Process manager (computer)
A process manager describes a computer program for managing running programs and system processes and for representing the process context . With some operating systems one speaks of task manager (to task ), or of process viewer .
Basics
A process manager provides basic information about the currently active processes. This includes i. d. This usually includes the name of the executing process, the associated ID , the path name of the executing program file , the process priority , the current memory consumption , the computer user under which the process was started and other administrative information of the operating system.
It can also be used to monitor CPU utilization more precisely , as it usually also displays the current processor utilization of each process. Furthermore, it implements the basic functions of process management , these are kill (terminating the process, escape key ), suspend (stopping the process) and a control of process priority (hierarchy of running processes, which determines the order of execution).
In most modern operating systems, the process manager can be reached directly via the first instance of the system reset ( clamp grip ) in order to be able to easily diagnose and correct problems, in particular “freezes” or performance drops and inexplicable 100% utilization.
More developed process managers also offer an overview of the individual threads of the process, loaded program libraries , network and Internet access and the like, as well as simple system information (basic data on memory usage and performance ). They also break down the hierarchy of process dependencies (Depends) and accesses (Handles, Locks) - the former shows which other processes a process has called itself, the latter why, for example, a file cannot be renamed or moved even though it is not in one Window is open.
Examples
- List of active programs through activated program switching in the DOS shell
-
Task Manager (called on the command line
TaskMgr[.exe]) - the operating system's own administrator in Windows (in the NT range ), with integrated system and network monitors; is alsocontainedin ReactOS with almost the same name(or more precisely: was partially recreated there) -
Process Viewer (
PrcView[.exe]) - developed by Igor Nys in 1995, adopted by Norton SystemWorks in 2002(originally Peter Norton Computing , already Symantec at the time) -
Process Explorer (
ProcExp[.exe]) - developed in 1996 by Mark Russinovich for Winternals / Sysinternals and also freeware, sold to Microsoft in 2006 ( Windows Sysinternals ) , todayoffered free of chargein the Sysinternals Suite
- Console programs under Unix and Unix-like operating systems (such as Linux): ps , kill and nice
- top with constant dynamic updating of the process display
- KSysguard or KDE System Monitor , a graphical system program under KDE
- System Activity for KDE 4
- KDE System Guard and KTop under KDE 3
- GNOME System Monitor under GNOME
- Xfce Task Manager for Xfce
- Activity ( Activity Monitor ) under macOS from 10.3 Panther
- Process Viewer
Cross-operating system
- GKrellM - BSD, Linux, Solaris, Mac OS X, Windows
See also
- Workflow management system : For controlling automated processes in process management
- Event handler : Executes individual parts of a computer program depending on the occurrence of certain system events (e.g. a mouse click ) and thereby controls their execution sequence.
Individual evidence
- ↑ International Business Machines Corporation (ed.): IBM operating system DOS version 5.0 . IBM DOS User Guide and Reference. 1st edition. IBM, 1991, The DOS Shell , p. 33/34 (English: IBM DOS User's Guide and Reference . Translated by Microsoft, IBM part number 84F9682).
- ↑ → en: Norton SystemWorks
- ↑ Symantec's New Norton Systemworks 2003 Delivers Web Optimization Tools and Enhanced Virus Protection (English) - Symantec , on September 3, 2002 (last backup in the Internet archive , on September 29, 2012.)
- ^ Process Explorer , technet.microsoft.com
- ↑ GKrellM project home page (English), on gkrellm.net