The Windows Task Manager has always been an inconvenient and incomplete task manager for advanced users and network administrators. Advanced users need advanced and detailed monitoring and analysis of the processes and services running in Windows. The Power users have always preferred advanced third party task manager which can give them more details about the running system.
Yet Another Process Monitor (YAPM) is an advanced Windows Task Manager alternative with remote functionality. This task manager can completely replace Windows Task Manager in Windows XP, Windows 7 as well as Windows 8. As opposed to Windows Task Manager, YAPM is designed for power users and offers a very resourceful and informative interface.
When Yet Another Process Monitor is installed, you’ll get an option to replace it with the default Windows Task Manager. This option can also be reverted under Preferences if you wish to restore the default task manager.
YAPM interface uses the modern ribbon interface, making it easier for the users to select different options. The first tab in the ribbon is the Tasks tab which displays all the open tasks in Windows. This is equivalent to the default Windows Task Manager window.
To access more advanced option, you can go to the Processes tab. Processes tab gives a very detailed overview of each process running in the system (whether foreground or background). These processes are color coded. The only problem that I had with this view was that the processes were not grouped into a tree. Otherwise this interface gives almost every information needed by a power user.
If you want to go into more details of a single process, just double click the process and you’ll get a plethora of information regarding that process.
There are a few actions that can be performed on the selected process. You can kill, pause, resume, set affinity and priority of the process.
The Monitor tab is like the performance monitors feature in Windows Management. Now you can monitor the performance of each system process right within YAPM. There is no need to open another program for the purpose.
The Services tab lists down all the services which are registered in the system. If you select a service, the lower pane will give you more details about the service like the service name, common name, path, state, startup type and service type. It will also tell you the dependencies involved in running this particular service. Different actions that can be performed on the service are stop, start, pause, resume and change the startup type of the service. You can also delete the service which will remove it from the list and registry.
The Network tab gives details about all the network connections being made by this particular machine. It will list down the details about the connection like local and remote host names/ IP addresses along with the port numbers, the protocol being used, state of the connection and the process which is involved in maintaining the connection.
I feel one thing is missing here. YAPM should also show the total bandwidth being consumed by each connection and each process. For this purpose I have to use another utility otherwise I’m quite satisfied that I’m getting all the details that I need from a task manager.
Another missing feature is the configuration of startup items. It would be great if the publisher of the app could incorporate this feature in the software making it more complete and a strong candidate to replace Windows Task Manager and MSConfig utilities.
As a power user, do you prefer Windows Task Manager or a third party tool? What are your thoughts about Yet Another Process Monitor? Please share your opinion in the comments.
Yet Another Process Monitor
Usman is a technology enthusiast and loves tweaking Microsoft products. In addition to MakeTechEasier, he contributes regularly to iTechtics.com.
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