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Process Explorer VS Event Viewer

Compare Process Explorer VS Event Viewer and see what are their differences

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Contents:
  1. ยป Base Details
  2. ยป Videos
  3. ยป Reviews
  4. ยป Alternatives

Process Explorer logo Process Explorer

The top window always shows a list of the currently active processes, including the names of their owning accounts, whereas the information displayed in the bottom window depends on the mode that Process Explorer is in: if it is in handle mode you'lโ€ฆ

Event Viewer logo Event Viewer

Get help, support, and tutorials for Windows productsโ€”Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 7, and Windows 10 Mobile.
  • Process Explorer Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-21
  • Event Viewer Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-16

Process Explorer features and specs

  • Detailed System Information
    Process Explorer provides in-depth information about system processes, including detailed CPU and memory usage stats.
  • Hierarchical View
    It shows processes in a tree structure, making it easy to understand parent-child relationships between processes.
  • Advanced Diagnostic Capabilities
    The tool offers advanced features like DLL and handle viewing, allowing detailed investigation of system issues.
  • Real-Time Monitoring
    It allows real-time monitoring of system performance, including CPU, GPU, and I/O activity, which is critical for diagnosing performance bottlenecks.
  • Integration with VirusTotal
    Process Explorer can integrate with VirusTotal to check the safety of running processes, adding an extra layer of security.
  • Free to Use
    Process Explorer is part of the Sysinternals suite, which is freely available for use, making it accessible for both individual users and organizations.

Possible disadvantages of Process Explorer

  • Complexity
    The extensive features and detailed information can be overwhelming for novice users who may find the interface complex to navigate.
  • Resource Intensive
    While generally lightweight, the comprehensive monitoring features can consume a noticeable amount of system resources, which might affect performance on older or less powerful systems.
  • Windows Only
    Process Explorer is designed specifically for Windows operating systems, limiting its use for those who work in cross-platform environments.
  • No Built-In Reporting
    The tool does not offer built-in reporting capabilities, requiring users to manually capture and document information.
  • Steep Learning Curve
    Due to its advanced features and detailed information, new users might face a steep learning curve before being able to fully utilize all its capabilities.
  • Limited Documentation
    While there are some resources available, the documentation can be sparse, making it difficult for users to find solutions to specific problems.

Event Viewer features and specs

  • Comprehensive Logging
    Event Viewer provides detailed logs of system, security, and application events, enabling users to diagnose and troubleshoot issues effectively.
  • Centralized Management
    All logs are centralized in one tool, making it easy to access and manage different types of system events without switching between multiple applications.
  • Real-Time Monitoring
    Event Viewer supports real-time monitoring of events, allowing administrators to respond quickly to issues as they occur.
  • Search and Filtering
    The tool includes robust search and filtering capabilities, making it easy to find specific events or types of events among potentially large datasets.
  • Custom Views
    Users can create custom views to display specific types of events or logs, enhancing the ability to focus on relevant information.

Possible disadvantages of Event Viewer

  • Complexity
    The user interface and the amount of information displayed can be overwhelming for users who are not familiar with the tool, making it difficult to interpret the logged data.
  • Performance Impact
    Continuous logging and monitoring can consume system resources, potentially impacting overall system performance, especially in resource-constrained environments.
  • Limited Analysis Capabilities
    While Event Viewer is good for viewing logs, its analysis capabilities are limited, often requiring additional tools or expertise to fully diagnose complex issues.
  • Manual Effort
    Analyzing and managing logs in Event Viewer can be labor-intensive and may require manual effort to correlate events and identify patterns or root causes.
  • No Built-in Alerting
    Event Viewer does not have built-in alerting functionality, requiring integration with additional software or scripts to trigger alerts based on specific event conditions.

Analysis of Process Explorer

Overall verdict

  • Yes, Process Explorer is generally regarded as a good and reliable tool by both system administrators and other IT professionals. It is frequently recommended for its depth of features, ease of use, and the detailed process information it provides.

Why this product is good

  • Process Explorer is considered a valuable tool because it offers comprehensive insights into system processes, threads, and resource usage. It provides detailed information about which files and directories individual processes have open, the DLLs they have loaded, and more. Its ability to offer real-time data and powerful searching capabilities makes it invaluable for troubleshooting and performance monitoring.

Recommended for

  • System administrators
  • IT professionals
  • Software developers
  • Anyone interested in detailed system diagnostics
  • Users troubleshooting application issues

Process Explorer videos

+ Add

Sysinternals Process Explorer Review + download link and method

More videos:

  • Review - Scan for Malware Using Process Explorer and Virus Total
  • Review - What Is?: Process Explorer?

Event Viewer videos

+ Add

Event Viewer & Windows Logs

More videos:

  • Tutorial - How to Use the Windows Event Viewer
  • Tutorial - How to use Event Viewer to fix your Windows 10 computer

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Process Explorer and Event Viewer)

Process Explorer

Event Viewer

Monitoring Tools
81 81%
Monitoring Tools
19% 19
File Manager
0 0%
File Manager
100% 100
Command Line Tools
100 100%
Command Line Tools
0% 0
Performance Monitoring
100 100%
Performance Monitoring
0% 0

User comments

Share your experience with using Process Explorer and Event Viewer. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Process Explorer seems to be a lot more popular than Event Viewer. While we know about 289 links to Process Explorer, we've tracked only 2 mentions of Event Viewer. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Process Explorer mentions (289)

  • Stats โ€“ macOS system monitor in your menu bar
    Unclear what you mean by programmable, but https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/process-explorer is the bee's knees and you can set an option to have it take over taskmon.exe, launch on login, and put as many of the widgets in the taskbar as you fancy. I love it I've heard about running them directly from SMB but have never been the kind of person to try out such a stunt... - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • Ask HN: What tools do you recommend for working on Windows?
    Always put all your portable programs in the "A:\MyPC\Programs\" folder. Always put all your documents in the "A:\MyPC\Documents\" folder. Put driver files and runtime libraries in the "A:\MyPC\Install\" folder. For all three, feel free to create subfolders as needed, either per topic, per group, or however your brain envisions data trees. You can find plenty of portable windows software in the links provided... - Source: Hacker News / about 2 years ago
  • Hidden dependencies in Linux binaries.
    On windows, this is Dependency Walker versus ProcExp. Similar eye-goggling results. https://www.dependencywalker.com/ https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/process-explorer. - Source: Hacker News / over 2 years ago
  • Windows Explorer and Desktop Window Manager high RAM usage
    If you run Process Explorer (https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/process-explorer) and enable process tree view, you can see what processes are running under explorer.exe. That should give you a better idea of what's consuming that memory if you're genuinely concerned about this. Source: over 2 years ago
  • Roblox doesn't launch for months on PC
    If you have any suspicious processes running onto your computer, close them IMMEDIATELY. I suggest using Process Explorer, as it has a Virustotal which submits all Executables to virustotal under 70+ antiviruses. If any of the processes have 3+ detections, Close them down as anticheats will detect it and stop you from running Roblox. Source: over 2 years ago
View more

Event Viewer mentions (2)

  • How do I learn Windows from the ground up? My abilities stop at copy and paste, and new folder. How do I learn creating file paths, and anything else?
    You may start from here: Windows help & learning (microsoft.com). Source: about 3 years ago
  • I think my PC thinks it is supposed to be a remote desktop
    The link in the picture does nothing. It takes me to the front page for Microsoft Windows. Source: over 3 years ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Process Explorer and Event Viewer, you can also consider the following products

Process Monitor - Monitor file system, Registry, process, thread and DLL activity in real-time.

Double Commander - Double Commander is a cross-platform open source file manager with two panels side by side.

htop - htop - an interactive process viewer for Unix. This is htop, an interactive process viewer for Unix systems. It is a text-mode application (for console or X terminals) and requires ncurses. Latest release: htop 2.

Qalculate! - Qalculate! is a multiplatform multi-purpose desktop calculator.

Autoruns - See what programs are configured to startup automatically when your system boots and you login.

Total Commander - A Shareware file manager for Windowsยฎ 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP/Vista/7, and Windowsยฎ 3.1.

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