Raymond.CC Blog

Checking the computer’s running process is the first thing that I’ll do whenever the computer has slowdown problems or infected by spyware/virus. From the task manager, I am able to see which process is hogging the CPU and memory usage that is causing the lag and slowdown. As for malwares, only a well coded spyware that uses rootkit techniques or injection methods will hide its process in task manager. Luckily not many malwares is using rootkit method to hide itself, so identifying malwares from task manager works most of the time.

I do not count on the built-in Windows Task Manager because it is very basic and lacks of many good and advanced features. Having a good task manager such as Process Explorer or AnVir Task Manager on a local computer is a must to analyze the running processes. However, what if you have a few computers to manage? Instead of jumping from one computer to another to check if they are running any illegal software or whether their computer is infected by virus, here is a task manager software that allows you to “remotely” access other computer’s running processes without installing any software on the remote computer.


With Remote Process Explorer, you will be able to not only get the list of processes but also manage them. You can kill a process, run a new one or change the priority of a process on a local or remote computer. To do it, you do not have to install additional software on a remote computer because the program uses the built-in functions of the operating system. Remote Process Explorer will show you complete information about each running process, when and by whom this process was run, the path to its executable file, how much memory and CPU it uses. You can get all information available in Task Manager not only for your computer, but also for a remote one.

Remote Process Explorer has tools for managing a remote computer built into it. You can switch off a remote computer, restart it or send a message to it. You can also use the standard tools for administering a computer: Remote desktop, Computer management, Event viewer, etc

Before writing about this tool and sharing it with you, of course I’ve done my homework by testing it on my computer first. Both my desktop and laptop are running Windows XP Professional and I couldn’t get it to work. I can view local running processes by not on remote computer. The error message I got was “Could not connect to the remote PC. Error: The RPC server is unavailable“. Sent an email to the developer pf Remote Process Explorer but did not receive any reply. So I had to figure out how to get it to work. I remembered IntelliAdmin had some similar tools that can remotely enable/disable USD drives so I sent him an email for a solution.

After 3 days, Steve from IntelliAdmin kindly replied my emailing informing me that there are 3 requirements that must be met in order for tools like these to work in a local area network workgroup. Do take note that if you have Windows XP Home edition, then none of the below matters since Microsoft has crippled it; so it is not possible for tools like these to work.

1. Make sure the administrator account has a password. Blank password will NOT work.
Go to Control Panel > User Accounts > Create a password for the admin user.
2. Make sure simple file sharing is disabled.
- Go to Control Panel > Folder Options > View tab > Scroll right to the bottom at Advanced Settings > Uncheck Use simple file sharing.
3. Make sure file and printer sharing exception is allowed in the firewall or simply turn off the Windows Firewall.
- Go to Start > Run > type netsh firewall set service type = FILEANDPRINT mode = ENABLE and click OK.

Remote Process Explorer cost $75 for standard license but is free for non-commercial use. To get your free registration code, visit this page, enter your full name, e-mail address, address, city, zip, country and click the Submit button. I believe the Remote Process Explorer registration code is manually generated and sent to you by their staff because I did not the code immediately. Had to wait nearly 2 days for the code to arrive my mailbox. Once you get the code, you can enter it in Help > Enter Registration Code.

Remote Process Explorer runs on Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista.

[ Download Remote Process Explorer ]