The User Interface
WinTasks
5.0 Professional is the ultimate power utility software that
arms users with a comprehensive set of tools to put them in
full control of their computer.
The WinTasks
User InterfaceThe WinTasks User Interface
may admittedly seem complex and daunting, at first. However,
with a little perseverance, you will soon be able to learn the
product inside-out!
The interface is divided into 5 sections as
follows:
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The Interface
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The
Menu Bar groups the features and functions under
five headings or submenus: File, Edit, View, Settings and Help.
Access to these menus and submenus is according to the usual
Windows convention - point your mouse towards the desired menu
heading, click and a drop down list appears with the options
available to you:
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File->Start: In the work
area (see below) highlight a particular process that has been
previously stopped. Click the File menu on the menu bar and
select Start (shortcut Ctrl+S) to start the process.
File->Exit: This allows
you to exit WinTasks Pro.
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Edit: This menu contains
immediate basic commands for each or all processes. You may
Stop processes, and increase or decrease their priority for
system resource allocation.
View: This menu allows you
to view the various pop-up windows available within WinTasks.
In the screenshot above, you may view the:
- "Autostart" window
that lists all the processes that start automatically upon
boot up.
- "Block List" or a
list of processes that you may have blocked for various reasons.
- "Process Library"
or a pop-up window that provides you more information on the
particular process that you have highlighted. This information
is also show in the process description window (see below).
- "Info" which toggles
the process description window (see below).
- "Windows", an advanced
tool that allows you to view all the windows (visible or invisible)
opened by the various processes running on your computer.
As shall be seen later in the Advanced Users Section, this
tool is extremely important in learning about the malware
that may be running invisible within the recesses of your
computer.
- "DLLs" - A DLL or
dynamic link library is, simply put, a collection of small
software programs any of which are called up by a larger program
(e.g., Microsoft Word) that is running on your computer. The
components of DLLs have several functions including calling
up a specific device such as a printer or a CD or DVD player
to perform a specific operation such as printing or playing
music or a movie. DLL files that support specific device operation
are known as device drivers. The DLLs window in WinTasks allows
you to view all the DLLs related to all the processes running
on your computer. Again, as shall be seen later in the Advanced
Users Section, this tool is extremely important in learning
about the malware that may be running invisible within the
recesses of your computer.
- "Statistics" window
shows you the memory and CPU usage patterns of each of your
processes - this is an excellent tool for predicting whether
a particular process may cause your computer to crash over
extended use (without rebooting).
- "Scripting" window
allows you to create new functions and automate the handling
of processes and resources. This is an advanced tool and will
be explained in greater detail in the Advanced Users Section.
- "Logging": WinTasks
automatically logs information about all the processes that
are started and stopped.
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Settings: This menu to enable
certain requirements including:
- Asking you for a confirmation before WinTasks
terminates a process.
- Loading WinTasks at startup to allow loading
preset resource allocation and process start up configurations
(this will be tackled in the Advanced USers Section).
- Updating statistics and running scripts in
the background
- Logging process information to a file.
The various functions and features
will be explained in the Basic Tools and Advanced Users Sections.
These same
functions and features are also available as buttons in the
Tool Bar:
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The
Work Area shows all the processes that are running
within your computer.
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Scrolling left or right reveals
more columns that provide such information as process name,
related process executable and path (i.e., location of the file),
priority arbitrarily awarded by Windows for system resources,
threads (associated sub-processes), CPU and Memory usage, and
time started.
WinTasks 5 lists all processes
running on your computer, including invisible background processes
like spyware. Since WinTasks also assigns more user-friendly
names to each process, such as Internet Explorer instead of
iexplore.exe, as well as the full executable path, finding and
terminating spyware processes is relatively easy.
The
Process Description within
the Information Window is seen below:
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The
Status Bar below the information window shows
the number of processes running, and CPU and Memory Usage.
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