Process Manager: A Tiny Portable Application to Detect Hidden Processes

Today I will write about a small portable software called Process Manager. This software has been developed by Subin Ninan, the same person who has developed Computer Hash that I reviewed few days back. The software can Manage Processes, Auto-Start Entries, Critical System Settings and Detect Hidden Processes.

Feature

• The software comes as a small zip archive (92 Kb) containing the standalone or portable executable ProcessManager.exe (180 Kb). The software is not digitally signed.
• The main window allows you to manage running processes. The window can be resized.

Main GUI

• You can either pause a process or end it by PID or by Name. It shows an warning if you choose to turn off any process.

Terminating a Process

Warning while closing a Process

• The lower part of the main window shows different properties of the highlighted process: its description, attributes, company, file version, MD5 and launch time. Priority of the process can be adjusted within High, Above Normal, Normal, Below Normal and Idle. You will also be able to see its properties and Google it with the reference of its file name and MD5.

Managing Processes

• You can start a new process after setting its Process Priority and Window State.

Starting a new Process/Task

• It also has a Startup Manager. The startup entries can only be deleted but not disabled. The window is not resizable.

Startup Manager GUI

• You can also add any desired executable to startup.

Adding a new Startup

• Process Manager can scan for changes in Critical System Settings and can fix any errors found. It does not show the error information in detail. I would suggest making a system restore point before proceeding for any fix.

Managing Critical System Settings

• Following system settings can be checked.

Supported Critical System Settings

• You can replace the default task manage with Process Manager.
• There is an option to Turn off, Restart, Log Off, Standby, Hibernate your PC using the software.
• The software has an option to scan a folder for an executable that is running in memory. This helps to find process created by a worm that has a tendency to copy to each directory (e.g. Sohanad, Brontok worm).

Scanning for similar files

• The software can detect hidden processes and mark it in "Red".

• No system requirement is mentioned. But according to the Softpedia page, it supports Windows XP to Windows 7. Both 32bit and 64 bit are supported. .Net Framework 2.0 is required.
• Very light on resources.

My Verdict
At present the software is very basic as a task manager. In fact its main task is different. It will be a very useful tool when your computer is infected, because it can detect hidden processes [a trick commonly employed by malwares] and can scan directories for files similar to the one running in memory [a feature useful to delete payloads formed by worm infection]. Following features if incorporated can make the software a competitive choice even as a task manager.

1. List running services, drivers and DLLs.
2. Give an option to restart running processes after proper warning.
3. Let users sort the processes by clicking on the columns.
4. Show CPU usage, I/O usage of processes.
5. Make Startup Manager window resizable.
6. Let users disable and enable Startup Manager entries.
7. Let users to manage window state of new startup entries.
8. Let users upload and scan processes with multiple scanners online. For that to accomplish incorporate Virustotal Uploader into the software.
9. Either automatically or ask the users to create a ‘System Restore Point’ before restoring system settings.
10. Include a help file.
11. Give some description on the software (features, screenshots and system requirements) in the homepage and if possible make a separate page for it.

I have got confirmation from the developer that many of the above mentioned features may be included in the coming version.

Download
Download the software from Product Homepage
or, use the link
http://goo.gl/iPky1
Or,
Download it from Softpedia
http://www.softpedia.com/progDownload/Subin-Process-Manager-Download-168720.html