can you tell me what you think of this, please?

i found this beta freeware program, Process Tamer. if it works correctly do you think i should use it? i sometimes have this happen - a program will hog the CPU. i can't work out if this program is a good or bad idea. thanks

http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/Process_Tamer/1111857421/1

 

Hi iceni60,

The webpage says:
When it sees a process that is overloading your CPU, it reduces the priority of that process temporarily until the usage returns to a reasonable level.

The question I have is what is the definition of overload and what control does a user have over it?

In concept, it is fair when applied only to a "runaway" process, but what identifies a runaway - when it does not give up CPU for other programs to execute thus circumventing the normal OS scheduling of processes according to their priority. If it is easy to use for changing process priority - that's a plus.

In addition, what happens when you are running one or more AV scans on a schedule and the CPU is going to hit 50% or greater with at least one of those scans?

Ok, so looking at the new features:
Latest Changes:

* Totally new configuration gui with easy exclusions
* Mini task manager with fast manual priority changing
* Summary of taming now in tray tooltip
* Customizable balloon options (disable if you like)
* Customize double-click action (add 3rd party tool)
* Optional logging function
* Glowing icon when processes are being tamed
* Startup-with-windows options
* Accurate cpu usage metrics on multiprocessor systems
* Restores performance counters on exit
* New cpu eating test program included
* Faster startup
* Fixed resource leak
* More efficient calculation of performance metrics
* Better gui display on 120dpi (large font) screens

I would say even by my criteria listed above, its worth a try to drive it around the block to form your own opinion of it, especially since you occasionally have a process hog the CPU - but, do try the other program as it is also freeware, i.e. Process Lasso in order to compare it against another like program - then you will have a better idea of what you prefer.

-- Tom

 

thanks, Tom. i just had it happen a minute ago. i was watching the latest episode of commandN in Media Player Classic, and it started to hog CPU when i paused it, then rewound it, to get an email address. so, that will be the perfect thing to try it out on. i'll have to make a note of it, as i'm going away for awhile in an hour or so. i wish i had a laptop

 

I've been using ProcessTamer for some time now, and it's great. It's saved countless hours of frustration. If something starts to hang, you can still easily bring up your task manager and kill it. I tried Process Lasso as well, but didn't like it as much.. it didn't work quite as well "out of the box", and it took up more resources (if I remember correctly). ProcessTamer is definitely one of my most highly recommended programs, and I've not had a single problem with it.