System Monitoring

ServersCheck Monitoring Free Edition is a tool for monitoring, reporting and alerting on network and systems availability. The standard version can be used for free with up to 15 devices, which is probably more than adequate for personal use. It can monitor any TCP Port (HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, NNTP, POP3, SMTP, VNC, DNS, etc.), check ODBC, Oracle, MySQL databases, trap SNMP values (disk space, free memory, CPU usage,...), verify content served from a web server and check NT services and process availability. In addition, it also can monitor environmental devices like temperature, humidity, flooding. Alerting can be done via email, MSN or network message. ServersCheck Monitoring runs as a local service and is administrated through a browser interface by connecting to the built-in web server. Additional features include alerts and graph output for long-term statistics tracking.

Process Lasso automatically adjust the allocation of CPU cycles in order to prevent system slow downs or lock-ups due to excess CPU usage. The program monitors your system and temporarily lowers the priority of any processes that are consuming too many CPU cycles, thereby preventing it from stalling the system. You can customize the threshold settings and also exclude processes from being restraint. Process Lasso can also prioritize (boost) processes that run in the foreground and automatically terminate applications if they are started (based on a user-defined block list). Other features include manual setting of priorities, real-time resource usage graph and tray icon, editing of default process priorities and more.

Process Explorer shows you information about which handles and DLLs processes have opened or loaded. The Process Explorer display consists of two sub-windows. The top always shows a list of the currently active processes, including the names of their owning accounts, whereas the information displayed in the bottom window depends on the mode that Process Explorer is in: if it is in handle mode youll see the handles that the process selected in the top window has opened; if Process Explorer is in DLL mode youll see the DLLs and memory-mapped files that the process has loaded. Process Explorer also has a powerful search capability that will quickly show you which processes have particular handles opened or DLLs loaded.

Systemometer is a unique system monitor, that displays system resource usage as a screensaver or display window. It uses the Windows performance counters and allows you to add any counter that is available on your system. The program can be used on the local computer and also gather statistics from remote machines. The interface displays the values of monitored parameters connecting all the measured points in one polygon - a display style that we found a little confusing and hard to read.

MJ Registry Watcher monitors your system for changes to any of the common startup folders and startup related registry keys, as well as many hidden startup methods and any other file(s) you want to monitor for changes. It offers several security presets, ranging from light to highest security, depending on your personal preference and level of technical expertise. Whenever a monitored file or key is modified, the program will prompt you to confirm the changes, you can also choose to automatically reject any modifications. The program includes features to backup selected items, search the list by keyword and advanced users can also exclude certain files, values or keys from being monitored. New features include emailing of alerts and manual quarantining of files and directories.

Hexagora Performance Monitor is a small system monitor that can be placed on the desktop and/or in the system tray. It displays the current CPU, Memory, Disk and Network utilization with the help of animated graphs. The program is very customizable and lets you choose which panels to display, what colors to use, and which statistics to show on the desktop or in the tray (or both). The statistics panels come in two sizes and can be placed anywhere on the desktop.

SpeedFan is a hardware monitoring tool, that is able to automatically adjust fan speeds according to your current system temperature. In addition, the program can read S.M.A.R.T values from your disk, DIMM info from your RAM and allows you to change the FSB speed (advanced users only). SpeedFan runs as a tray icon, that displays the current system temperature.

EventSentry Light enables system administrators to have eventlog messages sent by email. The free version allows you to specify one filter criteria, to limit notification to selected (or all) events, based on EventID, category and keywords. You have the choice of text or HTML emails, set time and day restrictions and more. An excellent tool for EventLog monitoring, the free version will do great for most small networks.

DTaskManager is a stand-alone Task Manager that adds additional functionality to the standard Windows Task Manager. It provides different ways to terminate processes, and you can also trim RAM usage, batch set priorities, temporarily suspend processes, monitor port activity, hide windows and more. The interface is very similar to the Windows version, and can optionally be configured to replace it.

KillProcess allows you to terminate just about any process or service that is running on your computer. You can either select it from a list and terminate it manually, or create kill lists that contain multiple process names, and even have the program terminate a process on sight whenever it is started. In addition to terminating processes, you can also review detailed process information, launch a Google search, show/hide windows and set process priority. KillProcess provides an efficient interface and various settings to customize the behavior, including some optional sound effects.

Filemon monitors and displays file system activity on a system in real-time. Its advanced capabilities make it a powerful tool for exploring the way Windows works, seeing how applications use the files and DLLs, or tracking down problems in system or application file configurations. Filemon`s time stamping feature will show you precisely when every open, read, write or delete, happens, and its status column tells you the outcome. Filemon begins monitoring when you start it, and its output window can be saved to a file for off-line viewing. It has full search capability, and if you find that you re getting information overload, simply set up one or more filters.

pcBaseline enables you to monitor and track changes made to vital areas of your computer, including registry changes, Browser Objects, Program Files, Shared DLLs, Running Processes and more. The program works by creating an initial baseline snapshot of your current configuration, and then allows you to compare future configurations to the selected baseline (you can keep more than one). A report will then show you which items have been added or removed since the selected baseline. pcBaseline does not run continuously, therefore does not take up any system resources - it can be used on a as-needed basis. The program includes presets for the most important system areas, and you can also add your own items to be monitored, allowing you to track changes in folders or registry keys of your choice. The generated reports are easy to read and include context sensitive web reference links, they can also be exported to text, HTML and XML format. The program requires a free registration after 30 days.

Tiny Watcher monitors sensitive areas of Windows system and allows you to spot newly added programs and other files types (customizable), as well as added registry entries. It performs an initial scan of your system to generate a list of current items, and then notified you whenever a new item is found. Tiny Watcher does not identify an item as good or bad, however enables you to investigate each via Windows Explorer, Regedit, or web search engine lookup.

Sentinel will scan your computer for all loaded applications, and comes with an advanced Integrity Checker that will validate your system files, using an CRC32 algorythim. If any file is even slightly modified, Sentinel will notify you. In addition, Sentinel comes with an AppWatch feature, that shows you hidden Windows and RegWatch, which shows you the programs that are starting "behind your back" whenever you start Windows. You can choose to delete selected key or scan them with your virus scanner. Sentinel integrates with any virus scanner that supports commandline arguments.

Monidir 2000 allows you to monitor folders, and be alerted when files are changed, deleted or added. You can be notified via popup window, alert sound or email message. The program can monitor up to 20 folders, including network folders.

Rainmeter is a small desktop gadget that allows you to monitor vital system information. It displays current memory usage, disk usage and utilization, network traffic, uptime and other details. The program offers 3 different interfaces, including a text based display, as well as 2 gadget style interfaces.

Motherboard Monitor (MBM) is a very detailed and powerful system monitoring utility that should enlighten the heart of any computer geek. It can monitor fan speeds, temperatures, voltages and more. In addition, it provides detailed system information about you chip and memory. It also includes an alarm features that can send e-mail alerts, initiate an FTP transfer or even send a pager message if conditions exceed the user defined condition.

Winsonar is a process monitor that allows you to monitor which applications and background processes are currently running on your system. It detects new processes that install into memory and can alert you of such actions. The program divides the running processes into safe and suspects, allowing you to further investigate the new addition of processes or add the to a SafeList, so they will not trigger an alert in the future. The program can also scan your hard disk for files that are referring to a selected process.

HealthMonitor runs as a Windows service and monitors the health of the system. If problems arise, it can notify the administrator via email. The program monitors hard drive space, CPU usage, memory, Windows services and the event log and offers customizable settings for each check. The event log feature is especially useful, as it provides filter options that allow you to be notified when specific events occur (by category eventid etc.), unfortunately this feature is not (yet) documented at all and it is unclear how the filters can be used. Open Source.

PC Inspector fsguard is a tool to independently monitor Windows services and directories changes. It runs in the background (as a service) and sends an email notification to one or more recipients as soon as a monitored service is stopped or crashes. In addition to the email notification, it can optionally also restart the service. PC Inspector fsguard can also monitor any number of user defined directories and inform you by e-mail if the contents of a folder has changed or when the directory exceeds a specified size.

FingerPrint allows you to monitor whether files in monitored directories have been created, deleted, or changed since the last scan. When you first run the software it performs an initial scan of the specified directories and indexes all files with checksums, so that even the slightest change can be detected in subsequent scans. It can automatically save the results of the scan, and then use it as a base for the next scan. The results are presented in a simple, easy to read overview.

WinBar is a compact program that lets you monitor your system and provides easy access to frequently used controls. It runs as a toolbar along the top of your screen and provides miniature graphs about CPU usage, memory usage, disk space and more. The program offers a variety of modules you can choose from - you can add time synchronization, email checking, screen resolution, system uptime, an alarm clock, network information and several other useful gadgets while conserving screen space and only activating the statistics you re interested in. The toolbar can also be hidden and quickly accesses when needed. WinBar also includes a tiny WinAmp control, a volume control, a launchbar to start your favorite apps as well as a small news ticker. Very handy!

Glint reveals system activity by changing indicators brightness according to the values of corresponding system performance counters. Recent values can be also shown as graphs or by displaying their actual values. Glint also displays the most active processes in descending CPU activity order. The program can be customized in every aspect - you can choose from a full display or a minibar that floats anywhere on your screen. You can select the counters to include, customize the look and much more. If you want, you can display up to 100 counters simultaneously in several rows. A very flexible and nice looking system monitoring utility that uses Windows NT/2000/XP built in performance counters, therefore will not work on 9x or ME.

Syslog is a small tool that keeps track of any changes that occur in your Windows/System directory. Upon first run, it creates a database, using the current content of the directory. The next time you run it, it will compare the database to the current content and show you which files have been added or removed.