraries that are on your system. With the details provided, you can determine what is essential for the smooth operation of your computer system, and ensure that you are not running harmless tasks that are slowing your computer down and making it sluggish.

Process libraries may also be used to locate residuals from uninstalled programs (eg a scheduler from an uninstalled software demo) and security threats (eg Trojans, spyware, adware) that have somehow managed to breach your firewall, anti-spyware or anti-virus software. Furthermore, good process library websites (and the award winning ProcessLibrary.com is a particular example) also include clever free applications which can make it even easier to track what your PC is up to.

ProcessLibrary.com has two in particular, which are especially useful. ProcessScanner is a free application which will give you a complete analysis of all the running processes on your PC and provide a risk analysis of each one. Whilst ProcessQuicklink, another free ProcessLibrary.com application, takes this one step further by adding information links to the Windows TaskManager, which will allow you to access ProcessLibrary.com information for every process, directly from within the TaskManager.

Knowledge is power: the detailed process definitions of process libraries (and ProcessLibrary.com in particular) enable you to take the necessary steps to protect your system and data while enhancing computer performance.

ProcessScanner: The free utility software that tells exactly what the processes running on your PC are up to!