How can I tell what's running on my machine?

When i open task manager the processes tab is just plane grey and does not show anything. Do you no what the problem is and how i could fix it?

Hmm unfortunately, I have the exact same problem, any fix ?

I have seen reference to it only as the result of a virus; SdBot. My advice: update the virus signatures and scan again. ALSO, I *only* saw reference to this from Sophos.com - I would hope the other virus folks have this one, but if not, perhaps Sohpos is worth a check. (I'd be interested in hearing the results.)

On my wife's Sony laptop (PCG-GRZ610) whenever I open task manager (Windows XP), by whatever methor, I get only a single unlabled pane (not even the blue label and red X at the top) with applications running, and no tabs to allow you to see processes running.

I've never seen this behavior on an XP machine.
Any ideas?

Thanx

This article might help: http://ask-leo.com/why_does_task_manager_suddenly_have_no_menu_or_tabs.html

I would like to find out how to interrogate the
list of 'programs running' from within a C or Basic program. This way I could determine, for example, whether PRFILE32.exe had already been launched or needed launching. This would not be a problem for programs that only allowed a single instance of themselves to be active.

Dear sir ,

I am facing a problem in slow opeartion of the system in WIN 2000 and its fast in WIN XP... i have deleted all temp files as well recycle bin,,,, can you help me out

how do i know what is supposed to be running on my computer

Hi Leo,

I have installed procexp form sysinternals and I use the Windows Task-Manager frequently. However I am a little unsure about what exactly are the several columns concerning memory for the processes telling.
How can I determine the overall memory that a process consumes? Do I have to add colums together?
In procexp there is a Virtual Size colum that seems not to correspond to any colum in taskmanager. It shows very large values. And the worst: Nowhere on the net could I find a detailed explanation for both programs.
Can you help?

Memory Management is so complex these days, there's no simple answer anymore to "how much memory is it using".

In process explorer I use "Working Set" as a measure of how much physical memory the process is currently using, and "Virtual Size" the total amount of memory that the process is using, both real and virtual.