Process Monitor

Everything running on your computer uses some amount of resources, and these can add up on the long run, with you feeling performance drops. Most applications tend to use the processor, and you can use specialized programs like Process Monitor to keep an eye on particular tasks so you don’t run into any performance issues.

Select one or more process to monitor

Upon launch, the window shows up enlisting all running processes on your computer. This is done in one section of the window, while the other is a list of processes you want to monitor, as well as some related monitor settings, alert options, and more. The list is refreshed every second so you have accurate reading of CPU usage.
Sadly, you’re not able to filter processes, even though column headers show name, ID, and CPU usage. Moreover, there’s no built-in option to filter, or exclude system processes. However, processes are not affected by the monitoring activity, so even if you add system processes to the target list, they remain intact and run under normal parameters.

Set up email and network alerts

There’s the possibility to pause auto refresh for better performance, with the possibility to manually refresh the list at the press of a button. Adding a process to the list of monitored ones is easily done through a double-click operation. These remain on the list even when closing the program, and you can even send the window to the tray area for background monitoring.
There are several instances where the application comes in handy. If some tasks take a lot of time to finish, you can set up an alert system to receive an email, or send a message to a network computer whenever processor usage drops to zero for one or more items on the list, just so you know a particular task is done.

On an ending note

Bottom line is that you might leave some applications running to perform specific tasks, and every running programs uses some amount of CPU. As such, Process Monitor can keep an eye on a selection of processes, and send notifications whenever related CPU usage reaches zero, thus deserving a try overall.