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www.snipca.com/33710 What you need: Windows 7, 8.1 or 10

MITEC Task Manager Deluxe 3

Task Manager Deluxe is similar to Windows’ built-in Task Manager, but provides much more detail and several extra tools. The main Processes tab lists the processes for all currently running programs, along with information such as the processor and memory usage for each. Right-clicking a process provides options, including terminate or restart (useful if a program has crashed and you can’t close it). If you find a process you don’t recognise, right-click it and select Google Search - this opens your browser and runs a search for the process name. To find out whether a program is potentially dangerous, right-click it and select the Virus Total option to see a full report on the program from the Virustotal website (while testing this, we found it occasionally returned a ‘Request rate limit exceeded’ error, which was only fixed by a restart).

If you can’t find the program you’re looking for in the Processes list, try using the Desktop Explorer tool instead (click the computer icon, top left). This displays information about whichever program window you’re currently hovering over with your mouse, including its process name and location on your hard drive.

As well as real-time information, Task Manager Deluxe provides a detailed breakdown of your computer’s hardware (click the System tab) and an event log showing Windows’ recent startup and shutdown times (click the down arrow next to the top-left Computer icon, then select Machine Journal).

Version 3 adds extra features including a real-time indicator of your processor’s speed; a Sampling tool that lets you save a resource-usage log to a CSV file (press F9, then click the Sampling tab); and a dark mode, reducing eye strain in low light (press F9, then click the Visual tab and tick ‘Dark mode’).

1 Click the computer icon to open the Desktop Explorer window, then hover your mouse over the window of the program you want to see details for. 2 The Performance tab includes a new indicator that shows your processor’s speed (CPU Clock), along with indicators for current processor usage (CPU Usage) and graphicscard usage (GPU). 3 The CPU tab within the Performance tab shows the 10 programs that are placing most strain on your processor (double-click any of these to get more information on them). 4 The Machine Journal window provides a detailed log for your computer, including unexpected shutdowns caused by, for example, your battery running out or Windows crashing.