ProcessKO (64-bit)

CNET Editors' review

by: CNET staff on August 14, 2012

Most Windows users will probably agree that it's frustrating when you can't close a malfunctioning application or process, even with the Task Manager. ProcessKO from Nenad Hrg is a free tool that can terminate nearly any running process or app, forcibly if necessary. Because it's often the same culprit that causes trouble, you can create Favorite KOs to target specific processes quickly. ProcessKO is for experienced users like developers and admins. It's easy to use, even for beginners, but that's the problem: if you're not sure what you're doing, you can kill the wrong process as quick as clicking. In expert hands, ProcessKO can end hanging processes without crashing other programs or your system. It's available in specific downloads for 32-bit and 64-bit Windows; we tried the 64-bit version in Windows 7.

ProcessKO is portable freeware, so we saved it to a folder, right-clicked the executable, and opened the program with Administrator privileges. ProcessKO's title bar notes whether the program is running with or without Admin rights; we tried both successfully but recommend running it as an Administrator. ProcessKO has a very small but efficient interface, with a series of drop-down menus to handle all tasks, starting with a Help menu with some basic options like always-on-top. The Favorites menu had Add and Remove commands as well as an option to add favorites from a file. Under the InstantKO menu, the program displayed all running processes and programs, including explorer.exe. Clicking anything in this list automatically terminates it, but not before you've checked a box on the interface specifying "I am an expert and I know what I'm doing!" Obviously, you'd better be right in your answer! The program can also terminate processes with its Timer feature. On the bottom edge are an Exit button and System menu that let us quickly shut down, restart, log off, and execute other system state commands in Aggressive or Normal mode.

Developer Nenad Hrg states that ProcessKO is for experienced users, not newbies. But even novices can use it to end a hanging process, when all else fails. Just be sure you KO the right one!