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5 stars
Version: Security Task Manager 1.7h
"Shows the LONG list of processes going on in your PC."
Pros: Shows ALL processes, running or dormant, loaded since bootup. Included Spy Protector allows blocking of spy monitoring of inputs (e.g.mouse, keyboard). Monitors startup list, allows blocking of automatic startup (at boot) of newly installed software.
Cons: Doesn't keep either setting (task tray icon list) blocking input device monitoring. Must reset each time Security Task Manager is launched. It is possible to shut down something necessary, crippling the PC now, or later after doing more damage.
Summary: This little tool can be a life saver (the life of your PC) when the PC picks up malware from the internet, like the self installing "security" program from an "antivirus" company in Latvia that infested my PC with a vengeance about two years ago. I tried to track it down for at least two weeks. It was the kind that would pop up with a warning EVERY 5 minutes! NONE of the anti-malware stuff that I had (including AT&T Security Suite) would touch it! Eventually, it crashed the system, and I had to rebuild the hard drive. I shopped around on the internet and tried a couple of other security programs. (I forget what they were called.) They didn't seem to protect and had problems of their own. Then I found Netcom3 (which was good at the beginning, but the update service wasn't any good) and Security Task Manager. Since I've been using these two, along with AT&T Security Suite (which updates every 3 hours, when it's connected), I've been able to keep the malware at bay. I have had several occasions (all with the same sort of self installing malware described before) in which the only way that I had of stopping it before it went too far (short of killing the power and possibly losing everything again) was to quarantine and delete it using Security Task Manager. (Once one becomes familiar with what is supposed to be in the Task Manager list, it is much easier to spot the offending process and stop it, permanently if need be.) It is also possible, with care, to shut down troublesome and resource eating processes in Windows. Care and great patience are necessary when doing this, because it is possible to cripple the system to the point of having to rebuild the hard drive. Using Security Task Manager, it is possible to experiment a little with shutting down some of these processes. When Security Task Manager stops and quarantines a process, it creates a "restore point", so that the process can be restored if the results are undesirable. (Some of the processes in Windows have names that make one think they're easily disposed of, but Microsoft has intertwined them so much with more necessary processes, that they are impossible to separate without great effort. Because of this, the system can easily be crippled by stopping the "unnecessary" processes. Other processes that really could be disposed of cannot, because of Windows' nasty habit of replacing those processes at reboot. I HATE it when my PC tells me, the administrator, what it will and what it will not do!)
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