The Task Killer In Windows XP!

Discussion in 'Reviews & Articles' started by Dashken, Feb 28, 2006.

  1. Dashken

    Dashken Administrator!

    Unknown to most users, there is a task killer lurking in Windows XP. Join us on this mini-guide as Dashken tells you all about this hidden killer and why it can be a very powerful tool for those who know its secrets!

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    Link : The Task Killer In Windows XP!
     
    Last edited: May 28, 2008
  2. slash

    slash Newbie

    hmm.. doesnt seem to work for me
    i created my own, ran it, cpu usage went up to 100%, none of the processes was killed.
    downloaded the zip, copy n paste over, same thing
     
  3. Dashken

    Dashken Administrator!

    What processes were you trying to kill? I'm supposed you are on Windows XP?
     
  4. nekked

    nekked Newbie

    didnt work for me either, did exactly what was described in acrticle, was trying to kill firefox.exe

    all it does is pop up a command prompt that sits there and does nothing............sweet

    did the author try to see if this even worked?
     
  5. NaRyanUk

    NaRyanUk Newbie

    Trying it as described on website did not work, nor did the bat file.
    However if I typed it in as

    C:\WINDOWS\system32\taskkill /im appname.exe /f
    instead of
    taskkill /im appname.exe /f
    it worked fine.

    So give that a try.
    just replace the c:\windows bit if you have windows installed to a different drive or directory.
     
  6. peaz

    peaz ARP Webmaster Staff Member

    sometimes, taskkill cannot force kill a running process. For this case I usually use another utility called pskill.exe. You can get it here. http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/PsKill.html just use this instead of the taskkill utility.

    The batch file concept still works with this utility of course.

    Oh, one more tip, maybe you can try to use the process name instead of PID. that's because PIDs aren't always the same ID everytime a process runs.

    Lastly, PSkill supports wildcards like * and ? for the process name :)

    Good luck and have fun!
     
  7. Dashken

    Dashken Administrator!

    LOL! Of course I did try it when I wrote that article. :D

    Just tried on firefox with the below commands..

    Works fine. My firefox just disappeared. But it's not recommended for firefox coz when you forcefully close it, it will assume it has crashed. So, when you start it the next time, it will ask you whether you want to restore the crashed session. :shifty:

    I used to use Pskill but I forgot why I stopped. Hmm... :p

    If taskkill doesn't work, can try with the full path name C:\WINDOWS\system32\taskkill as mentioned by NaRyanUk. :)

    Edited: Downloaded and unzipped pskill and my McAfee detected it as "potentially unwanted application" but after exclude it from McAfee's scan, it runs fine as well. :)

    Maybe I should edit the article with the full path of taskkill and also maybe add in Pskill. :think:
     
    Last edited: Mar 1, 2006
  8. uncle.fester

    uncle.fester Newbie

    my filters aren't the same

    when I tried to use the HOSTNAME filter to shutdown my DVR box, I got an error stating "the search filter cannot be recognized".

    I then did the /? for help, and I have a different list of filter options than what is shown in the guide. I have a "MODULES" filter, which references DLL's, and I do NOT have the HOSTNAME filter.

    Any ideas? :wall:

    btw, I AM running WinXP Pro, with SP2 (version 5.1.2600 according to the command line)
     
  9. Dashken

    Dashken Administrator!

    Seems like I got the same commands as well on my SP2. Have to confirm whether this Microsoft documentation is from SP1 when I get home later. Sorry for all the inconvenience. :mrgreen:

    So far, I've only managed to get taskkill work on my pc/laptop but not a remote pc. Anyone who can, appreciate if you can share your experience. :D

    Well, I can't seem to get it to work with PSkill too. :(
     
  10. peaz

    peaz ARP Webmaster Staff Member

    remote pc? it should work... technically.

    Taskkill does the job well, the only problem i found with it is that it can't force kill a task. that's why i switch to pskill

    Dashken. try this other kill utility i use at work.
     

    Attached Files:

  11. Dashken

    Dashken Administrator!

    Hmm... seems like kill can't be used for remote pc as well. :D

    I wonder why I cant seem to taskkill a task in a remote pc. I've already closed the firewall. :think:

    Peaz: taskkill can't force kill one of your program, is that what you mean? Hmm... I guess each has its pros and cons. One thing good about taskkill is, it's readily-available in all Windows XP. :mrgreen:
     
  12. GermanJulian

    GermanJulian Newbie

    Taskkill works on remote machines, works for me :)
    By the way you need to have admin rights on the remote machine! :roll:

    another little trick I use is:
    Freemem=Space(512000000)

    which frees your memory. (be careful how much you free though)
    Oh its a vbs script.

    I would always use VB scripting to do anything with your PC and not dos commands. VB scripts are very very very easy and powerful:
    i
    PS: I have no time I gotta do other VB scripts

    the following code terminates notepad on a remote computer:
    Code:
    strComputer = "FullComputerName" 
    strDomain = "DOMAIN" 
    strUser = InputBox("Enter user name") 
    strPassword = InputBox("Enter password") 
    Set objSWbemLocator = CreateObject("WbemScripting.SWbemLocator") 
    Set objWMIService = objSWbemLocator.ConnectServer(strComputer, _ 
        "root\CIMV2", _ 
        strUser, _ 
        strPassword, _ 
        "MS_409", _ 
        "ntlmdomain:" + strDomain) 
    Set colProcessList = objWMIService.ExecQuery _
        ("SELECT * FROM Win32_Process WHERE Name = 'notepad.exe'")
    For Each objProcess in colProcessList
        objProcess.Terminate()
    Next
    
    you dont even need to write code its all on M$ :) (dont tell my boss)
    all you need to do now is use Visual Studio, create a nice gui. Write a bit of code which gets all remote computers and your local machine. Create a dropdown with all computers.
    A button which gets all running processes for that computer.
    a tickbox and a KILL button.
    1 day and your done :)
     
    Last edited: May 5, 2006
  13. Dashken

    Dashken Administrator!

    Yeah, I have admin rights, username and password as well. But doesn't seem to work. :(

    Yeah, I like vbscript a lot. Used simple ones alot at work for creating shortcuts, editing registry, etc. and use Wscript.Shell to run it. :)

    Thanks for your time and the codes. :beer:
     
  14. I only use msconfig to turn off any tasks that I don't want to run. :lol:

    Works fine for me, though I'm wondering if any of you use it too? :think:
     
  15. zy

    zy zynine.com Staff Member

    i'm using msconfig all the time even on my friends laptops
     
  16. peaz

    peaz ARP Webmaster Staff Member

    taskkill.exe is essentially similar to opening up the task manager and killing it from there. Some processes cannot be killed via that method. That's what i meant :)
     

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